From Left: Maya Koka GS'26, Luca Abu El-Haj CC'26, Kavita Murthy SEAS'26
Congratulations to Kavita, Luca, and Maya on being named recipients of the US Gates Cambridge Scholarship!
The Gates Cambridge mission is to build a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others. It aims to achieve this mission by selecting outstanding scholars, providing them with financial and non-financial support at one of the world’s leading universities and facilitating community building at and beyond Cambridge.
Twenty-six awardees in the US have been selected to be part of the 2026 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars at the University of Cambridge. The US Scholars-elect, who will take up their awards this October, are from a wide range of backgrounds. 16 of the Scholars-Elect will pursue PhDs and 10 will undertake one-year master’s degrees.
Luca Abu El-Haj, CC'26 was raised in Philadelphia, PA, and is majoring in Physics. A 2025 Goldwater Scholar, Luca’s interests lie at the intersection of theoretical cosmology and high energy physics. He has recently been working in theoretical and computational cosmology with Professor Colin Hill, hoping to constrain phenomenological features of physics in the very early universe. Previously, he conducted research in observational astronomy with Professors Chuck Hailey and Kaya Mori, and he has also conducted research in computational nuclear physics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory with Dr. Stephen Gardiner. Luca is also interested in increasing interest and excitement in mathematics and physics, and has volunteered with the Math Reading Team, an after school program, working primarily with 4th and 5th grade students. When he is not doing physics Luca is an avid soccer player. As a Gates-Cambridge Scholar, Luca will pursue a PhD in the Department of Applied Math and Theoretical Physics, under the supervision of Professor Enrico Pajer, exploring quantum field theories in a cosmological setting.
Maya Koka, GS'26 hails from Texas. A student in the Dual degree program between Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin, she is majoring in philosophy, and is particularly interested in metaethics, ordinary language philosophy, and philosophy of law. Her studies are informed by extensive advocacy experience. As a Bolder Futures Social Impact Fellow with AAPI Data, Koka led Bearing Witness, a literary anthology documenting the stories of South Asian women experiencing domestic violence in New York City. She currently serves as Executive Assistant to the Board of Directors at the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project, where she supports governance and culturally specific outreach. Maya has also contributed significantly to statewide prevention strategies with the Texas Council on Family Violence. Maya has also conducted social-impact research as an Amazon We Want Fellow with Indigenous communities along the Rio Negro.
As a Gates-Cambridge Scholar, Maya will pursue an MPhil in Philosophy. Through her studies, she seeks to further develop the conceptual and ethical foundations for analyzing how language both reveals and restricts the possibility of justice, with the broader goal of advancing culturally-specific interventions.
Kavita Murthy, SEAS'26 is originally from the California Bay Area. She majors in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Her work focuses on immunotherapies for infectious diseases, and she aims to continue in this direction throughout her career to reduce the gap in global health equity. At Columbia, Kavita conducts research with the David Ho Lab at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center. Her research focuses on engineering bispecific antibodies for infectious diseases of poverty, working on projects for HIV and malaria. In the past, she has worked with the Stephen Quake Lab at Stanford University, developing a single-cell transcriptomic atlas and modeling the African Turquoise Killifish as a model for multiple sclerosis. She also served as a DAAD RISE Germany Scholar, working with the Dirk Baumjohann Lab at the University of Bonn on the effects of immune checkpoint proteins on T-helper cells.
Outside of research, Kavita is passionate about teaching. She currently works as a Lab Assistant for Introduction to Electrical Engineering and a Peer Tutor for Introduction to Biology at Columbia and as an After-School Science Mentor with the New York Academy of Sciences. As a Gates-Cambridge Scholar, Kavita aims to pursue a PhD in Medical Research, specifically researching novel vaccine approaches for malaria.
Congratulations to Sara Jane Renfroe, GSAS'20 on being named a 2026 Gates-Cambridge scholar! Sara earned her MA in Human Rights at Columbia, and will pursue a PhD in Social Anthropology at Cambridge.
Students and alumni can learn more about the Gates Cambridge Scholarship and other fellowship offerings through the Undergraduate Research & Fellowships Office.