U of M engineering senior wins prestigious Churchill Scholarship to study at Cambridge
Prestigious scholarship is worth about $60,000
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (01/19/2017) — Anthony Tabet, a chemical engineering senior in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering and the University Honors Program, has been named a Churchill Scholar by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, receiving one of the most selective and prestigious post-graduate scholarships worth about $60,000.
Only 15 seniors from top colleges and research universities nationwide were selected as Churchill Scholars. Tabet is the third University of Minnesota student in three years to be awarded a Churchill Scholarship, a record unmatched by any other public university.
The scholarship will allow Tabet to spend the 2017-18 academic year at Churchill College of the University of Cambridge, where he will complete an M.Phil in Chemistry. Working with Professor Oren Scherman, he will conduct research on supramolecular hydrogels which have potential therapeutic applications in cancer treatment.
The son of Claude and Maroun Tabet of Blaine, Minn., Tabet started taking classes at the University of Minnesota in the Post-secondary Options Program while a junior at Irondale High School. Initially interested in philosophy and political science, he excelled in chemistry and began working in the lab of Chemistry Professor Aaron Massari on a series of projects in polymeric materials. Following his interest in applications for polymers in biotechnology, he began working with Biomedical Engineering Professor Chun Wang and has developed and provisionally patented a polymeric platform for hydrophobic pharmaceuticals that will enable them to be employed in areas of the world that lack access to refrigeration.
As an Amgen Fellow in the summer of 2016 at Stanford University, Tabet worked with Professor Sarah Heilshorn to develop a family of protein-based hydrogels that will enable 3D printing of tissue. He is also the co-founder of CoCreateX, Inc., a public benefit company in the Twin Cities that provides resources and support for young technology entrepreneurs to develop products and companies, and he was a finalist for the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships.
Tabet’s studies at the University of Minnesota were supported by a scholarship from the Wallin Educational Partners and a Presidential Scholarship from the University. He has also won nationally competitive scholarships from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States was founded in 1959 to offer American students of exceptional ability and achievement in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics the opportunity to pursue graduate studies at Cambridge. Seven graduates of the University of Minnesota have previously been named as Churchill Scholars, most recently Max Shinn (2015) and Sammy Shaker (2016).
Students at the University of Minnesota who are interested in the Churchill Scholarships or other major competitive awards should contact Timothy Jones in the Office of National and International Scholarships at natschol@umn.edu.