Ritankar Das : Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Ritankar Das graduated as the University Medalist in 2013, with a double major in Bioengineering and Chemical Biology. Ritankar received an MSc in biomedical engineering is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Cambridge as a Gates Scholar. He plans to perform bio-molecular research to find new energy sources at a national research lab after complete the degree. In addition to winning the 2013 Gates-Cambridge Scholarship and Goldwater Scholarship, Ritankar has received numerous other honors, including the National Science Foundation GCI Award, the American Chemical Society National Meeting Award, and the President Obama National Award for Community Service. As an undergraduate, he researched alternative energy at the British Petroleum Energy & Bio-Sciences Institute, authoring five publications and presentations. He also performed independent research at the Institute of Chemistry at Academia Sinica in Taipei and at the U.S. Department of Energy. He is the Founder and Chairman of See Your Future, a non-profit organization that teaches underserved K-12 students about sustainability, founded and served as the Editor-In-Chief of the Berkeley Chemical Review, and founded the Undergraduate Chemistry Tutoring Program at UC Berkeley.