Satwik Dutta

Satwik Dutta

Ph.D. Student & Research Assitant at The University of Texas at Dallas

Dutta named in the first cohort of Quad Fellowship by Schmidt Futures

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Credits: Press Release - The Quad Nations Announce the First Cohort of Quad Fellows

WASHINGTON, D.C.; DECEMBER 9, 2022 — Today, the governments of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, alongside fellow founding corporate sponsors Accenture, Boeing, Blackstone, Google, Mastercard, and Western Digital, jointly announced the Quad Fellowship’s first cohort of 100 remarkable science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students from the Quad countries. The Quad Fellowship, operated and administered by Schmidt Futures, is a first-of-its-kind scholarship designed to spur scientific and technological innovation while building ties among and empowering the next generation of STEM leaders.

The inaugural cohort of Quad Fellows is a diverse and interdisciplinary group of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians. This dynamic pool of gifted graduates studied at 69 undergraduate institutions across the four Quad countries, and more than fifty percent of Fellows identify as women or non-binary. They are focusing on a broad spectrum of disciplines, including astronomy, biology, engineering, computer science, mathematics, oceanography, and many more. The cohort’s areas of specialization are diverse and impact-oriented, including sustainable energy grids, solid-state batteries, environmental protection and restoration, 5G and 6G telecommunications, bias-reducing artificial intelligence used in a variety of applications from healthcare imaging to origami-modeled robotics, molecular, chemical, and synthetic biology, hypersonics, quantum and optical computing, cryptography, and neuroimaging.

Quad Fellows are committed to advancing innovation with a lens of positive social impact and collaboration in the private, public, and academic sectors in their nation and among the Quad countries. The Fellows will receive access to unparalleled benefits as part of a $10M financial commitment from a group of industry-leading corporate sponsors with track records of driving innovation and technological advancement. These benefits include funding, cross-cultural exchange through cohort-wide trips, mentorship, and participation in regular virtual and in-person workshops on various themes, including the intersection of STEM and society, ethics and innovation, and emerging technologies.

This year’s class of Quad Fellows passed a rigorous selection process designed and operated by Schmidt Futures. Over 3,200 completed applications were submitted for consideration. These written applications were assessed for their academic excellence by renowned academics from across the Quad countries in applicants’ fields. Over 100 professors across 15 STEM disciplines from the Quad countries evaluated applications for their academic rigor and intellectual promise. Fewer than eight percent of applicants advanced to academic interviews conducted by experts in each discipline, which further assessed candidates’ curiosity and academic abilities. Fewer than five percent of all applicants advanced to the final-round panel interviews, conducted by C-suite executives, tenured professors, non-profit Executive Directors, government ministers and senior-level officials, and other senior leaders from the Quad countries. Panel interviews assessed finalists’ interest in the intersection of STEM and society, capacity to bridge differences, and an orientation toward results.

Credits: UT Dallas News Center - Pair of Stellar Comets Named to Inaugural Class of Quad Fellows

University of Texas at Dallas electrical engineering doctoral student Satwik Dutta MS’20 and geosciences alumna Jade Knighton BS’17 have been selected for the first cohort of Quad Fellowships, a multinational scholarship program launched by the governments of Australia, India, Japan and the United States (the Quad) to build ties among the brightest next-generation STEM scholars.

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