The 2023 cohort of Gates Cambridge Scholars was announced last week.
77 academically outstanding and socially committed scholars have been selected to be part of the 2023 Gates Cambridge Class at the University of Cambridge, and will begin their studies this autumn.
As part of the cohort, we are pleased to welcome to Lucy Cavendish College Bennett Weissenbach, Valena Reich and Christopher Slaughter
Bennett Weissenbach, United States Scholar, will do a PhD in Polar Studies. Bennett is a journalist and writer whose work explores the relationship between his generation’s environmental and technological inheritance. As an undergraduate at Princeton until 2020, he lived with scientists in Alaska, visiting the largest glacier in the American Arctic, being off-grid in winter to research permafrost and walking and packrafting across the Brooks Range to study the boreal forest’s poleward migration. In 2020, he reported on COVID-19 and the climate crisis in Nepal. His work has appeared in numerous publications, from the National Geographic to The Washington Post and he is currently writing a book on his journeys into the Alaskan wilderness to study climate change and the effects of digital media on contemporary ideas about nature.
Valena Reich, German Scholar, will do an MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms. She started her bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at King’s College London, where she aspired to use her analytical and creative problem solving skills to contribute to society. The ethics of Artificial Intelligence is an emerging field in philosophy, which sparked her interest as it holds the key to shape technological innovation as beneficial for all. The questions Valena focusses on assesses the impact of AI on our epistemic agency, how to assign responsibility to AI frameworks, and especially how an artificial moral agent should ethically behave in a pluralistic society. During her MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms, led by experts from the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, she aims to learn and produce meaningful research for the field of ethics of AI, facilitated through an interdisciplinary approach sourcing technical knowledge about AI combined with philosophy. Moreover, she hopes to engage with and mutually inspire the communities of Gates scholars, Cambridge, and beyond.
Christopher Slaughter, United States Scholar, will do a PhD in Engineering. He did his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he researched biosensor technologies addressing challenges in affordability and sustainability to be used in biomedicine and the bioprocess. For his PhD, he will look to create point-of-care technology for screening, diagnosing and tracking neuromuscular disease progression. Christopher is President of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and is responsible for coordinating campus-wide events dedicated to increasing the number of Black engineers. He also mentors local Black students to pursue higher education. After obtaining his PhD, he aims to direct his own research centre, consult with policymakers, and become a global ambassador for biomedical technologies.
Lucy Cavendish College Admissions Director, Mark King says, "We are delighted to be able to welcome such outstanding students to Lucy Cavendish. The Gates Scholarship programme is one of the most competitive available, with a long history of producing excellent students who make pioneering contributions, and to have three Lucians among their ranks this year is a fantastic outcome. We send our warmest congratulations to the successful candidates and we cannot wait to admit them to our College this autumn to join our dynamic student body."
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme places an emphasis on social leadership in its selection process, and aims to create a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others.
