The UK-based Gates Cambridge Trust has announced the first cohort of the 2024 Gates Cambridge Scholars.

The 26 U.S. scholars in this year’s class were selected to pursue graduate studies at the University of Cambridge. The cohort includes 13 pursuing a PhD and 13 engaged in one-year master’s degrees. They represent 20 universities across the United States and beyond, including the first Gates Cambridge Scholars from Monterey Peninsula College in California, Middle Tennessee State University, and SUNY Schenectady County Community College in New York. The class comprises 19 women, six men, and one person who prefers not to specify their identity, and their projects range from how magma shapes human life to how to create the necessary infrastructure to bring robots to marginalized communities.

Established in 2001 with a $210 million gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the program selects students based on their academic ability and potential for leadership.

“I’m delighted to announce the U.S. cohort of the Gates Cambridge class of 2024,” said Gates Cambridge Trust provost Eilis Ferran. “These scholars…are a reflection of the mission of the Gates Cambridge Trust established through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s generous and historic gift to the University of Cambridge—to change the world for the better. We know that these scholars—and those we announce in early April from other parts of the world—will flourish in the rich, international community at Cambridge, and we trust that they will go on to have a significant impact in their various fields and more broadly, tackling the complex global challenges we face today.”

For a complete list of the 2024 U.S. Gates Cambridge Scholars, see the Gates Cambridge Trust website. 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Valery Egorov)