3 U. students awarded Gates Cambridge Scholarships

Laura Cooper ’15, Samuel Kim ’15 and Cameron Langford ’15were among the 40 winners of the Gates Cambridge Scholarships that were awarded to students in the United States.

Another 55 international recipients will be announced in the spring.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded based on the criteria of intellectual merit, leadership and service. The scholarship program provides students from countries outside the United Kingdom with the opportunity to pursue a postgraduate degree in any subject at the University ofCambridge.

Cooper, a St. Louis, Mo., native who is an ecology and evolutionary biology major with a certificate in global health and health policy, said she couldn't believe the news.

“The interview is only 20 minutes, so it’s really hard to know how it went or how you felt about it,” Cooper said. “It was funny because I walked out of the interview and immediately called my friend and was like, ‘Oh it didn’t go well, I don’t think I got it.’ ”

Cooper’s senior thesis focuses on mosquito biting patterns and the effect this has on malaria transmission.

She said she will be housed academically within the veterinary medicine department at Cambridge, where she will study vaccination and meningococcal epidemiology.

“A year at Cambridge is going to be a great way to get exposed to doing research at a higher level and see if that’s right for me," she said, adding that after attending Cambridge, she is considering pursuing an M.D.-Ph.D. program.

Aside from her studies, Cooper is a tutor for the Petey Greene Prisoner Assistance Program and an Outdoor Action leader.

Kim, a Los Angeles, Calif., native who is majoring in chemistry with a certificate in global health and health policy, said he will be pursuing a master's degree in chemistry at Cambridge.

“It’s a great opportunity to be able to continue to research outside my time here at Princeton,” Kim said.

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After Cambridge, Kim said he, like Cooper, also hopes to study within an M.D.-Ph.D. program. He wants to eventually work as a physician scientist, he added.

On campus, Kim has been involved with Manna Christian Fellowship, Innovation Magazine and the health organization MEDLIFE, which provides medically related volunteering opportunities.

Langford, a politics major from Davidson, N.C., with a certificate in creative writing and values and public life, said she plans to pursue a degree in political thought and intellectual history within the history department at Cambridge.

“It’s the perfect program for what I like to study, so I’m really excited to be able to do it for a year,” Langford said.

After Cambridge, Langford said she is debating between obtaining a Ph.D. and going into academia or doing communication work in politics or journalism.

Langford is a fellow at the Writing Center and has also been involved with the Nassau Literary Review. She has also interned with Sports Illustrated and the White House.

Langford is a former opinion columnist for The Daily Princetonian.