The UK-based Gates Cambridge Trust has announced the 2014 cohort of U.S. Gates Cambridge Scholars.

Representing thirty-five colleges and universities in Canada and the United States, the forty young men and women from the United States will use their full-cost scholarships to pursue graduate studies at Cambridge University. An additional fifty-five scholars from other countries will be announced later this year. Established in 2001 with a $210 million endowment gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the program selects scholarship recipients based on their academic ability and potential for leadership. An additional cohort of students from countries outside the United States will be announced later this year.

Five universities are represented for the first time — the University of Puget Sound in Washington; the University of Wyoming; California State University in Fresno; Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada; and the Medical College of Georgia. According to the trust, the gender ratio of scholars continues to favor women, with twenty-three of the forty scholarship recipients being women, a figure broadly consistent with the ratio in each of the last three years.

"We are delighted to announce our new U.S. scholars," said Gates Cambridge Trust provost Barry Everitt. "They are an outstanding group of individuals from a very diverse range of backgrounds who are both intellectually exceptional and show a dedication to improving the lives of others. We look to them as future leaders who will change the world for the better."

For a complete list of 2014 scholarship recipients, see the Gates Cambridge Trust Web Site.