November 21, 2011
UW seniors Byron Gray and Cameron Turtle named Rhodes Scholars
Byron Gray and Cameron Turtle, University of Washington seniors, are among 32 Rhodes Scholars just named for 2012.
The Rhodes Scholarships are the oldest international fellowship awards in the world, according to the website for Rhodes Trust, a British charity established in honor of Cecil Rhodes that provides full financial support for scholars to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Gray and Turtle were selected from a pool of 830 candidates nominated by their colleges and universities. The UW is the only public university in the nation with more than one new scholar.
Gray is majoring in political science; law, societies and justice; and Asian studies. His senior thesis is on family law, human rights and religious sectarianism in India, according to the announcement this weekend from the Rhodes Trust.
He won U.S. State Department scholarships for the study of Urdu and Hindi, and worked for a non-governmental organization in rural northern India. He has also studied the status of immigrants in Italy and worked on human rights and religious violence in South Asia. Gray is from Post Falls, Idaho.
Turtle is majoring in bioengineering. A Mary Gates scholar and a Goldwater scholar, he has done extensive work in cardiac therapeutics. He co-founded Bioengineers Without Borders at the UW, providing opportunities for service in global health, the Rhodes press release says. Turtle also is a social entrepreneur, founding and now serving as CEO of Point of Care Technologies, a company that develops molecular medical diagnostic devices that interface with Android-based mobile equipment. He is from Pullman,Wash.
Gray and Turtle have both been participants in the UWs College Honors program where students have opportunities to take selected core honors classes or conduct advanced work in their majors.
Gray and Turtle commence their studies at Oxford in October 2012. Gray plans to pursue advance degrees on contemporary India and in socio-legal studies, while Turtle plans to study cardiovascular medicine.
