{"72217":{"#nid":"72217","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Fulbrighter Wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENabil Wilf is a true Renaissance man. He\u0027s a molecular biologist who studies language, religion and women\u0027s rights. He\u0027s an American citizen, but he was born overseas. A practicing Bah\u00c3\u00a1\u0027\u00c3\u00ad, his dad\u0027s family is Jewish-American, his mom\u0027s family is Kuwaiti of Muslim and Zoroastrian origin. A Fulbright Fellow to Kuwait, he speaks Arabic and has traveled to Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and various other countries in the region. It\u0027s safe to say that if Georgia Tech held a contest naming the most well-rounded student, it\u0027s likely Wilf would get it. Instead he\u0027ll have to settle for winning another of academe\u0027s most prestigious student honors, the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWilf received his bachelor\u0027s degrees in both biology and international affairs from Tech in the spring of 2006. Last August, he traveled to Syria on a Fulbright language grant to study Arabic. He\u0027s now in Kuwait working with a local scholar to study whether views on women\u0027s rights among the youth indicate that positive changes are likely in the future for women in the country.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I want to know how women in Kuwait are shaping the national discourse, introducing their agenda for reform and to study how these reforms are received by the youth,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWilf became interested in the issue while studying abroad for a year in Egypt on a National Security Education Program Scholarship.\u0022In my classes, I saw how Islamic law is used to limit the rights of women in the Middle East,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis fall he\u0027ll pursue a PhD in the biochemistry department at the University of Cambridge working in the lab of George Salmond. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Cambridge is a pioneer in genetic and biochemical studies; it\u0027s where James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double-helical structure of DNA,\u0022 said Wilf. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile at Cambridge, Wilf will study the complex regulatory mechanisms involved in bacterial communication and gene expression of virulence in pathogens.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The overly simplified view of bacteria is changing,\u0022 he said. \u0022A better understanding of bacterial communication and gene expression will lead to the development of new antibiotics and a better understanding of how infections develop.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWilf credits the undergraduate research program at Georgia Tech for giving him the opportunity to gain valuable research experience. \u0022The growing Biosciences sector is a real plus for Tech,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWilf worked in the molecular biology lab of Professor Roger Wartell, investigating the process by which small RNAs regulate the expression of genes in E. coli.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter Cambridge, Wilf intends to help promote and build the biotech sector in the Middle East, combining his scientific and social science interests.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I don\u0027t want to be one of those people who goes to a country, learns the language and then comes back and forgets about it,\u0022 he said. \u0022Having this scholarship may make this a possibility.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStarted with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, the Gates Cambridge Trust chooses approximately 100 students from across the globe to study at Cambridge University in England. This year 48 students from the United States were named Gates Cambridge Scholars. The award covers the cost of tuition, airfare and a stipend.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"After returning from his Fulbright Fellowship in Kuwait, Biology and International Affairs double-major Nabil Wilf will study genetics at Cambridge thanks to the coveted Gates Cambridge Scholarship program.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Nabil Wilf to study genetics at Cambridge"}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2007-04-17 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:37","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-04-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2007-04-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72218":{"id":"72218","type":"image","title":"Nabil Wilf","body":null,"created":"1449177446","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:17:26","changed":"1475894651","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:11"}},"media_ids":["72218"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/trust.gatesscholar.org\/","title":"The Gates Cambridge Scholarships"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2429","name":"cambridge"},{"id":"369","name":"Fulbright"},{"id":"2428","name":"gates"},{"id":"2430","name":"kuwait"},{"id":"2426","name":"nabil"},{"id":"169425","name":"scholar"},{"id":"168670","name":"Scholars"},{"id":"167285","name":"scholarship"},{"id":"2427","name":"wilf"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}