Mercer Times

Princeton University senior Joshua Yang has been honored with a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, a prestigious award recognizing U.S. students for their "outstanding academic achievement" and "social leadership." This scholarship covers the full cost of a postgraduate degree at the University of Cambridge, as noted in the announcement.

The Gates Cambridge program was established in 2000 through a donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its goal is to "build a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others." Yang, hailing from Palo Alto, California, is one of 35 U.S. recipients who will join the 25th anniversary cohort.

Majoring in philosophy with a minor in journalism, Yang plans to pursue an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at Cambridge. He aims to begin his journalism career reporting from India or Pakistan. This summer, he will intern at The Washington Post's international desk covering foreign breaking news.

During his time at Princeton, Yang has published articles on topics related to India, Israel, and Hong Kong in various media outlets including Foreign Policy, The Nation, and the LA Review of Books. His international experiences include a Streicker Fellowship in New Delhi and a semester at Oxford University among others.

Yang expressed that his reporting work in India “convinced me that I could spend decades in South Asia and still have more to learn about the region’s dynamic and contradictory forces,” according to his personal statement for the award.

He is writing his senior thesis on jurisprudence (philosophy of law) under Robert P. George's guidance. George praised Yang as “a morally and intellectually serious young man who thinks rigorously about the deepest issues."

Sarah McGrath commended Yang as “philosophically serious” and capable of conducting excellent independent research. Deborah Amos highlighted Yang's determination to report on social justice issues during their trip to Berlin where he reported from a Ukrainian refugee center.

A member of Mathey College, Yang holds multiple roles including undergraduate fellowships and student representation within Princeton’s programs. He has also held editorial positions with campus publications like The Daily Princetonian.