Spring 98.dat - Winston Churchill Foundation

CHURCHILL
CHURCHILL NEWS
NEWS
N EWSLETTER
OF THE
W INSTON C HURCHILL F OUNDATION
IN MEMORIAM
A UTUMN 2014
Germany in mixed anti-aircraft batteries, rising to
t h e r an k of Ju n i or Comman der (eq u i val en t t o
Captain). She also accompanied her father as aidede-camp on sever al of h i s over seas jou r n ey s,
including his post-VE trip to Potsdam, where he met
with President Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin. She
married the Conservative politician and diplomat
Christopher Soames (later Baron Soames) in 1947
an d t h ey h ad fi ve ch i l dr en : N i ch ol as, Emma,
Jeremy, Charlotte, and Rupert.
She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of
the British Empire for her public service, particularly
in Rhodesia, in 1980, and in 2005 was appointed a
Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter by
Queen Elizabeth II.
IN MEMORIAM
Mary Spencer-Churchill Soames, Baroness Soames,
LG, DBE, FRSL, passed away at home surrounded by
her family at the end of May. The Lady Soames was
the last surviving child of Winston Churchill and his
wi fe Cl emen t i n e. Rai sed at t h e fami l y h ome
Chartwell, she was a keen observer of her father ’s
political and personal life. She worked for the Red
Cross and the Women's Voluntary Service from 1939
to 1941, and joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service
with whom she served in London, Belgium and
in this issue...
I N M EMORIAM : M ARY S OAMES
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A UTUMN A CTIVITIES
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T HE 2013-2014 C HURCHILL S CHOLARS
T HE 2014 C OMPETITION
T HE 2013-2014 C HURCHILL S CHOLARS
FI FTY Y EARS A GO
C HURCHILL S CHOLAR N EWS
D ONATIONS
N EW T RUSTEES
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Blessed with a capacious mind and an enviable gift
for oral and written expression, Mary Soames was
t h e au t h or of sever al wel l -r ecei ved b ook s:
Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage
(1979, revised 2002); Family Album: A Personal
Selection from Four Generations of Churchills (1982);
The Profligate Duke: George Spencer Churchill, Fifth
Duke of Marlborough and His Duchess (1987); Winston
Churchill: His Life as a Painte: A Memoir by His
Daughter (1990); Chartwell, Kent (Guide Books)
(1992); Speaking For Themselves: The Private Letters of
Sir Winston and Lady Churchill (1999); Winston and
Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchills
(2001); an autobiography A Daughter’s Tale: The
Memoir of Winston Churchill’s Youngest Child (2012).
For many years Mary Soames was a Trustee of the
Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States.
More than that, she was an active, indeed ardent,
supporter. She attended several of the autumn
luncheons for the newly arrived Churchill Scholars
after they visited the Churchill Museum, charming
them with her grace, her elegance, and her good
will.
Mary Soames was a dear friend. She will be greatly
missed.
On a personal note, Mary, my wife, and I frequently
had tea or dined together, where we would chat
about her father, her mother, family, our mutual love
of the novels of Dickens and Trollope, British and
Copyright © 2014 by The Winston Churchill Foundation
of the United States. All rights reserved.
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AUTUMN 20 14
American politics, television dramas (“nothing scary
after dinner ” On two occasions we were having
luncheon at a restaurant frequented by Lucian Freud,
the English painter. The first time he was two tables
away. Mar y n odded, smi l ed at h i m, an d t h en
whispered to us, “Oh, I was once seated next to him
at a dinner party. He was difficult to talk to, and I
had no idea what to say, but Mother said that one
must always find something to say, and I did.” The
second time Freud was seated next to us. We were
having a very jolly time indeed, perhaps more
r ol l i ck i n g t h an mi g h t b e decor ou s i n t h at
neighborhood of London, and Freud practically fell
out of his chair leaning over trying to eavesdrop.
CHURCHILL SCHOLARS 2014-2015
LEVENT ALPOGE is doing a Master of Advanced
Studies (MASt) (Part III) in Pure Mathe ma tics and
has a special interest in number theory and the tools
from related fields (e.g., algebraic geo metry, coho mology, etc.). From
Dix Hills, New York,
he received a Bachelor
of Ar t s s u mma cu m
lau de wi t h H i g h est
H on or s i n Mat h e matics and a Master of
Arts in Physics from
H ar var d Un i ver si t y,
where he is the thirtysixth Churchill Scholar
and the twenty-first
t h eor et i cal
mat h e matician. At gradu ation Levent received the Sophia Freund Prize as a
student in the senior class of Harvard College
graduating summa cum laude with the highest gradepoint average, the Captain Jonathan Fay Prize to a
graduating senior whose thesis set forth the most
imaginative work and original research in all fields,
and t h e Davi d B. Mumfor d Unde rg radu at e
Mathematics Prize, given annually to the most
promising senior concentrator in mathematics
A Goldwater Scholar and a member of Phi Beta
Kappa, Levent won Harvard’s Detur Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement and a John Harvard
Scholarship (for being ranked in the top 5% of his
class) three years in a row. He had a Herchel Smith
F e llowsh ip for summe r re sea rch in al g e-b raic
numb er t heory an d at t e nded t wo famous REU
programs, the SMALL REU program at Williams
Colleg e an d t h e REU in n umb e r t he ory at t he
University of Minnesota/Duluth. He has several
first-author or single-author publications and has
CO N SO RTIUM N EWS
given talks at several conferences. It was recently
announced that he will receive the Morgan Prize for
h i s ou t st an di n g r esear ch fr om t h e Amer i can
Mathematical Society.
One of Levent’s teachers wrote of him that he is
“already a full-fledged mathematician,” while another stated that Levent “already knows more
mathematics than many graduate students.” He is
described as “a passionate mathematician,” “one of
the most productive mathematicians,” “enthusiastic,” “fearless,” and “comparable to the best
students anywhere [in the world].”
Levent is a serious distance runner, doing up an
average of sixty miles a week. He played club soccer
and club squash and was a co-editor of the Harvard
College Mathematics Review. He received a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for his work in
three mathematics courses, including the (in)famous
Math 55, reputed to be the most difficult under graduate mathematics course in the world.
After Cambridge, Levent will do a PhD in Mathe matics at Princeton University on a NSF Graduate
Fellowship.
SUROJIT BISWAS is doing a Master of Philosophy in
Plant Sciences in the Sainsbury Laboratory, working
in Dr. Philip Wigge’s group to decipher the tran scriptional genetic rules governing the temperature
response of plants. Surge plans to use this research
oppor tu ni ty to
strength en his
facility in mod el i n g an d ma nipulating complex euka ryotes
(e.g ., p l an t s,
mi ce). (N ot e
that this is the
second time in
r ecen t
year s
that a Churchill
Sch ol ar
h as
don e r esear ch
in Plants Stud ies for the wider scientific and engineering implications and not specifically for the interest in plants, a
t est i mon y t o t h e advan ced an d mor e wi del y
applicable approaches in this field at Cambridge.)
F r om Ral ei g h , N or t h Car ol i n a, i n 2013 Su r g e
r ecei ved h i s Bach el or of Sci en ce wi t h H i g h est
Distinction from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, where he is the fifteenth Churchill
CO N SO RTIUM N EW S
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Scholar. He also graduated with Highest Distinction
in Mathematical Decision Sciences in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research and with
a minor in Chemistry. He was inducted into Phi Beta
Kappa as a Junior and was a member of the Honors
College. A Beckman Scholar, Surge was the recipient
of many travel research awards, and he spent a
summer studying Computational Biology at Oxford.
At Commencement he was named the outstanding
graduate of his department based on research,
advanced coursework, and GPA. Co-author of two
publications and single author of another, Surge has
presented his research on several occasions. After
graduation he continued working in laboratories in
the two different departments where he did his
primary undergraduate research.
