Churchill Scholarship Newsletter 2019
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201 9 CHURCHILL NEWS THE WINTER ISSUE Newsletter of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States CHURCHILL SCHOLARS CHURCHILL’S NEW AMBASSADORS 2019 –20 Esteban Abeyta hen the American Ambassador to the United Kingdom sits at his desk in the Michael Aling Daniel Assumpcao impressive new embassy building near Vauxhall station, a portrait of Sir Winston Meenakshi Chakraborty W Churchill looks down upon him. Churchill would be smiling if he knew that this Ryan Chen year’s sixteen students under the Scholarship that bears his name were invited into the Anthony Coniglio Ambassador’s office recently to discuss their work. Edridge D’Souza Alexander Hwang The Ambassador, Robert Wood “Woody ” Johnson IV, met with the Churchill Cindy Liu Scholars, along with Trustees and friends of the Foundation this November. As the group Clara Ma walked through the lobby, they passed a marble wall of honor listing past American Ambas- Cameron Owen Jesse Palmer sadors, including former Foundation President, Ambassador Lewis Douglas. While the Anita Qualls Scholarship is funded through private donations, it came about as a reflection of the very Brian Seymour close ties between the US and UK and continues to promote scientific cooperation between Jamie Tucker-Foltz the countries. Eric Wang Ambassador Johnson asked each student to tell him where they are from and what they study. It was a happy coincidence that just two weeks earlier, the students had all gone through public engagement training (paid for through our annual fund), where they were ESTD 1963 CHURCHILL taught how to answer this question in 30 seconds! The result was a fascinating discussion on SCHOLARSHIP A life-changing year a wide range of scientific topics, which you can read about in the pages of this newsletter. of independent research at Cambridge University Letter from the Executive Director f you look at Americans who have come to Cambridge, I would say on average “ they’ve done far better than most of their colleagues, after they’ve gone back.” That, I in a nutshell, is the transformative effect of the Churchill Scholarship according to Nobel Laureate and President of the Royal Society Sir Venki Ramakrishnan. Sir Venki, who spent last academic year mentoring Churchill Scholar Aswini Krishnan, said these inspiring words while filming for two promotional videos the Foundation produced. One film is aimed at prospective student applicants to the Scholarship, and the other is for people outside of academia who may be interested in what we do. You can see the Churchill Scholarship films on our website (www.churchillscholarship.org) and on YouTube. We were very lucky that when looking for a production company, we dis - covered Sally Angel, herself a Churchill College graduate and an award-winning producer. During production, Sally won a BAFTA for her short film Missed Call . She also has an Emmy for Night Will Fall . Many thanks to Sally, her team, and all the current and former Churchill Scholars, Trustees, and professors, who con - tributed to these videos. I was particularly amazed that recent Scholar Evan O’Dorney took time out of his PhD studies to write and produce the musical score. One goal with the videos is to help grow the Scholarship, both by attracting more applicants and more funding to the program. Currently we select a cohort of 16 Churchill Scholars. For most of our history, we have sent just 10 or 11 Schol - ars to Cambridge each year. Thanks to donations, starting in 2006, we have been steadily increasing the number of Scholars, with the goal of reaching 20, which the College has agreed to take. At the same time, we are also working to improve the experience for the Scholars we already have. Thanks to fundraising success in recent years, we were Mike Morse able to raise the level of the Churchill Scholarship stipend to 5% over the amount set by the UK Research Councils for PhD students. The Trustees feel that a prestigious Scholarship such as the Churchill should have a stipend above the UK state standard, especially for students from abroad, who may have extra expenses. In addition to the stipend increase, we now provide our students with public engagement training, which culminates in a Churchill Scholars “busking station” at the Cambridge Science Festival. Also, we provide a science policy seminar and bring Scholars on a tour of Parliament, including an information session with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. These workshops and seminars reflect our philosophy of selecting candidates with great potential as research scientists, engineers, and mathematicians first, and then providing them with the tools to become future leaders. Speaking of great leaders, it has been a devastating year since our last newsletter. Previous: The Churchill In the In Memoriam section, you will see that we have lost two esteemed Trustees, Bruno Scholars and Foundation Schroder and former Master Sir John Boyd. Tragically, we have also lost Michael