CAMPUS CURRENT Alicia Schep ’11 Awarded Churchill Scholarship
When Winston Churchill set the standard for the scholarship that would bear his name, he likely had students like Alicia Schep ’11 in mind.
The chemical biology ma- Alicia Schep ’11
jor’s academic career has been marked by excellence. She’s re- ceived multiple awards, includ- ing the William G. Sly Prize— awarded to a junior chemistry student for “curiosity, intellectu- al integrity and enthusiasm”— the CRC Excellence in General Chemistry Award and the W.A. Brandenburg Prize in Biology. Chosen as a Senior Biology Writing Fellow in HMC’s Biol-
ogy Department, Schep co-authored a paper on cancer research done with alumni Diana Tran ’09 and Terence Wong ’09, which was published in DNA & Cell Biology Journal. In January, she became one of only 14 students nationwide
to receive the prestigious Churchill Scholarship, which offers exceptional American students the chance to pursue graduate studies at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge in England.
Schep plans to study computational biology during Cam-
bridge’s 2011–2012 academic year. “Alicia is interested in using computational methods to help understand a variety of very challenging questions in biology,” said computer science Professor Ran Libeskind-Hadas, who coordinated the Churchill Scholarship application process at HMC. “The University of Cambridge is a leader in this field and Alicia’s year in Cambridge will help prepare her for her doctoral work and future research.”
The scholarship will cover all of Schep’s University and College fees (about $20,000 to $25,000), provide a living al- lowance for her 11-month program, and pay up to $1,000 for roundtrip airfare. She will also be eligible to receive an addi- tional $2,000 for a special research grant. “My primary research interest in biology is gene regulation, because I think it is fascinating how two cells in an organ- ism, or a single cell at two different time points, can have the same genetic information but vastly different characteristics,” said Schep. “I’m primarily interested in computational biology because of how useful computational approaches are in studying gene regulation.” An interdisciplinary field, computational biology employs statistics, computer science, and applied mathematics to solve biological problems. Its computational approach helps research- ers analyze and integrate large-scale data sets. Schep credits Professor Eliot Bush’s Computational Biology course for stirring her interest in the field. “The class made me realize I enjoyed thinking through computational approaches for answering biological questions.” Studying at Cambridge, she said, will allow her to experience another culture and work alongside some of the brightest stu- dents and faculty from across the globe. After Cambridge, Schep plans to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology, conduct research and teach at the university level. The Churchill Scholarship draws applicants from 103 Amer- ican colleges and universities, with this year’s winners hailing from institutions such as Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and Prince- ton. The Winston Churchill Foundation, which administers the scholarship program, was founded in 1959 at the recommenda- tion of Sir Winston Churchill, who wanted to ensure American graduate student participation at the college that was named in his honor.
Schep is the 16th Churchill scholar chosen from HMC. –Koren Wetmore
Student News
12 Har vey Mudd College SPRING 2011
WILL VASTA
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