One of Surge’s teachers wrote that Surge “blew away
my expectations,” demonstrating “not only an
algorithmic mind but also a strikingly deep under standing of statistics and probability,” while another
wrote that he stood out even among the group of
elite students. Yet another stated that Surge is “way
ahead of the pack in terms of intellectual capacity”
and that “he has developed the maturity and desire
to strike out on his own into the scientific unknown.”
More than one writer noted that Surge is rare in
combining wet lab experience with very advanced
computational skills.
Surge is a distance runner and does some twenty-five
to thirty miles a week, and he enjoys machinelearning/big data competitions.
After his year at Cambridge, Surge plans to do PhD
in Computational Biology in the United States with a
focus on translation bioinformatics.
CHRISTOPHER FINCH is doing a Master of Phil o sophy in Plant Sciences, working in the laboratory of
Professor Alison Smith on a system for developing
riboswitches to control transgene expression in a
green alga, thus receiving training in algal molecular
biology, biochemistry, and biotechnology. His
ultimate goal is to engineer plants that grow faster
and larger, resist pests and droughts, and contain
more nutrients. From Steamboat, Colorado, Christopher received a Bachelor of Arts cum laude with
Distinction in the interdisciplinary program of
Biochemistry and Biophysics at Amherst College,
where he is the ninth Churchill Scholar. Inducted
into Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior and Sigma Chi as a
Senior, Christopher was a Goldwater Scholar and an
Amg en Sch olar at t he Califor nia Inst it u t e of
Techn ol og y. He also won t he Sawyer Priz e in
Biology.
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One teacher called him “astonishingly intelligent”
and “deeply insightful.” Another noted that he
“grasps sophisticated concepts with rare quickness,
facility, clarity, and depth, while also excelling at
practical hands-on experimentation.” One writer
called him “a big thinker who aspires to take on
large and difficult issues of societal and scientific
impact.” Yet another wrote that he “will set new
scientific frontiers.”
While pursuing a full research program, Christopher
played varsity ice hockey all four years at Amherst:
he was a member of the 2012 Final Four and of the
New England Small College Athletic Conference
Championship Team. He has developed and led
workshops to promote awareness on concussions in
youth sports and is president of the Amherst College
Mountain Biking Club.
After Cambridge, Christopher plans to do a PhD in
Bioengineering in the United States and to pursue a
career in research and entrepreneurship.
SARAH FOSTER is doing a Master of Philosophy in
Ph y si ol og y, Devel op men t , an d N eu r osci en ce,
working in the laboratory of Dr. Kristian Franze to
gain a holistic understanding of development of the
nervous system and to elucidate how different
signaling mechanisms,
ch emi cal
an d
mech an i cal ,
wor k
t og et h er t o dr i ve an d
direct neuronal growth.
F r om Ash l an d, O h i o,
Sarah earned a Bachelor
of Arts summa cum laude
i n t h r ee major s (Bi o chemistry, Biophysics,
and Physics) as well as a
Mast er of Sci en ce i n
Ch emi st r y
at
the
CH URCH ILL N EWSLETTER
Au t u mn 2 01 4
University of Pennsylvania, where she is the seventh
Churchill Scholar. At graduation she won the John
C. Makris Memorial Award in Biochemistry and the
William E. Stephens Memorial Prize in Physics and
Astronomy. Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a
Junior, she was a Goldwater Scholar and in 2012
received a Vagelos Challenge Award and Scholarship,
a full-tuition scholarship based on academic merit
awar ded t o a sel ect g r ou p of st u den t s i n
Biochemistry, Chemistry, or Physics who intend to
complete a BA and an MS in four years. In 2013 she
was also named a Dean’s Scholar, an award given to
on l y n i n e u n der g r adu at es b ased on academi c
achievement and faculty nominations.
Sarah’s teachers described her as “comparable to the
best and brightest students in the entire country,” “as
good as advanced graduate students,” and “as good
as the best.” One called her “a truly gifted scientist
in the laboratory” and noted “her absolute bri lliance.” Her research is considered so advanced that
she independently developed a species of moss as a
model research organism.
Sarah is a peer advisor for the Vagelos Molecular Life
Sciences Program. She is an avid reader of the
history of science and does wilderness canoeing in
Can ada i n t h e su mmer wh en sh e i s n ot i n t h e
laboratory.
Aft er Camb r i dg e, Sar ah p l an s t o do a Ph D i n
Biophysics at Harvard University.
DANIEL FRIED is doing a Master of Philosophy in
Advan ced Comp u t er Sci en ce i n t h e Comp u t er
Laboratory, working with Dr. Stephen Clark on the
development of computational methods of extracting
meaning from natural
language. His research
seek s
to
di st i l l
a u t o m a t i c a l l y
structured knowledge
from massive amounts
of un st ruct ured t e x t
available freely on the
Web. (He is the second
Churchill Scholarship
in computational lin guistics in three years.)
From Tucson, Arizona,
Dan-i el
earned
a
Bachel or of Sci en ce
degree summa cum laude in three majors (Computer
Science, Mathematics, and Information Science and
Technology) at the University of Arizona, where he is
the second Churchill Scholar (the last being twenty
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year s ag o). At g r adu at i on h e was n amed
Outstanding Researcher in College of Science,
Outstanding Researcher in Computer Science,
Outstanding Senior in Computer Science, and
Outstanding Senior in Information Science.
the
the
the
the
He has done research at the Nara Institute of Science
an d Tech n ol og y i n Jap an an d at t h e G er man
Research School for Simulation Sciences in Aachen;
he worked in two different laboratories at the
University of Arizona, demonstrating a depth and
breadth of experience, one writer noted, that few
p ost docs p ossess.
H e i s co- au t h or of t wo
publications (one of which won a best conference
paper award) and first-author of a third.
A Goldwater Scholar, Daniel received the Flinn
Scholarship, which has provided full funding at the
University of Arizona as well as financial support for
international travel, the Galileo Circle Scholarship
awarded by the College of Science for academic
merit and undergraduate research, and a Watson
Scholarship.
One writer wrote, in response to the Foundation’s
urging references not simply to state that someone
was the best student, “… but Daniel really is the best
st u den t I h ave seen i n t h i r t y year s.” An ot h er
remarked that “it is impossible to find any way to
describe Daniel other than truly outstanding.”
Another mentor spoke of his “precocious level of
r esear ch acu men ” an d of h i s b ei n g “dr awn t o
conceptual challenges.”
An Ambassador of the College of Science and an
active member of the Model United Nations and of
the Association for Computing Machinery, Daniel is
an avid reader and enjoys cycling.
After Cambridge, Daniel plans to do his doctorate in
Computer Science at the University of California at
Berkeley on an NDSEG Fellowship.
JARED HALLETT is doing a Master of Advanced
Studies (MASt) in Pure Mathematics in order to
deepen his knowledge of analysis and broaden his
horizons in other courses. From Sterling, Virginia,
he graduated summa cum laude in Mathematics and
in Chinese from Williams College, where he is the
second Churchill Scholar (the first being twelve
years ago). At graduation he was inducted into
Sigma Xi and was named a Herchel Smith Fellow.
A Goldwater Scholar, Jared was inducted into Phi
Beta Kappa as a Junior and won the Class of 1956
Sch ol ar sh i p for academi c ex cel l en ce an d for
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Au t u mn 2 01 4
con t r i b u t i on s t o t h e
Williams com munity,
the Benedict First Prize
in Mathe matics as the
top Sophomore major
in Mathematics, three
Witte Problem Solving
Prizes for his scores in
t h e Pu t n am Mat h e mat i cs Comp et i t i on ,
an d
sever al
sch ol ar sh i p s, t r avel
grants, and prizes for
his study of Mandarin
an d Can t on ese. H e di d t wo N SF REU’s i n
mathematics, the first at the University of Michigan
and the second at Williams.
One of Jared’s teachers wrote of him as “one of the
strongest Williams students he has had in thirty
years,” while another described him as “brilliant,
happy, energetic, fun – he has all the virtues to make
him an excellent mathematician.” One described him
as “an undisputed leader ” and “a natural leader,”
an d on e wr i t er cal l ed h i s p r esen t at i on s
“spellbinding.” One writer remarked that Jared
shows enormous potential, both as a researcher and
as a teacher.”
