Xander Uyttendaele, a 2023 graduate, is among 16 selected nationwide to receive the scholarship.
A May graduate of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Xander Uyttendaele is among 16 students or recent graduates selected nationwide as 2024 Churchill Scholars.
(Image: Courtesy of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships)
The scholarship is considered one of the most prestigious and competitive international fellowships available to American students planning graduate study in the United Kingdom. Churchill Scholars are chosen from select U.S. universities in the disciplines of science, mathematics, and engineering.
Penn has had 15 Churchill Scholars since the program’s inception in 1963, including eight in the past eight years. Penn leads the nation in producing Churchill Scholars since 2017, according to the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, which assisted Uyttendaele in his application.
Uyttendaele graduated summa cum laude in May with majors in physics and computer science. At Penn, he was a teaching assistant for the late professor Max Mintz’s quantum computing course. He also worked with professor Dan Roth in the Cognitive Computation Group to help develop the Penn Information Pollution Project, an automated online platform focused on combating misinformation related to COVID-19.
A member of Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical and computer engineering honor society, Uyttendaele was selected by the faculty of the Computer and Information Science Department to their Teaching Assistant Hall of Fame for “extraordinary contributions to the department’s teaching mission.” He also was chosen to receive Penn Engineering’s 2023 Ben and Bertha Gomberg Kirsch Prize in recognition of his “scholastic achievement, originality, innovation, and intellectual maturity.” In addition, he was a singer with the student a cappella group Off the Beat.
To better understand the impact of climate change on glaciers, Uyttendaele spent the summer of 2022 on the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska, working with the Juneau Icefield Research Program, where he conducted fieldwork and analyzed data on the Lemon Creek, Taku, and Gilkey glaciers. He was also previously a research assistant with professor Silas Beane at the University of Washington’s Institute for Nuclear Theory.
After completing his master’s degree at Cambridge, Uyttendaele plans to return to the U.S. and pursue a Ph.D. in physics.
People living on small islands and territories face mounting climate impacts, but little is known about their stance on the issue. Research from a team including Parrish Bergquist, assistant professor of political science, aims to fill those gaps.
Penn researchers developed a system that allows light to be guided through a tiny crystal, undeterred by bumps, bends, and back-reflections. Their findings pave the way for robust, controllable light-based chips, smarter routing for data links, and more stable lasers.
A West Philadelphia High School student practices the drum as part of a July summer program in partnership with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and nonprofit Musicopia.
A summer of student enrichment, from big ideas to bold beats
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