In this video, Megan Kennedy, director of the UW Resilience Lab and project lead for the UW Dialogue Initiative, provides some background and a progress report on the first year of the Initiative.
Category: Features
Typically longer in length and relevancy than content in the news category. Features content is more likely to be republished over time.
UW undergraduate receives prestigious Gates Cambridge scholarship
Tristan Jafari, pursuing his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ, was selected for the prestigious .Ěý
Jafari, a departmental Honors student set to graduate a year early this June, will receive a full-cost scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in philosophy in Population Health Sciences at the University of Cambridge, England.Ěý
The highly competitive scholarship recognizes past accomplishments and future potential. This year, 35 students from US-based institutions were selected to join the 2025 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars. In April 2025, 65 additional students from around the world will be named, forming a class of .
“Being named a Gates Cambridge Scholar is an immense honor,” said Jafari. “It’s both inspiring and motivating to join a global community of scholars who are deeply committed to using their education to improve lives.”Â
Alongside this remarkable achievement, Jafari has earned the , the and the twice. He was also honored with the , each of which provided him with invaluable opportunities and enriched his undergraduate experience.
Jafari was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Mukilteo, Washington, by Iranian parents who left their homeland as teenagers. They resettled in Germany before immigrating to the United States. As dual citizens of the U.S. and Germany, Jafari’s family spoke English, German and Farsi. This multicultural upbringing allowed him to navigate a blend of cultures, shaping his perspective on identity and global health.
After witnessing a life-saving medical response, Jafari became an emergency medical technician (EMT) during his freshman year and has since worked in Snohomish County. At the UW, he has grown through a diverse set of experiences — researching cardiometabolic disease at the UW Diabetes Institute, leading campus blood drives with the American Red Cross, establishing a free CPR training program on campus and volunteering to improve patient health literacy.
Jafari is eager to immerse himself in the global academic community at Cambridge, where he will advance his proficiency in spatial epidemiology, biostatistics and public health frameworks to better understand how systemic health challenges, such as addiction, chronic disease and emergency response, can be addressed.
“I know that this experience will challenge my thinking, broaden my perspective and equip me with the tools to become a more impactful leader in medicine and public health,” said Jafari. He hopes to pursue an M.D. after his master’s degree, with long-term aspirations to integrate public health leadership and clinical medicine.
Jafari expresses deep gratitude to his mentors and professors, including Mr. Eric Timm, Dr. Charlie Barrows, Dr. Hannah Jordt, Dr. Daniel Roberts, Dr. Inma Velasco, Dr. Mauricio Dorfman, and Dr. Josh Thaler. He also thanks his friends and family for their unwavering encouragement.
About the Gates Cambridge ScholarshipÂ
Established in October 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded on a student’s intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.
Learn about scholarship opportunities at the UW
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship application process is supported by the (OMSFA), a UAA program. OMSFA works with students, faculty and staff to identify and support undergraduate students and alumni in developing the skills and personal insights necessary to become strong candidates for scholarships.
More than money: Scholarships, jobs, internships map to students’ interests
Funding opportunities abound across UAA with a broad range of funded opportunities — scholarships, internships and jobs — that connect to and support students’ interests.
Celebrating the 2023–24 Undergraduate Medalists
Each year, the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ awards the President’s Medalist Award to its top undergraduates. For 2023–2024, Samuel Perkowski, Mia Grayson and Cher Zhang were chosen for their academic excellence, including high GPAs, rigorous coursework and Honors classes. All three biochemistry majors have pursued impactful research and embraced the Husky Experience through activities like lab work, music and studying abroad. They will be honored by President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Tricia Serio at a special reception, where they’ll receive their medals in front of family, friends and mentors.
Dialogue, disagreement and democracy course highlights reel
In the leadership course, “2024: Dialogue, Disagreement and Democracy,” students learned tools to engage thoughtfully with contentious issues. Offered in the autumn of 2024, this class helped undergraduates navigate complex topics, forge meaningful relationships and have productive conversations in a polarized world.
UW Community College Research Initiatives awarded $1.7 million grant from Ascendium Education Group to continue STEM Transfer Partnerships program
The ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ’s Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI) has been awarded a $1.7 million grant from Ascendium Education Group to continue its STEM Transfer Partnerships (STP) program, which aims to increase equity in STEM education for low-income learners across Washington state. This funding extension builds on an earlier $1.17 million grant, continuing the work to improve outcomes for underserved students in STEM fields.