All the while juggling his studies in mathematics and
Chinese, Jared plays Ultimate Frisbee, does weight
training, and enjoys reading and singing. He has
traveled extensively and has studied in China, Hong
Kong, and Taiwan.
After Cambridge Jared will do his doctorate in
Mathematics at Stanford University.
GABRIELLA HELLER is doing a Master of Philo sophy in Chemistry, working in the laboratory of
Professor Michele Vendruscolo, who had a Churchill
Scholar in his laboratory last year); she will combine
nuclear mag ne tic
reson ance (NMR)
spec troscopy and
computational
met h ods t o en able novel atom ic-scale descrip t i on
of
biomolecular
p rocesses. Sh e
plans to explore
the relationship
b et wee n NMRg e n e r a t e d
CH URCH ILL N EWSLETTER
chemical shifts and protein conformation in order to
gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of
mal functioning proteins involved in disease. From
Chicago, Illinois, Gabi received a Bachelor of Arts
cum laude with double majors in Chemistry and
Mathematics (with Distinction in the Mathematics
Senior Exercise) at Pomona College, where she is the
fourth Churchill Scholar. At graduation she received
the John Stauffer Scholarship for Academic Merit
awarded to a senior student majoring in Physics,
Chemistry, or a related science, who exhibits the
highest academic promise, the Frank Parkhurst
Brackett, Jr., and Davida Wark Brackett Prize,
awarded to a student as an incentive to excellence in
advancing the study of chemistry, and the Claremont
Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award
She attended the renowned Budapest Semester in
Mat h emat i cs. A G ol dwat er Sch ol ar, sh e was
inducted into Sigma Xi as a Junior. She has done
interdisciplinary research in the Departments of
Chemistry and Mathematics at Pomona and last
summer worked on a project funded by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute.
First author of two papers (and with another in
press), she has made several presentations at major
conferences in the United States and in Europe,
where, one writer noted, she “always impressed
with her ability to describe her research and handle
demanding questions from established experts in the
field.”
All her teachers noted Gabi’s “amazing versatility: in
her research, moving easily between disciplines and
carrying more than a single project at once. One
teacher noted that Gabi was “a highly independent
and dedicated researcher who has remarkable
scientific intuition and a great deal of ambition” and
“an inspiring young scientist,” while another called
h er “an eco-con sci ou s an d h i g h l y r esp on si b l e
member of the global community … with truly
remarkable intellectual and personal qualities.” One
teacher commented that Gabi as an undergraduate
has already “produced close to what a typical PhD
student produces with respect to the volume of
research and the number of publications.” Another
called her “relentless” in her research and deemed it
“groundbreaking.”
At Pomona she was a senior student mentor for firstgeneration, underrepresented science students, cofounded and co-led a Food Chemistry Club, has
served as liaison between students and faculty in the
Chemistry Department, and has been an English
language tutor for the dining hall chef. She enjoys
CH URCH ILL N EWSLETTER
Au t u mn 2 01 4
h i k i n g , b ack p ack i n g , t r avel i n g , an d b al l r oom
dancing.
After Cambridge, Gabi will do a PhD in Chemistry
with a focus on biomedical research on a National
Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship at Stanford
University.
ALISHA KASAM is doing a Master of Philosophy in
Energy Technologies in the Department of Engineering. Her research with Dr. Adam Boies will seek to
improve the efficiency of alternative fuel tech nologies with a focus
on thermal sciences.
From Atlanta, Geor g i a, i n 2013 Al i sh a
received a Bachelor of
Science in Mechanical
En g i n eer i n g
wi t h
High est Honors over all and with Depart mental Honors from
the Georgia Institute
of Technology, where
sh e i s t h e f ou r t h
Ch u r ch i l l Sch ol ar.
In du ct ed i n t o Tau
Bet a Pi as a Ju n i or, Al i sh a r ecei ved an AT&T
Foundation Scholarship, a Watson Scholarship, a
Robert C. Byrd Scholarship, and the State of Georgia
Hope Scholarship. She also won two President’s
Undergraduate Research Awards, the only student to
have done so at Georgia Tech.
At graduation she received the Chair’s Award from
the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering for
her outstanding scholarship and contributions to the
Sch ool .
Sh e en r ol l ed i n t h e G eor g i a Tech
Cooperative Education Program to gain a better
understanding of how classroom material is applied
in practice; she has also worked at BMW as an
intern. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the Munich
Institute of Technology, where she continued her
research at BMW’s research headquarters.
On teacher called Alisha “a truly remarkable and
exceptional person who wants to make a difference
for others and the world” and noted that her GPA
was almost unheard of in Engineering and placed
her in the top 0.1% of the university. Another noted
that she has “a surprising understanding of the
research process… and is remarkably independent
collecting data and interpreting results.” One
teacher remarked that “every year there is one
student who will be missed the most after graduation. In 2013 Alisha was that person,” and another
PAG E 6
cal l ed h er “on e of t h e most i mp r essi ve u n dergraduates we have ever produced.”
Alisha served on the Undergraduate Curriculum
Committee of the School of Engineering and made,
according to one teacher, “invaluable contributions.”
She had a leadership position in Engineers for a
Sustainable World and has been active in Circle K,
Georgia Tech’s service leadership organization. In
Munich, she is working in a soup kitchen. Alisha is
an avid runner and traveler.
Af t er Camb r i dg e Al i sh a h as don e yet deci ded
whether she will do her doctorate in Engineering at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford
University, or the University of Cambridge.
DAV ID K O LCH MEYER i s doi n g a Mast er of
Advanced Studies (MASt) in Applied Mathematics
an d Th eor et i cal Ph y si cs t o g ai n an advan ced
understanding of theoretical particle physics to
p r ep ar e for h i s fu t u r e r esear ch i n h i g h en er g y
phenomenology. From East Brunswick, New Jersey,
David received a Bachelor of Science summa cum
laude and with Highest Honors in Physics from
Rutgers University, where he is the third Churchill
Scholar. At graduation he was awarded the Richard
T. Weidner Physics Prize for outstanding academic
p er for man ce i n Ph y si cs, t h e H en r y Ru t g er s
Scholarship
for an ou t standing
independent
research project l eadi n g
to an honors
t h esi s, an d
t h e Ru t g er s
Sch ool
of
Arts and Sciences Dean’s
Excellence
Awar d for
graduating
with a perfect GPA, and he was named a School of
Arts and Sciences Honors Scholar.
A Goldwater Scholar and a Byrd Scholar, he won a
Rutgers Presidential Scholarship, which has provided
full funding for all four years of college, the Robert L.
Sells Physics Scholarship, and the Mary Wheeler
Wigner Memorial Scholarship for excellence in
Physics. He did the famous REU managed by the
University of Michigan to do research at CERN, the
European Center for Nuclear Research. where he was
deemed among the top two of the 182 students who
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Au t u mn 2 01 4
have done the program since its inception). He was
an intern at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory,
and since his Freshman year has been doing research
in Physics at Rutgers.
O n e t each er cal l ed h i s i n t el l ect u al ab i l i t y
“phenomenal” and noted that his research is already
at the level of a postdoctoral researcher. Another
writer called him “a phenomenal young scientist.”
One teacher remarked that David’s laboratory reports
read like an article in Physical Review Letters and that
his oral presentations were like a short conference
talk that stood out for their clarity and sophisticated
simplicity. More than one person noted not only that
David is brilliant but that he demonstrates leadership
with his generous guidance of fellow students.
David is an accomplished jazz saxophonist and plays
in a Jazz Chamber Ensemble. He has been unusually active in educating high school students
about domestic and international affairs by serving
as a staff member in Model United Nations, Model
Con g r ess, t h e G r ou p of 77 Commi t t ee an d t h e
Conference Simulation Services, for which he has
created crisis scenarios (later this year one of his
crisis committees will be Churchill’s War Cabinet!).
