Fang Cao, a senior neurobiology and physiology and computer science major, was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar.
When university senior Fang Cao was a child, his family slept on cardboard mattresses and lived in government-subsidized housing in London. After emigrating from China, Cao’s parents struggled to find jobs, attend college and raise their son while still mastering English.
His family moved to Montgomery County when Cao was 7, and more than a decade later, he will return to the United Kingdom next year as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, the first Rhodes Scholar to be chosen from this university since 1974.
“I’m really fortunate,” Cao said. “My ability to win this award not only reflected upon myself, but I think more importantly it reflected on all of the people who’ve helped me out over the past four years.”
Cao, a computer science and physiology and neurobiology major, will attend Oxford next year to pursue a master’s degree in medical anthropology. Cao has worked on research projects modeling neurons at the National Institutes of Health and this university under Daniel Butts, and said the brain has always been of interest to him.
“I didn’t really know how it worked,” Cao said, “and somewhere in high school I realized no one really knows how it works, so it was a really fascinating area.”
As Cao continued to study and volunteer, he became interested in medical anthropology and learning about how culture and socioeconomic conditions impact a person’s health.
The Rhodes committees look for students who have impressive academic records, community service commitments and have served as leaders, said history professor Richard Bell, who works with the National Scholarships Office to help university undergraduates apply for United Kingdom-based fellowships.
“They’re also looking for a spark, I think, for people who are interesting, intriguing, ambitious, passionate, enthusiastic,” Bell said. “Finding those things in the same human being is a tall order sometimes.”
Cao, who also has been awarded Goldwater and Truman scholarships, said the difficulties his family faced when he was a child made him want to give back. Cao launched and runs two tutoring programs at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville. He said his love of hip-hop helps him form relationships with students.
“A lot of the students I work with also listen to hip-hop, so it was a way for me to connect to them,” he said. “Building that initial bridge of trust is really important when you want these kids to think about education.”
Todd Cooke, faculty supervisor for the tutoring programs, said many Northwestern High School students cannot imagine ever attending college and that Cao has “been able to inspire them to dream about higher education.”
Bell and other faculty worked to help Cao through the Rhodes application process, which included an intensive interview and eight recommendation letters. Francis DuVinage, university National Scholarship Office director, said that the most competitive applicants begin planning as early as sophomore year.
After the initial application round, finalists from 16 U.S. regions were selected. These finalists then participated in interviews, and two scholars from each region were chosen, Bell said. Bell and DuVinage led mock interview sessions with Cao on his work, interests and current events to prepare.
“That was Fang sitting in a conference room surrounded by three, four, five, different University of Maryland faculty members interrogating him, trying to get him to slip up,” Bell said, “and Fang got better and better about giving very polished, interesting, intriguing answers.”
Professor Raymond St. Leger, a member of the Integrated Life Sciences faculty and an academic mentor to Cao, said that many students in Cao’s position may be afraid or lack the confidence to apply to fellowships like the Rhodes.
“What Fang realized was he just had to knock on the door and the door would open,” St. Leger said. “He’s ambitious, goal-orientated and he would give it a go.”
Cao said he is not sure what career path he will pursue after completing his master’s degree at Oxford.
“I might become a medical anthropologist. I might decide to go into research. … I might be a doctor,” he said. “I’m definitely going to leave the doors open.”