CCRI conducts research to promote equity in higher education, with a focus on the experiences of underserved student populations. Ascendium supports initiatives aimed at helping students from low-income backgrounds achieve postsecondary degree completion. With aligned goals of enhancing access and success for low-income learners, Ascendium is a natural and valuable partner in advancing CCRI’s efforts.
From mentorship to MBA
Alumnus Izaiha Ellis, ’20, began his interdisciplinary journey at the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ with the Honors Program course, “Leadership, Democracy and a More Thoughtful Public.” Each week, he read essays by global politicians and writers, exploring how individual actions shape community dynamics. The course challenged students to consider how their choices impact the support or neglect of others.
Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind, Stayed on Freedom) [video]
Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Ed Taylor shares his talk, “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind, Stayed on Freedom)” at the College of Education’s EduTalks: Thriving Generations on March 28, 2024. Taylor is also a professor in the College of Education.
In appreciation of David Bonderman, whose vision broadened horizons and changed lives
Photo by Web Summit , , via Wikimedia Commons.
We join friends, colleagues and the Bonderman Fellow community who are saddened to learn of David Bonderman’s recent passing. David earned his undergraduate degree in Russian from the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ in 1963. A proponent of the transformative power of travel, he created the Bonderman Fellowship in 1995 to provide opportunities for students to have life-changing, international experiences.
His influence in and talent for business, and his interests in sports and rock-and-roll music are . The are, arguably, the most individually-impactful of David’s visionary interests and gifts. David received a travel fellowship after graduating from Harvard Law School which inspired his vision for the Bonderman Fellowship at the UW.
Bonderman Fellowships offer undergraduate, graduate and professional students at the UW $26,000 for independent exploration and international travel. Bonderman Fellows travel on their own for eight months, to at least six countries in two regions of the world. Their “assignment” is to seek out new experiences and learn about the world around them. While there is frequently a guiding interest that shapes their trip, fellows are not allowed to engage in formal study at a university, conduct research or travel with an organized group.
More than 300 students have been named Bonderman Fellows since 1995. Collectively, they have traveled from Algeria and Argentina to Vietnam and Zimbabwe and dozens of countries in between. Their interests are as wide-ranging as their flight paths and other modes of travel.
“These journeys have created a sense of connection with all of humanity and trust in oneself that can’t be replicated by any other experience,” said Brook Kelly, Bonderman alum and assistant director in the Honors Program who also supported the Fellowship for nearly two decades.
“My own Bonderman journey was 20 years ago, and I first met David just after I’d returned to Seattle from six months of traveling in east and southern Africa. I felt lucky to meet and thank him, and to get a little glimpse into the direct, funny and impact-minded person behind the gift that had changed my life. I feel so lucky to have known him, to have helped to bring his vision to life, and for the ripples my own Bonderman trip continues to create.”
— Brook Kelly
Upon learning of David Bonderman’s passing, Bonderman Fellow Drew Pierce-Street wrote that she “reflected on how every nook and cranny of my present day have been touched by David Bonderman’s generosity, and how vastly different I am from one year ago (almost to the day) when I boarded a plane to discover the greatest internal adventure and period of growth in my life. … Perhaps there is more motivation for me now to keep surging forward with an added sparkle of gusto on the path that the fellowship laid down for me.”
Bonderman Fellows talk about their gratitude in being able to travel the world; how prolonged, solo travel can be difficult but inspires courage and confidence; how they view the world differently and see the interconnectedness of people more readily; how they want to make a difference in the lives of others.
Bonderman Fellow Bryan Nakata reflected they were “inspired to push boundaries, challenge assumptions and find ways to connect with others across cultures and geographies. I grew immensely as a person, and it was undoubtedly one of the most important experiences of my life. The lessons I learned as a fellow will guide me for the rest of my life, and I am very proud to call myself a Bonderman alum. I believe his legacy will live on through the work we do and the next generations of fellows for years to come.”
Bonderman Fellowships are administered by Undergraduate Academic Affairs and The Graduate School. In 2017, the UW Bonderman Fellowship expanded its impact with a $10 million endowment from David Bonderman. Prior to that he funded the Fellowships annually.
Read President Ana Mari Cauce’s appreciation of David Bonderman.
Learn more about the experiences of Bonderman Fellows through this audio slideshow, created in 2007 for the 15th anniversary of the Bonderman Fellowships.
Bridging science and humanity
Daniel Chen’s journey into research began with a fascination for ancient cultures and extinct creatures. As a middle schooler, he was captivated by archaeology and paleontology, dreaming of working at excavation sites, unearthing ancient bones and tracing the histories of lost civilizations.ĚýOver time, that early curiosity shifted toward biology, particularly as computational modeling emerged as a powerful tool.