"Ashleigh Hildebrand Becomes a Gates Scholar"

Here is some great news from the school.  The March 7, 2005 OSU news release said:

“Ashleigh N. Hildebrand, chemical engineering senior from Wichita, KS and Joel A. Halcomb, history and mathematics senior from Sand Springs, OK have been named Gates/Cambridge Scholars for 2005. Dr. Robert Graalman, director of the OSU Office of Scholar Development and Recognition, says Gates/Cambridge is a program that provides winners with a full scholarship for graduate study at Cambridge University, funded by the Gates Foundation. Only about 35 American students were selected for the 2005 honor. The Gates Cambridge Trust was created through an endowment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The sole purpose of the trust is to award scholarships to enable the brightest of the world’s young leaders and scholars to take graduate work at the United Kingdom’s top university. The scholarship is a full-cost merit award, with its actual value depending on the level of tuition payable for individual courses -- on the order of $32,000 a year. President David Schmidly congratulated the students. You can see the photo at http://www2.okstate.edu./pio/gates_scholar.html.”

The Gates scholarship program was created as an honor and human resource development opportunity for US graduates who indicate promise of being world leaders.  Gates Scholars go to Cambridge University, England, to pursue graduate studies in an international setting.  Yes, Gates is the Bill Gates from Microsoft, and the original endowment was $210 million.

Internal competitions within all US colleges resulted in about 600 national applicants, from which about 35 progressed through a series of interviews and evaluations to receive the Gates scholarship.  The final interviews were in Annapolis, Maryland.

Ashleigh is a Kansas native, and in High School made it to national science fair competition all three years.  She chose OSU because of opportunities it provided for her to blend environmental engineering, chemical engineering, undergraduate research, leadership enrichment programs, and because of our track record of placing students in the top graduate schools in the nation.  She is part of the Honors program, a CEAT scholar, and participated in research with faculty members for her entire stay here. In 2004 she was one of two students in Oklahoma to receive a Goldwater Scholarship.   She has been accepted by both MIT and Berkeley, but the Gates opportunity to study at Cambridge and pick up international perspectives in environmental science and engineering is her choice. 

Ashleigh is a ChE major in the environmental option.  She is also pursuing minors in both philosophy and chemistry.

ChE Head, Russ Rhinehart says, "As I talked to her as a freshman, it was obvious that she was focused, goal driven, ambitious, and organized.  So, I asked her what her life goal was, so that I might offer advice about choices in her college activities.  And recall her answer as, 'Please don't take this wrong; but I want your job.' then it seems she added, 'on the way up.'  I was excited by her honesty, ambition, directness, and politeness.  As I offered advice, 'Then you should consider undergraduate research, extra science courses, etc.' it was clear that she had already done her homework and made those choices."

She wants to start in an academic career, and then enter the international arena in leadership related to the environment.  She chose a 5-year plan to integrate minors, research, and honors studies into her degree plan; to position herself for entry into the most prestigious graduate programs, and ultimately to open the doors for international leadership. 

Her research has already resulted in publications.

As a participant in the Honors Program, her classes take a bit deeper look at human issues, and she says, “My Honors participation taught me the value of understanding what goes on beyond the technology.  Engineering does not happen in a vacuum, after all, and you have to be cognizant of its impacts on the people and environment.”

Rhinehart adds, "While this might not be the path to an entry-level industrial position in chemical engineering, it relates to this OSU mission and this value of the undergraduate program within the School of Chemical Engineering.  'No man is an island.' I recall learning, and it holds true here.  While Ashleigh's focus, planning, and standards of excellence drive her, they also influence her classmates who will take those attributes into industry.  Alternately, the entire school (faculty, staff, and students) is dedicated to being the best possible, and Ashleigh was nurtured by and developed within this environment.  While we are very proud of Ashleigh's accomplishments, this Gates recognition is just the tip of the iceberg of acknowledgment of the strength and quality of all of our students."

OSU students Joel Halcomb and Ashleigh Hildebrand received two of the 35 Gates Scholarships.  Last year OSU ChE senior Cassie Mitchell was recognized by USA-Today as one of the top 20 college students in the US, and the year before OSU ECEN student Bryan McLaughlin won the same honor.  This is an exceptional statement about the quality of education at OSU.