Zhao representatives meet the American Ambassador (2017 –18), a recent Churchill Scholar who was the heart and soul of his cohort. to the United Kingdom It is with some solace that in the face of these losses, Sir Winston Churchill’s vision (11th from the left). of scientific cooperation lives on through the work of this Foundation. IN MEMORIAM MICHAEL ZHAO (1995 –2018) It is with immense sadness that the Foundation reports the passing of a Churchill Scholar from the 2017 –18 cohort. A graduate of the University of Utah, Michael Zhao studied Pure Mathematics at Cambridge. He was in his first term as a PhD student at Columbia University when he died suddenly from a heart attack. His fellow Scholars remember him for his sense of humor and love of math. They describe him as genuine, easy to talk to, and extremely generous with his time. He was one of the center figures of the cohort and encouraged bonding between members of his Michael Zhao in front class, as well as within Churchill College and with students from various courses. Friends of the Matterhorn in Switzerland in 2018. could always tell when he was nearby from his boisterous laugh, which always came as a Photo by Lucy Chai welcome interruption of their studying. He was a great resource to non-mathematicians, often helping them understand mathematical concepts. He “very patiently” explained sheaf cohomology to Seth Musser, the only other mathematician in the cohort. And he took great joy in explaining imaginary numbers to the Executive Director’s eighth-grade daughter. Professor Colm Caulfield, director of Part III Mathematics at Cambridge wrote to us to say that Michael was warm, enthusiastic, kind, and funny, as well as an outstanding mathematician. Bruno Schroder at the BRUNO SCHRODER (1933 –2019) Scholars and Trustees The Foundation is sad to report the passing of long-serving Trustee, Bruno Schroder. luncheon, 2014. Photo by Peter Patrikis Mr. Schroder joined the Board of Trustees in 1992, and over almost three decades of service to the Foundation he gave generously (both to the Foundation and to Churchill College), sponsored a number of individual Churchill Scholars, and took great joy in meeting new Scholars at events in London and Cambridge. He spent his career at the family business, Schroders plc, an international fund manager and investment bank. A licensed pilot, Mr. Schroder often flew from London to his home on the isle of Islay, Scotland, where he supported the local community through festivals, funding a lifeboat, and reopening Bruichladdich, a shuttered whisky distillery. He held degrees from Oxford and Harvard and enjoyed the opera and ballet. In the 1970s, he made his family’s antique silver collection available, and it has been exhibited in museums around the world. He was committed to fostering the friendship between the United States and United Kingdom and took great pride in introducing Churchill Scholars to the British way of life. Sir John Boyd in 1996. Churchill Archives Centre, College Archives, CCPH/3/1/6. SIR JOHN BOYD (1936 –2019) Copyright Julia Hedgecoe Shortly before going to press, we learned the sad news of the passing of Sir John Boyd KCMG, who was Master of Churchill College in the years 1996 –2006, and an Emeritus Trustee of the Foundation. In his distinguished career, Sir John was UK Ambassador to Japan, Chairman of the British Museum, and Chairman of Asia House. He formed many lasting friendships with Scholars and officers of the Foundation. Former Executive Director Peter Patrikis recalled the many Scholars luncheons he attended, his warm hospitality, and how he was open, charming, witty, and sincere. ESTEBAN ABEYTA MICHAEL ALING Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare neurological Michael brings an engineering background to disease where the patient exhibits a variety of seem - applied physics and materials science, creating ingly unrelated phenotypic ailments (neurodegenera - advanced synthesis and measurement apparatus. tion, premature aging, insulin resistance, deficient Undergraduate design work on a record-setting immune response). Esteban will work under the high-pressure furnace has prepared him to enter guidance of Dr. Svetlana Khoronenkova, to investigate Dr. Suchitra Sebastian’s group in the Cavendish the role of the microenvironment and its potential Laboratory. There, he will work with diamond anvil in regulating the severity of the neurodegenerative cells (DAC) and uniaxial strain cells for measurements Esteban Abeyta response in diseases like A-T. in fundamental materials research under high- HOMETOWN While still a high school student, Esteban began pressure, cryogenic conditions. Española, New Mexico INSTITUTION an internship at Los Alamos National Lab where Since freshman year at UCSB, Michael made University of New Mexico he worked with a team that developed an algorithm himself indispensable in the Wilson Lab’s manufac - BS, Biochemistry to study global historic outbreaks of infectious ture of a high-pressure optical furnace for the TO STUDY MPhil, Biochemistry diseases.