Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 2, 2007|Volume 35, Number 20

The Yale students who are bound for study in the United Kingdom as winners of Gates-Cambridge Scholarships are (from left) Alexandra Adler, Gregory Jordan, Rebecca Voorhees, Kathryn Blair, Kelly Karns and Adam Clark-Joseph. Alumnus Robert James, who graduated in 2005, has also won the prestigious award.

Seven Yale students win Gates Scholarships
for study in Cambridge

Seven Yale students were among the 48 college students nationwide who were awarded prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarships for study at the University of Cambridge.

The students are Alexandra Adler, Kathryn Blair, Robert James, Adam Clark-Joseph, Gregory Jordan, Kelly Karns and Rebecca Voorhees. With the exception of James, a 2005 graduate of Yale College, the students are all current seniors.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship was established by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for scholars of outstanding academic merit and leadership potential from outside the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship supports students who are accepted by the University of Cambridge to pursue a second bachelor's degree as an affiliated student (a two-year program); to take one-year postgraduate courses; or to do research leading to the degree of Ph.D. The award was first presented in 2001. About 150 awards are made annually, with one-third from the United States.

The following are profiles of the Yale students who won Gates Cambridge Scholarships.

Alexandra Adler

Adler will conduct research in "developmental programming" as she pursues an M.Phil. in biological sciences at Cambridge. This avenue of research, she explains, looks at conditions in the uterine environment that have long-term consequences for the developing embryo. Better understanding of how the process works at the molecular level offers the promise of being able to prevent the onset of disease, she says. Adler specifically is investigating oxygen deprivation in the uterus.

When she came to Yale, Adler already had had experience as a researcher at New York Medical College, and the work she began there has garnered her publication in three professional journals (twice as the lead researcher). After earning her M.Phil., Adler will probably return to the United States to go to medical school, she says, "ideally" to pursue a career that combines clinical medicine with research.

An accomplished violinist, Adler plays in chamber groups and was a member of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. She hopes to find opportunities to play the instrument while she is in Cambridge. "I am not purely a science person," she says, noting that Yale is a singularly rich environment for young scientists to develop their arts and humanities selves. Adler also received a Churchill Scholarship for study in the United Kingdom, which she turned down to accept the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship.

Kathryn Blair

A major in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, Blair says the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship will enable her to continue in the promising field of stem cell research at the newly established Institute for Stem Cell Research in Cambridge. As a doctoral candidate in biochemistry, Blair notes, she will be in the first class of Ph.D. students at that pioneering research center.

Blair, who had done research on a rare genetic hearing disorder as a senior in high school, flirted with becoming an art history or political science major at Yale. She found herself launched on the "biology track," however, after one exciting course in genetics her freshman year. She says she is confident advances in reprogramming stem cells will have invaluable therapeutic and clinical application, and is excited that the research she will be doing at the molecular level is "so fundamental scientifically." With "no eyes on a medical career," she says, her professional aspiration is "to pursue a career in service of science: investigating stem cells and their potential for medical application and playing a role in policy advocacy to help shape rational legislation for the future of biological research."

On the non-scientific side, Blair is a freshman counselor for Jonathan Edwards College, and she was a leader in the outdoor freshman orientation program known as FOOT. She spent a semester of her junior year in Argentina, polishing her Spanish, and she enjoys travel, backpacking and dance -- swing and the tango, in particular.

Adam Clark-Joseph

Clark-Joseph is currently pursuing a double major in mathematics and economics. At Cambridge, he intends to earn first an M.Phil. and later a Ph.D. in economics. Academically, he is most interested in financial economics, econometrics and probability theory -- tools that, the senior says, he can put to good use in the Yale Investments Office where he works.

In his extracurricular life at Yale, Clark-Joseph has served as vice president of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and, for the past year, as president of the Yale chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He is also an "avid" practitioner of the martial arts.

While Clark-Joseph speaks enthusiastically about the use of "a new class of mathematical objects, fractals, to forecast volatility and to price derivative securities in foreign exchange markets," his professional ambitions are less arcane. Eventually, he says, he hopes to work with governments and non-profit organizations, using his economic and financial expertise to promote "progress in the developing world."

Robert James

James received his bachelor's degree from Yale in 2005. Having done his senior thesis on how the English Civil War was remembered, James contemplated beginning graduate study of British and trans-Atlantic history directly after college. He decided, however, to take a break from formal study, and in that hiatus, he has "traveled, worked in business management, assisted a Tennessee senator and co-founded a non-profit corporation called Alliance Africa," he says. A class he took at a local university last spring rekindled his passion for history, he notes, and he now looks forward to returning to that academic discipline at Cambridge. He plans to earn an M.Phil. in early modern history, with a focus on collective memory in early modern Britain. He may follow with a Ph.D.

Whether he pursues a doctorate or not, James says he is committed to a career of service, a calling for which he has already exhibited passion and dedication. "My service work thus far has centered on social justice and relief work, ranging from prisoners' rights to African development," he reports. "I believe that teaching, too, is a service, and in my career, I look forward to mentoring and engaging the next generation of leaders."

Gregory Jordan

Jordan, a molecular biophysics & biochemistry major, is used to juggling many activities at once. Indeed, when he isn't in the bioinformatics lab at Yale delving into the mysteries of pseudogene evolution or "creating Web-based tools for visualizing genomes" (one of which was included in a publication in the journal Genome Research), Jordan -- as a member of the Yale Anti-Gravity Society -- may be seen tossing a steady stream of fruit or keeping a circle of flaming objects aloft in the air.

This former president of Yale's juggling club might also be spotted in the Yale School of Music recording studio, where, since 2005, he has been hiring and training a staff of 15, refurbishing and maintaining the studio's computer and database infrastructure, and keeping the day-to-day operations running smoothly.

Jordan intends to pursue a Ph.D. in bioinformatics at Cambridge and the European Bioinformatics Institute, a center for cutting-edge bioinformatics databases and software. Of his ambitions and aspirations, he writes, "I'm determined to help realize the promise of bioinformatics by using genomics and bioinformatics to aid our understanding of disease, and I wish to ultimately lead a basic research group in an academic or commercial setting."

Kelly Karns

As a major in biomedical and mechanical engineering, Karns has been actively engaged in research to advance medical and clinical technology, working on projects ranging from tissue engineered blood vessels to improving catheter design.

Karns will pursue an M.Phil. in bioscience enterprise at Cambridge. The program, which integrates the study of technical biomedical science with a business curriculum, is perfectly suited for Karns' career goal of a leadership position in a bioscience company, she says. "I intend to combine advanced technical instruction in biomedical engineering with preparation in the business and managerial skills necessary for such a position," Karns wrote in her application for the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship.

Like several of her fellow Gate-Cambridge Scholars, Karns is an avid musician, playing clarinet and tenor saxophone in numerous student bands and orchestras. She is no less enthusiastic about intramural sports, most notably women's basketball and co-ed innertube waterpolo.

Rebecca Voorhees

Voorhees will receive both bachelor's and master's degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry when she graduates from Yale in May. Her academic research has focused on understanding the chemical mechanism of protein synthesis on the ribosome, and she intends to build on her undergraduate research when she pursues an M.Phil. in biological science at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Voorhees has received nationally competitive research awards from NASA, the American Physical Society and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is a member of the Yale women's water polo team, and served as team captain during her junior year. She also is a co-director of DEMOS, an undergraduate organization that teaches hands-on science to elementary school students, and volunteers at a group home for adults with autism and at a local hospital near New Haven.

Eventually, Voorhees intends to enroll in a dual M.D./Ph.D. program, with the goal of an academic career in both clinical medicine and biomedical research.

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