After Cambridge, David will do his doctorate in
Physics at Harvard.
MALIN DA MCPH ERSO N i s doi n g a Mast er of
Philosophy in the Department of Music at the Centre
for Mu si c an d Sci en ce u n der t h e di r ect i on of
Professor Ian Cross, who is doing ground-breaking
studies on the cognitive basis of rhythmic inter actions in speech and in music. She plans to study
the biological correlates of rhythm in music and
speech and, more specifically, the neurobiology of
rhythmic entrainment. (Malinda is the first Churchill
Scholar to do a degree in Music; in the United States
her program would be in a Cognitive Psychology or
Neuroscience program.) From Belmont, Massa chu set t s, sh e recei ved a Bach elor of Art s wi t h
General and Departmental Honors with double
majors in Cognitive Science and in Music (through
the Peabody Conservatory) at the Johns Hopkins
University, where she is the thirteenth Churchill
Scholar and the third neuroscientist in three years.
At graduation she received received a Homewood
Arts Certificate for the completion of her senior
recital and the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts for her
viola studies.
Malinda won a Johns Hopkins University Provost’s
Undergraduate Research Award and the Bander
Family Fund for Independent Projects Award for her
summer research. In 2012 she won the Hopkins
CH URCH ILL N EWS
Sy mp h on y O r ch est r a
Concerto Com petition
for her prize perform ance of the Walton Viola
Con cer t o (on e of h er
referees who attended
the concert said that he
was “b l own away ” b y
her per formance of this
chal lenging piece). She
has served as a Teaching
Assi st an t i n cog n i t i ve
science courses.
Noting that her interests in music and cognitive
sciences are fully intertwined, one writer called Malinda “a seriously deep thinker about every aspect of
life.” Another deemed her “an inspiring, congenial
young scholar with exemplary talent, originality, and
a strong work ethic” and expressed amazement at
her “impressively deep knowledge of neuroscience
as well as of corners of cognitive science little
known” [to the writer]. Yet another writer called
Mal i n da “a sp ect acu l ar you n g p er son wi t h an
intellect that is unusual even in a research university
and a social grace that is unique.”
In addition to her many musical activities, Malinda
is an instructor in rock climbing and wall climbing ,
an d sh e h as l ead cl asses on sex u al h eal t h for
incarcerated youth. After Cambridge, Malinda plans
to do her PhD in Neuroscience in the United States.
MORGAN OPIE is doing a Master of Advanced
Studies (MASt) in Pure Mathematics to broaden her
mathematical knowledge and to deepen her specialzation in algebraic geometry. From Cotuit, Massa chusetts, she received a Bachelor of Science summa
cu m lau de wi t h a major i n Mat h emat i cs wi t h
Departmental Honors
and a minor in Physics
from the Uni versity of
Mass a chu setts at Am herst, where she is the
first Churchill Scholar
(UMass Amherst was
i n vi t ed
into
the
Churchill Scholarship
Program in the spring
of 2013). Her gradua t i on
fr om
the
Commonwealth
H on or s Col l eg e was
“Wi t h
G r eat est
Distinction.” Morgan received an Associate of Arts
degree from Cape Cod Community College in lieu of
CH URCH ILL N EWS
attending high school.
Au t u mn 2 0 14
A presenter at many mathematics conferences,
Morgan won the UMass Amherst Rising Researcher
Award and was runner-up for the Association of
Women in Mathematics Shaffer Prize. She also won
the Hasbrouck Award for academic excellence in
Physics. She has done two NSF REU’s at UMass, one
in Soft Condensed Matter Physics and the other in
Algebraic Geometry. She also attended the UCLA
Logic Summer School. She was awarded the M.K.
Bennet Geometry Prize.
One teacher noted that Morgan is “an exceptionally
talented and precocious mathematics student” with
“remarkable problem-solving skills and also plenty
of determination and stamina, all of which are
essential for success in mathematics research.”
Another teacher wrote that “with a stamina that I can
only describe as remarkable, [Morgan] took every
single upper-level and graduate course available to
her, which sometimes required taking six threecredit courses each semester, all with straight A’s and
always the best in the class.” Another teacher called
her “a force of nature.”
Aft er Camb r i dg e, Mor g an wi l l do h er Ph D i n
Mat h emat i cs at t h e Massach u set t s In st i t u t e of
Technology.
DAVID PALM is doing a Master of Philosophy in
Chemistry, with research on the production of molecular hydrogen fuel from solar energy (i.e., bioder i ved
p h ot oelectrochemical
devices) in the lab or at or y of Dr.
Erwin Reisner, one
of the world leaders
in
sol ar
fu el
rese ar ch.
F r om
War r en,
O hio,
Da vid g ra d u a t ed
s u mma cu m lau de
from the University
of
P it t s b ur g h ,
where he received a
Bachelor of Sci ence
in
Chemical
Eng i ne e ri ng ,
a
Bachelor of Arts in
Chemistry, and a Bachelor of Arts in the History and
Philosophy of Science and where he is the second
Churchill Scholar. At commencement, David was
named the “Outstanding Senior” in the Department
of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and won a
PAG E 8
Phillips Medal from the Department Chemistry as
one of the two most-outstanding graduating seniors.
He studied at the University of New South Wales in
Sydney, Australia and at the Federal University of
Paraná in Brazil. He was named a Chancellor ’s
Scholar as a Freshman, receiving full funding for his
undergraduate education and also a Richard A.
Lombardi Scholar to fund his study abroad in Brazil.
Annually he has also been named a University
Scholar at the Swanson School of Engineering for
being in the top 2% of his class. David did an REU
at the Pennsylvania State University on Chemical
Energy Storage and Conversion; he has also done
considerable independent research in Chemical
Engineering at Pitt and was an engineering intern in
two different companies.
One of David’s teachers called him “proactive,
extraordinarily sharp, hardworking, and a joy to
mentor ” adding that he would “hire ten of him in
his lab.” Another noted, “David has the voracious
i n t el l ect u al cu r i osi t y t h at mak es t h e t r u l y
exceptional student stand out beyond the ‘just’
excellent ones.” One concluded, “David Palm is not
just an excellent student, but a truly outstanding
young man. His voracious intellectual curiosity and
passion for sustainable technology, combined with
his pleasant personality virtually assure that he will
not only be a highly successful graduate student, but
will become a true leader well beyond the horizon of
his on-going education.”
David has served as the president of the Pitt chapter
of Engineers for a Sustainable World and as the
Outreach Coordinator for the Pitt chapter of the
American Chemical Society; he plays on the Pitt
Men’s Intercollegiate Soccer Team.
After Cambridge, David will do his doctorate in
Chemical Engineering at Stanford University.
KATHERINE POGREBNIAK is doing a Master of
Philosophy in Computational Biology, pursuing research under Professor Florian Markowetz on the
system genetics of cancer. From Jacksonville,
Florida, she earned a Bachelor of Science with
Highest Honors in Computer Science at Princeton
University, where she is the fortieth Churchill
Scholar. Katherine was Valedictorian of her class
and received the James Hayes-Edgar Palmer Prize in
Engineering.
Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi as a
Junior, Katherine won the Class of 1939 Scholar
Awar d g i ven t o t h e st u den t wi t h t h e h i g h est
academic ranking at the end of Junior year, the
PAG E 9
Au t u mn 20 1 1
Shapiro Prize for
Aca d emic Excel lence (twice), the
Accenture Prize
for Computer Scien ce, an d t h e
National Institute
of Neurological
Di s or der s an d
S t r o k e
Exceptional
Summer Student
Award. She studiied mathematics
at the university
l evel wh en sh e
was ei g h t year s
old until she entered Princeton at the age of sixteen.
Katherine did three internships at the National
Institutes of Health, two in the Ophthalmic Genetics
an d Vi su al F u n ct i on Br an ch an d on e i n t h e
Translational Neuroradiology Unit. She is first
author of three papers and co-author of another.
