Two from MIT named 2025 Gates Cambridge Scholars

Markey Freudenburg-Puricelli and Abigail (Abbie) Schipper ’24 will pursue graduate studies in the field of their choice at Cambridge University in the UK, as reported by Julia Mongo on MIT News. We're celebrating this news and sharing what Markey and Abbie did during a MISTI internship in the summer of 2024!

Markey Freudenburg-Puricelli '25, majoring in Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences and minoring in Spanish. She has participated in three internships—her first summer in Italy and the following summers in Chile and Peru. She's also taught students STEM subjects through Global Teaching Labs in New Mexico and Spain. Last summer of 2024, she worked with other students in the Instituto de Paleontología at the Universidad Nacional de Piura, Peru, to collect, clean, process, identify, codify, and organize various fossil specimens from Mesozoic vertebrates. 

Markey chose to do an internship in Peru; though it would be winter, it was a destination that allowed her to conduct geology field work while practicing her Spanish. "I used many of the geology skills I have learned as an MIT student to understand the environmental and geological context in which we found different fossils. I also practiced all the Spanish I've learned at MIT! I gained new skills in comparative anatomy and improved my Spanish." 

"This MISTI gave me a taste of the work of a paleontologist. As a geology student, I was interested in this sector of the Earth sciences so that I could work with rocks that connected me more closely with life history. I've gained additional skills that I can apply to future studies," she shared how this experience would support her future career." 

Besides digging up ancient cetacean skeletons, Markey expressed the joy of building community with her Peruvian host family and peers—recounting dinner conversations about capitalism and socialism and connecting with her host family through local dessert, mazamorra morada.

Abigail (Abbie) Schipper '24, graduated from MIT with a BS in mechanical engineering and a minor in biology. Abigail has also participated in the Global Teaching Labs in Africa and India, and has interned in the United Kingdom and Denmark. Her recent fall internship in 2024 was in Denmark with SAGA Space Architecture that designs architecture inspired by outer space, with a focus on the natural environment and integrating human wellbeing. "My specific project was on the UHAB-3 mission [an underwater habitat enabling unprecedented aquatic science and astronaut training], which aims to create an underwater habitat for astronaut training and oceanographic research. I compiled a report on the life support system requirements for UHAB-3," explained Abbie. 

Abbie could also use what she's learned in classes at MIT for this internship with SAGA. "I used skills from almost all of my foundational engineering classes at MIT. Much of my work required Thermal Fluids Engineering (2.005) in order to dimension the ventilation, heat, and energy requirements for the habitat. I also used skills from a course 16 class, Space Physiology and Life Support Systems Engineering." After her internship, she produced a 50-page technical report which SAGA will use in grant applications for the construction of the UHAB-3 and a possible scientific publication after the UHAB-3 is constructed. 

"At SAGA, I designed life support systems from the ground up, taking into account every physiological need of humans to allow them to both survive and thrive in an extreme environment. Though I don't plan on going into architecture, I do plan on working on health care and medical devices for 'extreme' environments. So, this experience of thinking through the mission conditions, design requirements, and solutions will prove invaluable," Abbie shared about how this internship would help her achieve her future goals.

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