Nathan Gouwens, a native of the Chicago suburbs, has never been more than two hours away from his home for an extended period of time. But after winning two fellowships this year, the biology major will spend the next year on another continent.
A Weinberg senior in the Integrated Science Program, Gouwens won both the Winston Churchill Scholarship and the Howard Hughes Fellowship this year. The first award will allow him to do research at Churchill College at England’s University of Cambridge with 10 other fellowship winners, and the second pays for five years of graduate school in a biology-related field.
Gouwens said he is excited to continue with his scientific research in England, but he’s also looking forward to learning about a different culture during his time abroad.
“It will really give me perspectives on how science is done in other countries,” he said. “I’m just interested in how people think, how thought is represented, so I’m really interested in anthropology and how culture is kind of the thoughts of a whole society.”
After returning from England, Gouwens will work toward getting his doctorate in neuroscience at Harvard University.
“I’ve pretty much been on a trajectory I set out since fourth grade in terms of wanting to get my Ph.D. and becoming a scientist,” he said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Gouwens, who specializes in neurobiology, is one of more than 50 Northwestern fellowship winners who will be honored at a dinner Monday night. He has been working with his research adviser, neurobiology and physiology Prof. Indira Raman, since the summer of his freshman year. Together they have researched the electrical properties of neurons in the brain and published a paper on their findings.
“What strikes me about Nathan is that he’s a true intellectual,” Raman said. “A huge part of science is communicating ideas, and he’s somebody that does that with ease and apparently with pleasure.”
Gouwens credits his family for much of the support he received when applying for the scholarships.
“I don’t think I would have gotten along through the whole thing without their support,” Gouwens said. “I think they’re a little nervous about me going away to England for a year.”
Although he says he doesn’t have “explicit hobbies,” Gouwens does find the time to play Frisbee and video games, watch playoff hockey, read and “talk way too late at night.”
Gouwens is dedicated to his academic life, but as his roommate, Matt Volk, points out, Gouwens also is able to find time to have fun.
“Recently he decided he wanted to learn how to roller blade and he picked it up in a week,” said Volk, a McCormick senior. “Once he decides he wants to do something, he does it and he does it well.”