One of Katherine’s mentors wrote, “none of us has
any doubt that Katherine will become a world leader
in the application of the rigorous computational
methods she learned as an undergraduate major in
computer science to problems in biomedical science,”
while another deemed her Junior Essay the best she
had ever seen at Princeton. Every letter of reference
spoke of her “initiative,” “extraordinary motivation
and organizational skill,” “identifying and meeting
challenges,” and “her ability to master new fields”
easily.
K at h er i n e h as ser ved as a Resi den t i al Col l eg e
Advisor and Peer Tutor, has been involved in Women
in Computer Science and the Society of Women
Engineers, and tutors minority and economically
disadvan t ag ed mi ddle school st ude nt s. Aft er
Cambridge, Katherine will do an MD-PhD (Biomedical Inf ormat ion or C omp ut at ional Bi olog y ) at
Stanford University.
JOSHUA SHUTTER will do a Master of Philosophy in
Chemistry, doing research in the laboratory of
Professor Rod Jones in the Centre for Atmospheric
Science to miniaturize ultrasensitive spectro-scopic
instruments to be used on unmanned vehicles. From
Green Bay, Wisconsin, Josh received his Bachelor of
Scie nce wit h H onors a nd wit h Di st inct ion in
Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison,
wh ere he is t h e fou rt h Chur chill Scholar. At
g raduat ion h e was one of t hr ee of t he ma ny
CH URCH ILL N EWS
thousands of graduates whose intellectual biography
was aloud, and he received the University Bookstore
Academic Excellence Award for his senior thesis.
A G ol dwat er Sch ol ar an d a N ASA St u den t
Ambassador (a title given to the top-performing
interns at the Jet
Propulsion Labo ratory at Caltech),
he has won many
mer i t
sch ol ar sh i p s i n cl u di n g
the
Wi scon si n
Academic Excel lence Schol arship
given to the top
high school stu dents in the state,
t h e Ral p h B.
Abrams Scholar ship for his acad emic record, the
G eor g e J. an d
Arleen D. Ziarnik
Sch ol ar sh i p for
his academic record and research in Chemistry; he
has also won several prizes including an American
Chemical Society Leadership Award .
One teacher wrote of his “astounding” ability to
grapple with sophisticated aspects of astrochemist r y an d mol ecu l ar sp ect r oscop y b efor e t ak i n g
fou n dat i on al cou r ses an d cal l ed h i s accom plishments “unparalleled” in his twenty-five years of
teaching and research. Another conjectured that
Josh is “the top science student at the University of
Wisconsin.”
Josh is active in the local branch of the American
Chemical Society Student Chapter, of which he is
president this year, Josh is an avid photographer,
taking high-resolution pictures of landscapes and
rock formations; he is a trained Severe Weather
Spotter for the National Weather Service.
Aft er Camb r i dg e, Josh p l an s t o do a Ph D i n
Chemical Physics at Harvard University on an NSF
Graduate Fellowship.
NEW MASTER AT CHURCHILL COLLEGE
Professor Dame Athene Donald DBE, FRS, has been
appointed the seventh Master of Churchill College.
Athene Donald received both her BA in Natural
Sciences (Theoretical Physics) and PhD in Physics
CH URCH ILL N EW S
Au t u mn 2 014
from the University of Cambridge, studying at
G i r t on Col l eg e. Sh e sp en t fou r year s as a
postdoctoral research
associ at e at Cor n el l
Un i ver si t y i n t h e
Dep ar t men t
of
Materials Science and
En g i n eer i n g , b efor e
r et u r n i n g t o Cam bridge. Initially hold ing an SRC fellowship
in the Department of
Materials Science and
Met al l u r g y, sh e r e turned to the Cavendish Laboratory as one
of the first generation
of Royal Society University Research Fellows. She
was appointed Lecturer in 1985, Reader in 1995, and
Professor in 1998. A year later she was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society. From 1983-2014 she was
a fellow of Robinson College.
Within the University she has served on Council
fr om 2009–14 an d sever al of i t s dep en den t
committees and was the Gender Equality Champion
fr om 2010–14. Sh e h as ser ved on a var i et y of
commi t t ees at t h e Royal Soci et y, ch ai r ed i t s
Education Committee from 2010-14 and served on its
Council from 2004-06 and again from 2011 to the
present. She currently sits on the Scientific Council of
the European Research Council.
At h en e i s mar r i ed t o Mat t h ew Don al d, a
mathematician; they have two adult children, James
and Margaret.
Donald’s research field can best be described as soft
matter and biological physics, including polymers,
biopolymers and, most recently, cellular biophysics.
Donal d is dist ing uish ed for he r wor k relat ing
mechanical properties to the structure of polymers.
She showed that polymer crazing could not be
understood without reference to the entanglement
net work a n d showe d t hat t wo p rocesses ar e
involved, chain scission and chain disentanglement,
depending differently on temperature and molecular
weight. This work underpins the understanding of
brittleness and ductility in solid polymers. She
pioneered studies of thermotropic liquid crystalline
polymers via transmission electron microscopy,
revealing the ubiquity of banded textures after shear
flow in these materials. More recently, she has
developed X-ray methods for characterizing starch,
thereby opening up the field to novel physical
methods that enhance those of the plant biologists
PAG E 10
and food scientists.
Donald has been awarded prizes by the Institute of
Physics (the CV Boys Prize, the Mott Medal, and the
Faraday Medal) and was the Bakerian Lecturer of the
Royal Society in 2006. In 2009 she was awarded the
L'Oreal/UNESCO for Women in Science Laureate for
Europe. She was appointed a Dame Commander of
the British Empire for Services to Physics in 2010.
She holds honorary doctorates from the University of
East Anglia, the University of Exeter, the University
of Sh eff i el d, t h e Un i ver si t y of Swan sea, an d
University College London. She writes a regular
blog http://occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald/,
particularly about gender issues and on the Guardian
Science blogs. Her blog immediately demonstrates
Donald’s engagement, frankness, and wit. A recent
posting reads, “While I get on top of the challenges
and issues that the college faces (not the least of
which is how to increase the number of women
applying, something that is of course dear to my
heart), I have more minor challenges to face. A new
office, a new PA, between us we have to work out
how to file papers so that we both know where to
find them! I have a new IT system which so far is
proving disappointingly perplexing: reading my
college email when on the train seems not entirely
straightforward, and yet that is where I inevitably
want to be able to deal with my inbox. And, perhaps
for me one of the most difficult problems, living in a
house (‘The Master ’s Lodge’) which is semi-public
requires me to discard a lifetime of being untidy and
make sure I stick by the adage ‘a place for everything
and everything in its place‘. This does not come
naturally to me but I have no choice. Earlier this
week approximately 130 Freshers came to the Lodge
for a meet-and-greet session and if, as my natural
messy self might feel inclined to do, I left my shoes
strewn round the hall a domino-collapse of the
procession of students might have ensued. I am
pleased to say, by exercising appropriate restraint on
my disorderly self, this sad outcome was averted.”
CHANGES AT THE FOUNDATION
Peter C. Patrikis will retire as
Ex ecu t i ve Di r ect or of t h e
F ou n dat i on at t h e en d of
May, 2015, after eight and a
half years in that position. In
t h at b r i ef p er i od, t h e
Ch u r ch i l l F ou n dat i on h as
undergone major changes.
The Churchill Scholarship
Pr og r am h as g r own : t h e
n u mb er of ap p l i cat i on s
PAG E 11
Au t u mn 2 01 4
received has risen; more than twenty colleges and
universities have been added to the Program (and
some fi ve i n st i t u t i on s wer e dr op p ed fr om t h e
Program); the number of Scholarships has increased
from eleven to fourteen, even as the cost of a degree
at Cambridge has risen dramatically; the amount of
the Churchill Scholarship has increased significantly
(t h e t ot al val u e i s amon g t h e h i g h est of t h e
prestigious U.K. scholarships).
