Altogether four Indians have won the esteemed Gates Scholarship for post-graduates studies at the Cambridge University. Sukrit Silas from Delhi will study for a Ph.D. in Pathology as would Bangalore-born Divya Venkatesh. Raghu Mahajan from Chandigarh will do Part 3 of the Mathematical Tripos and hopes to go on to do a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics while Anand Shrivastava, a product of IIT Madras, will study for an M.Phil. in Economics. The university, describing them as the “world's most brilliant students”, said they were selected from among the several thousands from 29 countries who applied for the scholarship set up in 2000. It enables academically gifted postgraduates with a strong interest in social leadership and responsibility to study at Cambridge. “This is an outstanding group of young men and women with a wide range of backgrounds, interests and career trajectories; what binds them together is a desire to 'give back' by using their education and leadership to tackle global problems and improve the lives of others. We are sure they will make significant contributions in the future,” said Professor Robert Lethbridge, Provost (CEO) of the Gates Cambridge Trust.
