This semester is shaping up to be a good one for academically-focused Penn undergraduates, as students continue to rack up prestigious awards.
Engineering senior Alexander Bernhardt and College senior Amol Pawar were recently awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to Cambridge University in England.
This comes on the heels of College senior Vijay Sankaran, who earlier this month won the Churchill Scholarship, a fully paid year's education in Churchill College at Cambridge.
According to Art Casciato, director for the Center of Undergraduate Research Fellowships, the Gates scholarship covers "one to three years with possible extensions for four years... [and] you can apply for further funding."
The scholarship was established only last year, yet four Penn students have won the award already.
"Four winners in two years is an exemplary start," Casciato said. "What Alex and Amol have accomplished is to continue the success of last year when Amanda Codd and Bart Szewczyk won."
Competition for the Gates is fierce -- students from any discipline can apply for the scholarship. However, only students majoring in engineering, mathematics or natural sciences can apply for the Churchill.
Casciato stressed that the Gates scholarship is more competitive than the Churchill because with the Gates, a student applies to Cambridge University whereas with the Churchill, a student only applies to Churchill College within Cambridge University. Thus, a lot more students apply for the Gates scholarship making it more difficult to get.
"It's a lot more competitive because it's not limited to a number of colleges," Casciato said. "This year there were slightly over 100 Gates finalists in the U.S. Of these, 50 or so were offered Gates Scholarships."
Students obviously need high grade point averages to win the scholarship, but the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- which awards the coveted scholarship -- is also looking for leadership qualities.
"Besides outstanding academic achievement and record [the goal] is to fund the education of students who are going to be leaders in the future," Casciato said. "These scholars will become leaders in helping to address global problems."
People have long regarded the Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University as a great accolade for study abroad. Casciato said the Gates scholarship is part of the long-running rivalry between the two universities.
"What's most exciting about the Gates is it's very similar to, even meant to compete with, Rhodes," Casciato said.
With a large amount of funding and applications from top students, Casciato claims people may someday mention the Gates in the same breath as the Rhodes.
"Every indication is in a hundred years, the Gates scholarship should be just as prestigious, just as important, as the Rhodes," he said.
And as the scholarship is still in its infancy, Penn could become integral in the development of the award, as the four students will direct and influence its reputation.
"The Gates Scholarship is still in the process of defining itself," Casciato said. The winners "have a unique opportunity to define what it means to be a Gates scholar."
This year's winners certainly satisfy the criteria for the award, and Casciato is sure that both will be superb scholars.
"They're both excellent students... Amol has already been accepted to work in a very prestigious lab at Cambridge," Casciato said.
Bernhardt has also won a Thouron scholarship and applied for the Fulbright, so he is not sure whether or not to accept the Gates. He said he is definitely interested though.
"I look at it a lot like Penn... [Cambridge] is very much a renowned school," he said. "I'm basically interested in studying abroad, doing graduate work abroad."
The Gates Foundation wants more from students than grades, and Bernhardt said his interviewers seemed particularly interested in personality.
"I'm sort of adventuresome," he said. "I've travelled a lot. I've definitely been to Europe a couple of times, driven all over the U.S." He added that the interview focused on a pharmaceutical research project he did last summer. He thought his interviewers were attempting to find signs that he would contribute to the social good.
Bernhardt said if he goes to Cambridge, he will take a postgraduate course in Management.
"It's kind of exciting... I was honored. It's certainly a very competitive award," he said.
Unlike other scholarships, the Gates does not demand institutional endorsement, but Bernhardt is still anxious to give credit to some of the faculty for winning the award.
"I think it's definitely a testament to the hard work the CURF office put in," he said.
