UMBC Contact:
Chelsea Haddaway
Communications Manager
410-455-6380
chaddaway@umbc.edu

Gates Cambridge Scholarship Contact:
Ed Strauss
Cambridge in America
212-984-0972
ed@cantab.org

Michael Young ’11, philosophy, has been awarded a 2011 Gates Cambridge Scholarship to earn a master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

Young, who is also studying biological sciences, plans to pursue a career in medicine and bioethics. “A task of particular interest to me within the field of bioethics is examining the philosophical framework and ethical theory grounding standards of care in medicine and public health,” he says in a profile on the program's website. Young was previously a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.

Young is one of 30 2011 U.S. Gates Cambridge Scholars. The program has been providing full-cost awards for full-time graduate study and research to students from around the world since 2001. UMBC students Philip Graff '08, physics, and Simon Gray '08, chemical engineering, received Gates Cambridge Scholarships in 2008. Ian Ralby '02, modern languages and linguistics, M.A. intercultural communication, received the scholarship in 2007 and 2008.

The scholars were chosen from 800 applicants from 21 states and 30 US colleges and universities. They were selected at interviews in New York City in early February by academics and others from Cambridge and several U.S. universities.

The scholarship program is funded by a $210 million donation by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has supported nearly 1,000 Gates scholars from over 90 countries. The goal of the program is to set up an international network of scholars and alumni who will have a transformative effect on society. The University of Cambridge is the top-ranked university internationally, according to the QS 2010 World Rankings.

The 30 American Scholars will be joined by 60 Gates Scholars from other parts of the world who will be selected after interviews in late March 2010.

"We are delighted with our new American Gates Scholars selected in New York. Not only will these talented young people engage fully with the university and colleges while in Cambridge, but they have also been chosen for their likely future influence and engagement with some of the world's most pressing problems. Ten years after the arrival of the first Gates Scholars to Cambridge we are just as delighted to be welcoming these new scholars,” said Cambridge’s Professor Robert Lethbridge, Provost (CEO) of the Gates Cambridge Trust.

(2/10/11)