UB senior receives Gates Cambridge Scholarship

2023 Goldwater scholarship winner and UB biomedical engineering senior Sydney Swedick has added another prestigious fellowship to her extensive scholarly honors: the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which awards her a full scholarship to pursue a postgraduate degree at the University of Cambridge.

Swedick’s award is the first time since 2016 that a UB student has won this international award, according to Megan Stewart, director of UB’s Office of Fellowships and Scholarships.

“Sydney amazes me at everything she does, and winning the Gates Cambridge is a testament to her exceptional academic and leadership potential, and demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of others,” says Stewart.

“Winning this scholarship is an impressive feat, and it reflects the University at Buffalo’s commitment to academic excellence. It underscores its reputation as a diverse, inclusive scholarly community dedicated to bringing the benefits of our research to local and global communities.”

Swedick can be proud of her growing legacy and the object lesson she has become for other UB students — and the Cambridge Gates is just the latest example. About 1% of Gates Cambridge applicants receive the award, which comes with a “maintenance fee” stipend throughout her three-year PhD program, in addition to the full scholarship. 

“Conducting this work and having this opportunity,” Swedick says, “is part of the next step toward me becoming a physician-scientist and leading in finding new therapies and treatments for those with peripheral nerve and spinal cord injuries, while starting my own biotech company one day.”

Then there is her roll call of awards. So far Swedick’s academic honors include selection to the All-USA Academic Team while attending SUNY Schenectady, one of only 20 community college students in the country to receive this award, and the 2022 New Century Transfer Scholar Award — she was the top applicant in New York State — given to community college students demonstrating intellect and leadership. She was also one of 15 students selected for the Johns Hopkins University Amgen Scholar U.S. Program and one of only six in the nation to conduct research through the HEART/SHURP MD/PhD summer internship program at Harvard Medical School.

Not to mention the Goldwater, considered the most prestigious and competitive research scholarship offered for undergraduate STEM students. By the way, respected international rankings recognize Cambridge as the No. 2 university in the world.

That’s a partial list of her accomplishments. And she’s only 21 years old. Not bad for a native of Johnstown, a small city of 8,070 in upstate New York, whose ambitions include strengthening ties to her hometown and breaking down educational barriers.

She says her life would look very different if it weren’t for her family — she has four siblings she is very close to — and lifelong friends.

“The odds were against me,” she says.

“It’s really, I think, a creation of all my siblings and my parents, and the work of us together because I really could not have done it without them.”

Swedick’s research interest in biomedical engineering and neurology, along with her hopes of entering a prominent medical school, trace back to her childhood, when she battled through serious medical conditions. When Swedick was just 12, she had two titanium rods and 11 screws placed in her spine during a 10-hour spinal fusion surgery. At that point, she knew she wanted to eventually go into biomedical research, which evolved into her present ambition to blend neurology and engineering as a physician-scientist.

Medical challenges followed her through high school and continued when she attended SUNY Schenectady. Swedick was diagnosed a couple years ago with severe forms of the autoimmune diseases Thyroid Eye Disease and Graves’ disease, immune system disorders that result in the overproduction of thyroid hormones, affecting many body systems. Her condition went undiagnosed for years because her symptoms were attributed to allergies.

The more she struggled with her health and the busier she got academically, the more she discovered the need for balance and what mattered in her life. Swedick says she believes she would have succeeded in her accomplishments, despite her health challenges, due to the work ethic and determination she received from her parents. These were the cards she was dealt, she says, and she would make the most of it. Yet, the struggles were important, as it provided her with a strong sense that the people in her life made it worth living, and she would take those she met along her journey wherever she went.

That sense of balance comes into play when she remembers the conversations she had with her high school friends about the world beyond Johnstown. She promises to continue to advocate for educational equity and bridging the disparities of the system — activism that began during her time at SUNY Schenectady.

While at the community college, she was an ambassador for the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP), a state Department of Education program that aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who are pursuing professional licensure and careers in mathematics, science, technology and health-related fields. She also a member of the campus’ TRIO program, a U.S. Education Department outreach and student services program designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

She plans to continue breaking down those same educational barriers while at Cambridge, where she hopes to volunteer at the Cambridge Science Centre, while joining sustainability organizations such as Cambridge Zero.

Even though her next step means moving halfway across the world, she remains steadfast to her hometown, from her family to her friends to the values still vivid from growing up in a small town at the base of the Adirondack Mountains. She isn’t leaving these people behind; she’s bringing pieces of them with her until she returns, once again, to help others in her situation.

“One day I will look to my sides and see my people standing firmly with me, and I will say we made it,” she says. “My people, we made it.”