David Baron ’25 and Asa Quasney Wardat ’25 have won the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which fully funds postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge. They are two of the 25 Gates Cambridge scholars from the United States this year.
More than 10 Williams students have received the scholarship since it was established in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
At Cambridge, Baron will pursue a master’s in mathematics and Quasney Wardat plans to obtain a master’s in architecture. Quasney Wardat declined to provide comment.
In an interview with the Record, Baron said he initially applied for the Dr. Herchel Smith Fellowship, a grant from the College that funds postgraduate study at Cambridge. “To apply to Herschel Smith, you have to apply to Cambridge first by October 15,” he said. “Within the Cambridge application, they have a funding section that says, ‘Are you interested in these fellowships?’ And Gates Cambridge was one of them.”
Cambridge Professor of Mathematics Oscar Randal-Williams will advise Baron as he pursues his degree. “You apply to work with one person … if the person is interested in you, they interview you,” Baron said.
Baron said Randal-Williams recommended him for admission following an informal discussion, which began the departmental admissions process: After another round of interviews, Baron was nominated for the scholarship by the mathematics department, and was informed that he received it in February.
Baron said that he plans to begin a doctorate in mathematics at Harvard after his year-long program in Cambridge. “It’s not uncommon to defer a year … and then go to Cambridge and do some cool math.”
Baron said that the SMALL Undergraduate Research Project at Williams and a summer research program at the University of Michigan helped him to develop his research interest. “At Michigan, I did this research project that really got me interested in this specific area within algebraic topology,” he said. Baron will continue in the area at Cambridge.
Baron participated in the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford as a junior and said he is excited to return to England. “It’s very different from in the U.S., where the professor-student line is very defined,” he said. “You can go to a pub and see your professors drinking next to you,” he said. “The student body is obviously very talented, but they’re also super awesome people, so you can just grab a pint and have some crazy conversation.”
Reflecting on the admissions process, Baron noted the importance of tailoring one’s application to one’s research interest. “Something that helped me was very close connections with professors, so they can write very, very strong letters of rec,” he said. “And also, a clear vision of what you want to do … Why this person, specifically, why this research?”
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