From Left: Luca Nashabeh CC'26, Christine Li SEAS'26
Two Columbians Are Named Churchill Scholars
Luca Nashabeh CC'26 and Christine Li SEAS‘26 have been named 2026-2027 Churchill Scholars. Established in 1963 at the request of Sir Winston Churchill, the Churchill Scholarship was inspired by Churchill’s vision for a US-UK partnership that would support the advancement of science and technology in both countries. Selection committees seek applicants who exhibit exceptional academic and research achievement. The Churchill Scholarship provides funding for one year of postgraduate study at Churchill College, Cambridge.
Universities may nominate a maximum of two candidates for the Churchill Scholarship each year; in a Columbia first, both nominees, Luca and Christine, have received the award. They will join a cohort of 16 Churchill Scholars pursuing graduate study in science, math, or engineering fields, along with two Kanders Churchill Scholars in science policy.
Hailing from the California Bay Area, Luca came to Columbia as a Rabi Scholar, and has pursued majors in Physics and Mathematics, with a particular interest in condensed matter physics. Luca's work in this field began with experimental scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) in the Pasupathy lab, aiming to discover and explain unique quantum phenomena in 2D crystals—a class of materials that generalizes graphene and has been an excellent platform for strong quantum behavior. Subsequently, Luca began pursuing more theoretical projects, next working with Professor. Héctor Ochoa on the effect of strain in multilayer graphene moiré heterostructures. This project was similarly aimed at understanding the origin of interesting quantum behavior in 2D systems. His research in these areas earned him recognition as a 2025 Goldwater Scholar. Most recently, Luca has worked with MIT Professor Liang Fu, a leader in the field of topological quantum materials, on the prediction of experimentally achievable superconductivity in novel electron-hole bilayer systems.
Outside of research, Luca is involved in the Columbia University Airplane Club and the Columbia Society of Physics Students; he is also an avid cook. Through the Churchill Scholarship, Luca will pursue a MASt in mathematics, specifically theoretical physics, at Cambridge, supporting his ultimate plan to pursue a PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics.
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Shanghai, and Beijing, Christine Li is a SEAS senior majoring in Computer Science. Her research focuses on quantum computing – a technology that leverages the quantum-mechanical laws of nature to achieve a fundamentally new form of computation.
Her interest in the field began from taking Professor Henry Yuen’s class during her sophomore year at Columbia. Since then, she has explored research in various aspects of quantum computing, including quantum compilation, quantum error correction, and quantum complexity theory, advised by Professor Yuen and by Professor Daniel Rubenstein. She spent a summer at Caltech as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow in Professor John Preskill’s group, where she developed a new approach to universal fault-tolerant quantum computation. As a Visiting Student at Oxford in her junior year, she worked in Professor Aleks Kissinger’s group on new methods for constructing error-correcting codes using a graphical language for quantum computing. In addition to her research in quantum computing, she also initiated a large-scale computational study of color across five centuries of art history, advised by Professor David G. Stork at Stanford. Her undergraduate research has resulted in three lead-author publications and multiple conference presentations.
For the past three years, Christine has been a Teaching Assistant in the Computer Science Department at Columbia, including for Introduction to Quantum Computing and for Advanced Programming. She has also organized the Columbia Undergraduate Computer and Data Science Research Fair annually. She has been a performer with Columbia Ballet Collaborative (CBC) throughout her time at Columbia and led the collegiate ballet company as Executive Director. As a Churchill Scholar, Christine plans to pursue an MPhil in Advanced Computer Science. Afterwards, she plans to pursue a PhD in quantum computing.
Students and alumni can learn more about the Churchill Scholarship and other fellowship offerings through the Undergraduate Research & Fellowships Office.