The Foundation has developed a strong presence on
t h e camp u ses of t h e col l eg es an d u n i ver si t i es
participating in the Churchill Scholarship Program,
partly from frequent and regular emails from the
Foundation to the Campus Representatives and
partly from the visits to almost one hundred schools.
Moreover, the Foundation supports applicants in
ways that no other scholarship program does by
meeting with them during campus visits and by
r esp on di n g t o al l man n er of q u est i on s ab ou t
academi c mat t er s at Camb r i dg e an d ab ou t t h e
application for the Churchill Scholarship. The
increased exposure of the Churchill Scholarship has
resulted in a dramatic rise in the intensity of the
competition for the Scholarship.
Befitting the times, the Foundation initiated a robust
Web p r esen ce, moved t h e ap p l i cat i on f or t h e
Sch ol ar sh i p t o an on l i n e p l at for m, an d n ow
distributes applications to the Screening Committee
electronically. New publications are available in
hard copy and online.
Since the Foundation does not have a presence in
Cambridge, it has sought ways to bring the new
Churchill Scholars together and to provide them with
new experiences. Shortly after the arrival of the new
Scholars in Cambridge, the Churchill Scholars who
are staying on for their doctorates hold a dinner.
Early in November the Scholars are invited into
London for a private, behind-the-scenes tour of the
Churchill War Rooms; that visit conducted by the
Museum’s wonderful director Phil Reed includes
being in the Cabinet War Room (and sitting in
Church ill’s ch air!), in t he Ma p Room, a nd in
Churchill’s bedroom. After that visit the Scholars
meet man y of t he F oundat ion’s Tr ust ees for a
luncheon formerly at the British Museum and now at
the National Gallery. Finally, at the end of the year,
the Executive Director visits all the Scholars in their
laboratories and meets separately with all the Part III
students; those packed days of visits end with two
dinners in Cambridge restaurants.
When asked what he will do in his retirement,
Pat rik is is p leased t o re sp ond t ha t one of t he
CH URCH ILL N EW S
p l easu r es of r et i r emen t i s n ot t o h ave t o h ave
everything planned. That weak attempt at humor
an d i n dol en ce asi de, h e p l an s t o cu l t i vat e h i s
intellectual and physical gardens, continue to cook,
read travel books, work on his bad German and
Italian, read novels, and travel even more with his
wife Kathryn. Patrikis notes that his years at the
Ch u r ch i l l F ou n dat i on h ave b een a con t i n u al
astonishment, privilege, and pleasure.
Earlier this year the Board
of Trustees appointed Dr.
Mi ch ael A. Mor se as
Dep u t y Di r ect or of t h e
Ch u r ch i l l F ou n dat i on ;
u p on Pet er Pat r i k i s’s
r et i r e men t , Mi k e wi l l
immediately become the
Execu tive Director. Mr.
Mor se r ecei ved h i s BA
s u mma cu m lau de i n
Anthropology from Princeton, his MPhil in Archaeolog ical Heritage Management and Museums from
the University of Cambridge, and his PhD in the
History of Science from the University of Chicago.
He is the author of four books: The Neanderthals
Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their
Story (2013), co-authored with his wife Dimitra
Papagianni; Batter-Up! Amazing Baseball Trivia
(2009), with others and edited by Ross Berger; AllNew Baseball Brainteasers: 60 Major League Puzzles
(2007); How the Celts Came to Britain: Druids, Ancient
Skulls and the Birth of Archaeology (2005), which was a
Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year.
Before coming to the Churchill Foundation, Mike
was the Director of Foundation Relations at the
University of Oxford North American Office, the
Director of Development and Alumni Relations at St
Pet er ’s Col l eg e O x for d, an d F u n dr ai si n g an d
Development Manager at The Royal Society in
London.
Mike lives in Armonk, NY, with his wife, daughter,
and twin sons.
AUTUMN ACTIVITIES
SCHOLARS
FOR THE
NEW CHURCHILL
O ver t h e p ast few year s, t h e F ou n dat i on h as
instituted a variety of activities to welcome the new
class of Churchill Scholars, to bring them together
socially, to make them more familiar with Winston
Churchill, and to meet some of the Foundation’s
Trustees in London.
CH URCH ILL N EW S
Au t u mn 2 014
Ear l y i n O ct ob er t h i s year, Mi ch ael G or mal l y
(Churchill Scholar, 2011, and currently an NIHCambridge Fellow in Chemistry), Katie Deigan
Warner (Churchill Scholar, 2009, and currently an
NIH-Cambridge Fellow in Chemistry), Emma Yates
(Ch u r ch i l l Sch ol ar, 2011, an d cu r r en t l y a Ph D
candidate in Chemistry), and Eszter Zavodszky
(Churchill Scholar, 2009, and currently a post doctoral researcher at the Cambridge Institute for
Medical Research) served as hosts for a tapas dinner
at La Tasca. In November, Peter Patrikis met the new
group of Churchill Scholars in London, where they
had a private tour of the Churchill Museum and
Cabinet War Rooms conducted by the director Mr.
Phil Reed. After the tour, the group reconvened for a
luncheon in the private dining room at the National
G al l er y of Ar t . Th e Lady Soames (Ch u r ch i l l ’s
dau g h t er ) , Emma Soames (Ch u r ch i l l ’s g r an d daughter), Lady Mary Broers (wife of Lord Alec
Broers, former Master of Churchill College and
former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cam bridge, who was teaching in Australia), and Sir John
Boyd (former Master of Churchill College and former
British Ambassador to Japan) also attended.
CHURCHILL SCHOLAR NEWS
Churchill Scholars and the Hertz Scholarship
Over the years, many Churchill Scholars have won
the Hertz Fellowship from the Fanny and John Hertz
Foundation, but in recent years that number has
multiplied and has included more than one winner a
year. The Churchill Hertz Scholars are William Allen
(2012-2013), M. Michael Ansour (1973-1974), Gregory
Boebinger (1981-1982), David Dankworth (19861987), Zhou Fan (2010-2011), Maria Monks Gillespie
(2010-2011), Arvind Kannan (2012-2013), David
Karger (1989-1990), Lena Koslover (2006-2007),
Daniel Lecoanet (2010-2011), Po-Shen Loh (20042005), Julius Lucks (2001-2002), David Matsumoto
(1982-1983), Joel Miller (2001-2002), Anand Oza
(2008-2009), Judith Savitskaya (2012-2013), Jessica
Chuang Seeliger (2000-2001), Aman Sinha (20122013), Daniel J. Strouse (2012-2013), Stephen Vavasis
(1984-1985), Stanley Whitcomb (1973-1974), and Scott
Wunsch (1992-1993).
Ch urchill Sch olars an d t he NIH/ C amb ri dg e
Fellowship
C hurchil l Scholars h ave also est a b l i shed an
admirable record of achievement in the fellowship
programs of the National Institutes of Health.
NIH/Cambridge Fellows include Adam Bennett
PAG E 12
(2004-2005), Danielle Perry Bassett (2004-2005)
Matthew Biancalana (2008-2009), Lisa Bond (20082009), Katie Deigan Warner (2009-2010), Michael
Gormally (2011-2012), and Jonathan Liang (20132014). Jonathan is the sole MD-PhD candidate of the
program, but Adam Bennett went to medical school
after his Cambridge PhD, and Michael Gormally is
considering applying to medical school.
There are too many Churchill Scholars who have won
the NSF Graduate Scholarship and the NDSEG
awards for graduate study to list here.
1987-1988
Jonathan Glickman, who is an anatomic pathologist
wi t h su b sp eci al t y t r ai n i n g i n g ast r oi n t est i n al
p at h ol og y, i s n ow Di r ect or of G ast r oi n t est i n al
Pathology at Miraca Life Sciences (formerly Caris
Diagnostics) in Newton, MA.
