FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — University of Arkansas honors senior Richard “Isaac” Hopwood has been selected as a finalist for the 2022 Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
With more than 6,000 applicants from around the globe, Hopwood’s selection as a finalist for this honor places him among the top students in the world. The scholarship funds graduate study at Cambridge University in England, where 80 Gates Cambridge Scholars are selected each year to receive full-cost scholarships, according to a press release from the university.
Approximately two-thirds of the scholarships are offered to students seeking a Ph.D., with 25 being awarded to U.S. students and the rest to international students.
Hopwood, an honors chemical engineering major with a minor in French, is from Springdale and has been awarded both the Honors College Fellowship and the Arkansas Distinguished Governor’s Scholarship. He has also been selected as a WAVE Fellow Researcher at Cal Tech and presented research conducted at the Chemical Engineering Research Symposium at North Carolina State.
“It has been such an incredible journey to get to this point,” Hopwood said. “Receiving this recognition is both fulfilling and humbling. There is no way I would have been able to do it without the constant support from my college and from faculty and scholarship advisers, who have provided guidance and written letters for me throughout the years.”
At the University of Cambridge, I intend to work at the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre on researching and developing high-entropy alloys, which, in both their manufacturing and operation, have the potential to significantly reduce emissions produced in aviation. I believe everyone has a part to play in our fight against climate change, and I hope to use this experience at Cambridge to jump-start my career in environmental research. I am proud to represent the University of Arkansas as a Gates Cambridge Finalist.
Richard “Isaac” Hopwood, University of Arkansas senior
“We are delighted that Isaac Hopwood will be representing the University of Arkansas in this highly competitive process,” said interim Provost Terry Martin. “He is a stellar student with a demonstrated commitment to research, to sustainability and to service. He will thrive in a competitive graduate program in material science and undoubtedly will go on to a robust career in research that will have a positive impact on the environment and our ability to live sustainably.”
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship was established with a $210 million donation to the University of Cambridge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000; it remains the largest single donation to a university in the United Kingdom. Since the first class in 2001, Gates Cambridge has awarded more than 2,000 scholarships to scholars from 111 countries who represent more than 600 universities globally and more than 80 academic departments and all 31 colleges at Cambridge.
U of A students who are interested in applying for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship should contact the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards at awards@uark.edu.