1. 1/31/16, 10:12 PMShruti Sharma wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship | MIT News
Page 1 of 3http://news.mit.edu/2015/sharma-gates-cambridge-scholarship-0213
RELATED
MIT Global Education and Career Development
MIT Undergraduate Association
Department of Materials Science and
Engineering
School of Engineering
ARCHIVES
MIT alum Lorna
Ogolla Omondi wins
Gates Cambridge
Scholarship
Shruti Sharma wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Award allows MIT senior to pursue a PhD in materials and manufacturing engineering
at the University of Cambridge.
Shruti Sharma
MIT senior Shruti Sharma is one of 40 U.S. recipients of the prestigious Gates Cambridge
Scholarship this year. This award will allow her to pursue a PhD in materials and
manufacturing engineering at the University of Cambridge, focusing on nanotechnology in the
Cavendish Laboratories’ Centre for Nanoscience. She intends to pursue a career in industrial
engineering.
Sharma is studying materials science and engineering at MIT, and serves as president of the
MIT Undergraduate Association.
Sharma grew up in New Zealand and New Jersey. Inspired by her uncle, a physician who
treats landmine victims, she became an activist for amputees in middle school. Partnering
with the Campaign to Ban Landmines, among others, Sharma led initiatives to clear
landmines in Venezuela.
Sharma’s advocacy for amputees has influenced her research pursuits at MIT and elsewhere.
In the laboratory of Hugh Herr, an associate professor of media arts and sciences, she has
helped design multimaterial prosthetic sockets. Sharma has also used 3-D printing to
conduct research on low-cost prosthetics, and received an independent grant from the
Nora Delaney | GECD: Global Education
February 13, 2015

2. 1/31/16, 10:12 PMShruti Sharma wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship | MIT News
Page 2 of 3http://news.mit.edu/2015/sharma-gates-cambridge-scholarship-0213
About This Website
This Website is maintained by the MIT News Office.
MIT senior Maria
Isabella Gariboldi
wins Gates
Cambridge
Scholarship
MIT senior Michelle
Teplensky wins
Gates Cambridge
Scholarship
MIT senior Holden
Lee wins Gates
Scholarship
Daniel Jimenez
named Gates
Cambridge Scholar
for 2013
Topics:
National Science Foundation for work with Professor Jennifer Lewis at Harvard University.
With Lewis, she produced epoxy-based silicon-carbide and carbon-fiber inks that were used
to 3-D print nacreous architecture for high-strength, lightweight applications. This project led
to a publication in a peer-reviewed journal on which Sharma was the first author, along with
presentations at the Merck Technology Symposium and an undergraduate research
symposium at Harvard.
More recently, Sharma has worked with Markus Buehler, professor and head of MIT's
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to print bone for reconstructive efforts.
“Shruti exemplifies the best of MIT, and she has done exceptionally well as a student leader
within and outside of the Institute, academically, and in getting involved in hands-on
research," Buehler says. "She recently joined my research lab and is working on a project to
develop a 3-D-printing approach to create synthetic bone-like materials, which opens exciting
new possibilities in creating bioinspired material platforms that will ultimately help save
people’s lives.”
This past summer, Sharma worked at the Department of Medical Devices at the World Health
Organization (WHO) in Geneva, where she investigated and wrote about new medical
technologies. She ultimately presented her work at the WHO Global Forum on Medical
Devices.
“As stated by the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Gates Scholarship is awarded to students who
show outstanding scholarly achievements, commitment to others and to the common good,
and potential for leadership," says Adriana Velazquez Berumen, director of the WHO's
Department of Medical Devices. "In my 30 years at the WHO as a mentor to students and
delegates, some of whom have gone on to impressive careers in global health and politics,
no one has shown the above qualities as fully as Shruti Sharma.”
Sharma was nominated as a youth member to the United Nations' Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities. She also established the Girls Leadership and Mentorship
program at Boston’s Shriners Hospital to promote leadership and confidence in young girls
who are burn survivors — a program she is now working to bring to India, in
collaboration with the Indian Department of Disability and Empowerment Affairs.
Students Undergraduate Awards, honors and fellowships
School of Engineering Materials Science and Engineering

3. 1/31/16, 10:12 PMShruti Sharma wins Gates Cambridge Scholarship | MIT News
Page 3 of 3http://news.mit.edu/2015/sharma-gates-cambridge-scholarship-0213
MIT News Office • Building 11-400
Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307