Robert Kennedy, who now works for Google, was one
of the “tech surge” team that worked on rescuing the
healthcare.gov Web site on which rested the launch
of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He worked
on it for the month of February, 2014. He was proud
to be asked to help and prouder still to have come
away with the feeling that his contribution actually
provided some benefit.
1992-1993
William Feehery is now President of Industrial
Biosciences at DuPont. This is the core division of
DuPont that develops biochemical routes to compete
with industrial chemicals. The division already has
si g n i fi can t b u si n esses i n en zy mes, i n du st r i al
polymers, and cellulosic ethanol, and has many
amazing products on the way through the R&D
pipeline.
John Kulman is Principal Scientist, in Hematology
and a Director at Biogen Idec. He notes that Biogen
has kept him extremely busy, for the most part, in
very good ways. He has a lot of latitude in his work,
a fairly good sized research group of talented people,
and resources that one could only have dreamt of in
academia. A large part of his job is to develop
collaborations with academic labs, so he have been
able to follow my interests while working with
leaders in the field. As an added bonus, he has
become very involved with Biogen’s Japanese affiliate
office in building a network of Japanese scientists
and clinicians, an involvement that has allowed him
PAG E 1 3
Au t u mn 2 01 4
draw on his experiences living and working in Japan.
John’s wife Mio finished her MPH at Tufts, where she
was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow. She now works in
youth violence prevention for the Justice Resource
Institute here in Boston, focusing on the needs of
homeless LGBT youth. Their five-year-old son Eidan
is in kindergarten at the Belmont Country Day
School.
1993-1994
Wes Trotter is Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the
Merck Research Laboratories in Boston
1994-1995
Jason West and his wife Amy welcomed their first
child, Lucas James West, in August 2013, and Jason
was p r omot ed t o Associ at e Pr ofessor of
En vi r on men t al Sci en ce an d En g i n eer i n g at t h e
University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill.
1996-1997
Steven Keller is now a Senior Fellow in Pulmonary
and Critical Care Medicine at the National Institute
of Health and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins
Hospital.
2000-2001
Jason F u l l er i s t h e Di r ect or of Cor p or at e
Development at Jounce Therapeutics in Cambridge,
MA. Jounce Therapeutics is focused on the discovery
and development of novel cancer immunotherapies
designed to work not by treating a patient's tumor
directly, but instead by harnessing the patient's
immune system to seek out and attack cancerous
cells and tumors.
2001-2002
Julius Lucks again taught in the Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory summer course in synthetic biology. His
laboratory for RNA engineering in the Department of
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell
was admit t ed i nt o t he Cor nel l F ield of
Computational Biology and was featured in the
Cornell Engineering Magazine.
Krishnahu Saha, an Assistant Professor at Wisconsin
Inst it ut e for Di scove ry at t he Uni ve r si t y of
Wisconsin, Madison, received an NSF CAREER
Award to improve the genetic engineering of stem
cells. Kris was chosen as part of the Next Generation
Leaders Council by the Allen Institute in Seattle, and
CO N SO RTIUM N EW S
h e was f eat u r ed i n t h e Cel l an d Mol ecu l ar
Bioengineering “2014 Young Innovators Issue” for
his laboratory’s work on nanofibrous electrospun
polymers.
2002-2003
Th omas H ock er i s n ow Moh s an d Pr ocedu r al
Dermatology Surgery Fellow at the Mayo Clinic.
2003-2004
An n e Mar i e Cody h as f i n i sh ed h er p ost doc at
Cal t ech an d h as r ecen t l y joi n ed t h e N ASA
Postdoctoral Program at the Ames Research Center
wh er e sh e wi l l b e doi n g r esear ch wi t h t h e K 2
Mission in the search for exoplanets.
Yolanda Tseng and Nathan Gouwens have recently
moved to Seattle. Yolanda is an Assistant Professor
i n t h e Dep ar t men t of Radi at i on O n col og y at
University of Washington. Her position is 80%
clinical and 20% research. Her clinical focus is on
l y mp h oma an d h ead an d n eck can cer s. Sh e i s
currently working on her academic program, which
will also likely include research in lymphoma. She is
primarily based at the proton center that opened
about a year and a half ago. Nathan holds the
position of Scientist in the Modeling, Analysis, and
Theory group at the Allen Institute for Brain Science;
h e i s cu r r en t l y i n vol ved wi t h devel op i n g
biophysically detailed simulations of individual
neurons in the mouse visual cortex.
David Smyth is a Lecturer at the Mathematical
Sci en ces In st i t u t e of t h e Au st r al i an N at i on al
University in Canberra.
2004-2005
Kit Rodolfa took a position at the White House last
December: he is doing data and analytics work the
Office of Digital Strategy
2005-2006
Noël Bakhtian works for the Department of Energy
working in the International Affairs Office as their
Water-Energy nexus advisor. She has served on the
Board of Trustees of the Summer Science Program
and was appointed Senior Vice President.
Jon Hollander, in addition to his startup company, is
doing part-time consulting for ChaseFuture coaching
students on how to prepare university entrance and
scholarship applications.
CH URCH ILL N EW S
Au t u mn 2 014
Patrick Ward married Megan Bonney in May. Pat is
now a Medical Intern at the Massachusetts General
Hospital, and Megan is a PhD candidate in Biology
at MIT.
2006-2007
Elizabeth O’Day and her PhD advisor have founded
Olaris, a company based on Liz’s thesis work that
u ses a p r op r i et ar y N MR met ab ol i t e p r of i l i n g
platform that she developed to identify new drug
targets. The company is focusing on diseases with
limited or no options for treatment. The hope is that
the technology will fundamentally change how these
diseases are treated and diagnosed.
Daniel Hickstein completed his PhD in Chemistry at
t h e Un i ver si t y of Col or ado at Bou l der an d i s
continuing there as a postdoc. When Dan is not at
work in the lab he enjoys rock climbing, mountain
biking, skiing, and hiking.
Emily Russell received her PhD in Physics from
Harvard University and is on a postdoc at the
In st i t u t e for Comp u t at i on al an d Ex p er i men t al
Research in Mathematics at Brown University, where
she is moving into theory and simulation and a
mathematical perspective on systems loosely related
to what I did her experimental PhD work on. She
and her husband Dale are excited to be living and
working in the same city for the first time since
Cambridge.
2007-2008
James Ankrum is now an Assistant Professor of
Biomedical Engineering at his alma mater, the
University of Iowa.
2008-2009
Lisa Bond has been promoted to Senior Director at
BioAxone
Eszter Zavodszky completed her PhD in Clinical
Neurology at Cambridge and has begun a postdoc in
t he MRC Lab orat ory of Molecula r Bi ol og y of
Ramanujan Hegde, where she is studying how cells
accomplish protein quality control.
2009-2010
Kristi Beck published one paper in Science 341, 768770 (2013) and another in Nature 499, 62-25 (2013),
two very different projects published at the same
time. The Nature article was from a summer Kristi
PAG E 14
spent at Berkeley in 2012 exploring the physics she
does at MIT in a very different system--patterned
superconductors. The Science article came out in an
advance online publication the same day and details
a series of experiments conducted at MIT on optical
photons
Yonatan Kahn hope to finish his doctorate in Physics
at MIT this coming spring; he is working largely on
“dark matter.” Yoni co-founded Grand Harmonie, a
period-instrument ensemble now in its third season
an d a b on a-fi de 501(c)3 n on - p r ofi t en t i t y
(www.grandharmonie.com). He has also piloted a
Physics GRE prep course for the American Physical
Society as part of their Bridge Program to get more
minority students into graduate school
Toby Mansuripur hopes to finish his PhD in Physics
at H ar var d i n Decemb er 2015. H e i s doi n g
experiments on quantum cascade lasers and is
interested in the behavior of gain media, both
experimentally and theoretically. He has several
recent notices in Applied Physics Letters.
