We are pleased to announce that two Columbia students have just been awarded Gates Cambridge Scholarships. This is the first time since 2002 that Columbia College seniors have been awarded the grant. Please find below their biographies in their own words.

Emily Jordan, a senior from Chicago, Illinois, has double majored in psychology and anthropology. She became fascinated by neuroscience while conducting independent laboratory research. Her honors thesis project, completed in the Champagne Psychobiology and Neuroscience lab, shows how social enrichment can impact the brain and behavior of mice so that animals with enriched experiences exhibit more appropriate social behaviors. At Cambridge, Emily will continue studying the brain in Professor Trevor Robbins’ lab in the department of Experimental Psychology. Her graduate research will focus on how impulsive behavior develops in rats, and how impulsivity contributes to addiction and can be transmitted across generations. After earning a PhD, Emily will become a professor of neuroscience.

Caroline Robertson, a senior from Chicago, Illinois, has majored in both Neuroscience and Religion, with a focus on philosophy and ethics. She has worked as a research assistant in neuroscience and philosophy departments since she was seventeen, at the University of Chicago, Columbia, and Cambridge. In the fall, she will return to Professor Simon Baron-Cohen’s laboratory and the Autism Research Center to begin a PhD on the neurobiology of autism. After completing her PhD, Caroline will pursue a clinical degree and balance a life of research with a life of practice. She became interested in coupling research with clinical work during her second year at Columbia, when she trained to become a Rape-Crisis and Domestic Abuse counselor. She now serves in this capacity in ten hospital emergency rooms in Manhattan and Queens. Caroline has studied classical oboe for twelve years and currently serves as the principal oboist of two orchestras and chamber groups.