No te b o o k • Vo lu me X X V I I l • 2020
Michael Xiao-
5 5 fo r
U ’ S
Five years after the University of
Utah became eligible to compete for the prestigious Churchill Scholarship out of the United Kingdom, the university has sported just as many winners. All of them hail from the College of Science, and all were facilitated through the Honors College which actively moves candidates through a process of university endorsement before applications are sent abroad. The effort has obviously paid off.
“These students are truly amazing,”
says Ginger Smoak, Associate Professor Lecturer in the Honors College and the Distinguished Scholarships Advisor. “They are not merely intelligent, but they are also creative thinkers and problem solvers who are first-rate collaborators, researchers, learners, and teachers.”
The most recent U of U winner of the
Churchill Scholars program is Michael Xiao of the School of Biological Sciences (SBS).
While early on he aspired to be
a doctor, Xiao’s fascination with how mutations in the structure of DNA can lead to diseases such as cancer led him to believe that while it would be one thing “to be able to treat someone, to help others, it would be quite another to be able to understand and study the underpinnings of what you’re doing and to be at its forefront.” This is particularly true, right now, he says, with the advent of the coronavirus.
The underpinnings of Xiao’s recent
success started as early as eighth grade in the basement of his parent’s house where he was independently studying the effects 8
“The Honors College provided guidance that helped improve my work and also my personal life.”
F I F T H
S T R A
