Three individuals from the University of Chicago have been awarded the prestigious Gates-Cambridge Scholarships for 2025. The recipients include Elena Tiedens, a fourth-year College student, and alumni Muaz Chaudhry and Erica Hogan.
Elena Tiedens is set to complete her bachelor's degree in June with a focus on environmental history and a minor in Russian and Eastern European Studies. Her studies have centered around energy history due to the climate crisis. "From early on in my time at UChicago, I gravitated towards environmental history and then energy history because of the urgency of the climate crisis," she said. Tiedens plans to continue her research at Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institutes (SPRI). She expressed excitement about expanding her research on the post-Soviet Arctic and learning more about the region's histories and cultures.
Muaz Chaudhry has dedicated his career to helping marginalized communities. He earned master's degrees in public policy and social sector leadership from UChicago in 2024. Chaudhry co-founded Gender Rights Watch, a nonprofit organization, aiming to improve lives globally. "The social battles I fight today started in my late teens," he stated. As a Gates Cambridge Scholar, Chaudhry will pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge focusing on gender economics with a comparative study between Pakistan and Thailand.
Erica Hogan, originally from Tokyo, Japan, graduated from UChicago in 2023 with majors in Economics and Fundamentals: Issues and Texts. Through her scholarship, she aims to explore global political and economic inequality while studying for an MPhil in Development Studies at Cambridge. Hogan hopes to use Zambia's negotiations with creditors as a case study for broader research on international financial systems.
Both Tiedens and Hogan received support from the College Center for Research and Fellowships (CCRF) during their application processes.