Gates Cambridge Scholar is a Triple Threat
Sam Sudar is a neurobiology major who spends hours each week working in a research lab. But he's also an English major and a philosophy major. And he's managed to squeeze in a minor in music.
The modern-day Renaissance man's next step? Studying at the University of Cambridge in England. He will head there in the fall as recipient of a prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
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| Sam Sudar |
The highly competitive scholarship supports graduate study at Cambridge and brings recognition of accomplishments and future promise. This year, 37 students from across the United States were selected from an original applicant pool of more than 700 students.
Sudar is the fourth UW student to be named a Gates Cambridge Scholar since the awards were first made in 2000. His other accomplishments include an honorable mention for the Goldwater Scholarship, membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and the rank of Eagle Scout.
As a research assistant in Professor Tom Reh's laboratory in the Department of Biological Structure, Sudar's work supports the lab's aim of harnessing the regenerative potential of the mammalian retina. Sudar hopes to build on his undergraduate research experiences to study treatments that regenerate the central nervous system after damage. At Cambridge, he plans to study the regeneration of the spinal cord, with the goal of reversing paralysis due to injury.
Established in October 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded on a student's intellectual ability, leadership capacity, and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.