Courtney Schroeder was named a University of
California at San Francisco Discovery Fellow on the
basis of her leadership potential, excellence in
r esear ch ,
commu n i t y -mi n dedn ess,
an d
communications skills. Courtney is in the TETRAD
PhD program and is studying dynein, a molecular
motor; she a paper due out in eLife. She was named
outstanding teaching assistant in “Macromolecules,”
a biochemistry class for the first-year graduate
students, and she is very active in the graduate
student and post-doc committee in the American
Society for Cell Biology.
2010-2011
Mar t i n Bl ood-F or sy t h e mar r i ed h i s l on g -t i me
girlfriend Hannah Zwirner. Churchill Scholars from
near and far were in abundance at the wedding.
Si mon G or don ov i s en g ag ed t o mar r y El ay n e
Schneebacher next May. They met in a laboratory at
Rutgers when they were undergraduates. Elayne is
an applications engineer at Instron, a materials
testing machine company in Norwood, MA, and
Si mon r ecen t l y f i n i sh ed h i s doct or al cou r se
requirements in Bioengineering at MIT.
Stephen Linderman, in addition to being an MD-
CH URCH ILL N EW S
Au t u mn 2 0 14
PHD candidate at Washington University Saint
Louis. Is Vice President of IDEA Labs, a student
group and non-profit corporation he helped found
two years ago. IDEA Labs is a student-driven
b i omedi cal i n cu b at or wh er e t eams of medi cal ,
g r adu at e
sci en ce
an d
en g i n eer i n g ,
an d
undergraduate students work to create devices and
apps to solve healthcare problems provided by
clinicians. Throughout the course of the year, IDEA
Lab s su p p or t s t h ese t eams t h r ou g h p r ob l em
sel ect i on , cl i n i cal n eeds assessmen t , mar k et
assessment, design, prototyping, business plan
development, provisional patenting, and forming
limited liability corporations. The organization has
already raised funds from WashU and several other
sources for prototyping. The University Network of
In cu b at or s an d Accel er at or s, a n ewl y for med
nonprofit, special interest group of the Global
Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC)
invited IDEA Labs. Steve was invited to the 2014
G CEC Con fer en ce b ei n g h ost ed b y Un i ver si t y
College of London (UCL) in London on October 2-4,
2014.
Mar i a Mon k s mar r i ed Br i an G i l l esp i e, fel l ow
graduate student in Mathematics at Berkeley.
2011-2012
Michael Gormally is first author of a major paper,
“Su p p r essi on of t h e F O XM1 t r an scr i p t i on al
programme via novel small molecule inhibition” in
Nature Communications (5, article no. 5165). The
Un i ver si t y of Camb r i dg e an n ou n ced t h e
b r eak t h r ou g h as “Dr u g g i n g t h e u n dr u g g ab l e:
discovery opens up possibility of slowing cancer
spread.” Mike is finishing his PhD in the NIH
Cambridge Fellowship Program.
2012-2013
Benjamin Nachman will be moving to CERN to
continue his research. He notes that the Large
Hadron Collider will be operating with double its
previous energy: “exciting times.”
DONORS 2013-2014
THE FOUNDATION IS VERY GRATEFUL to those Churchill
Scholars, Friends, and Trustees who have contributed
to the Churchill Scholar Program. The Foundation is
a public charity and welcomes donations to keep the
the Scholarship Program vibrant and strong. This list
includes all donations from the last Newsletter up to
the printing of the current Newsletter.
CHURCHILL SCHOLARS
Up to $99
Jesse Bloom (2001
Michael Coughlin (2013)
Colin Godwin (2007)
Courtney Schroeder (2009)
John Downie (1983)
Vikram Juneja (1993)
Robert Penna (2007)
Vijay Sankaran (2002)
Patrick Ward (2005)
Iga Wegorzewska (2004)
$100 - $499
Anonymous (1984)
Anonymous (1999)
Anonoymous (2007)
Victor Abrash (1986)
Jonathan Bagger (1977)
David Mix Barrington (1981)
Rameen Beroukhim (1991)
David Bomse (1975)
Justin Boyan (1991)
Christopher Batten (1999)
Valerie Beattie (1988)
Kristen Beck (2009)
Peter Bermel (2000)
Mira Bernstein (1994)
Laird Bloom (1985)
Ann Marie Cody (2003)
Charles Crissman (2006)
Thomas Cusick (1964)
Peter de Boor (1988)
Arwen Long Declan (2001)
Ron Dror (1997)
Adam Durst (1996)
Rebecca Dutch (1986)
Lawrence Favello (1976)
William Feehery (1991)
David Fike (2001)
Brad Friedman (2000)
Carol Frost (1979)
Daniel Gezelter (1980)
Lisa Gloss-Lessmann (1988)
Belvin Gong (1999)
Yonatan Grad (1996)
Kenneth Gray (1965)
Nicholas Guydosh (2001)
Jennifer Hampton (1995)
Christopher Hayward (2005)
David Hinds (1998)
David Holger (1971)
Jason Johnson (1993)
PAG E 15
CH URCH ILL N EW S
Eugene Katz (1966)
David Kittelson (1966)
David Krug (1999)
Larissa Lee (1999)
Aaron Levine (2000)
David Liban-Nowell (1999)
Nikolaus Loening (1997)
Nicholas Love (2006)
Keith Meyer (1992)
Wesley Munsil (1995)
Andrew Nobel (1985)
Alexander Pekker (2001)
Colin Phoon (1985)
Joseph Pollard (1977)
Joanne Promislow and Stephen Craig (1992)
Emily Riehl (2006)
Mark Robbins (1977)
Bennett Rogers (2003)
Michael Rosen (1987)
Brenda Rubenstein (2007)
Joshua Sabloff (1996)
Howard Scott (1975)
Judith Schaeffer (1974)
Sandra Shefelbine (1997)
Michael Shulman (2002)
Jared Silvia (2005)
Elizabeth Simmons (1985)
Kathleen King Siwicki (1977)
David Speth (1973)
Todd Squires (1995)
Diane Thomson (1994)
David Torchiana (1976)
Yolanda Tseng and Nathan Gouwens (2003)
Salil Vadhan (1995)
Sarah Wignall (1996)
Adam Wolpauw (2003)
Stanley Whitcomb (1973)
David Wright (1977)
Kipp Weiskopf (2007)
James Yesinowski (1971)
$500 - $999
Anonymous (2004)
David Dankworth (1986)
Thomas Jones (1972)
Edward Kaiser (1964)
William Leaf-Hermann (1984)
Elizabeth Mann (1997)
Mitchio Okumura (1970)
Leslie Phinney (1990)
Alan Rosenberg (1968)
Stephen Scherr (1980)
Frank Sottile (1985)
David Stern (1981)
Scott Wunsch (1992)
Au t u mn 2 014
PAG E 16
$1,000 - $5,000
Benjamin Abella (1992)
Michael Ansour (1973)
John Bossert (1996)
Donald Bott (1990)
Philip Cole (1984)
Dmitry Green (1994)
Paul Hmiel (1980)
Sara and Glenn Ellison (1987)
Robert Hutchinson (1981)
Peter Monaco (1989)
Joseph Olson (1987)
Eric Rains (1991)
Daniel Wesley (2000)
TRUSTEES, FRIENDS, AND MATCHING GRANTS
Up to $499
Matching Gift Center
Medtronic Corporation
Merck Partnership for Living
Dr. Wai Wor Phoon
$500 -$9.999
Benevity Community Impact Fund
David and Nanette Burrows
Peter C. Patrikis
Alfred and Jane Ross
Saba Capital Management
A&T Vavasis Philanthropic Fund
$10,000 and more
Deborah L. Brice
Bradbury Dyer, III
MarioJ. Gabelli
Patrick A. Gerschel
Mary W. Harriman Foundation
Hogan Lovells LLP
Warren B. Kanders
Hon. John L. Loeb, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Russo
The proposal to bring young American(s) of
outstanding promise to England for study
at the most advanced levels, and to enlarge
their horizons of international understanding,
is one which I support with enthusiasm.
I am honoured that this programme should
bear my name.
Winston S. Churchill