New Findlay Fellowship winner headed to Cambridge for graduate degree
The Office of Fellowships is thrilled to announce that Cooper Stringer (WCAS ’26) has been chosen as the 2026 recipient of the Findlay Fellowship! With the fellowship’s support, Cooper will study for a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge, in Cambridge, England, where he will research the intersection of tissue growth and form in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster under the guidance of Professor Katja Röper.
As an Evanston native, Cooper's fascination with genetics and development was sparked when his family confronted a rare disease, an experience that also showed him how research can impact individual lives. At ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, Cooper pursued these interests through a major in biological sciences and minors in science in human culture and classics.
Cooper worked in three biology labs as an undergraduate, including studying the regulation of adult stem cells with Xiaomin Bao at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and investigating ancestry-specific cancer risk as an under Andrew Goldstein at the University of California, Los Angeles. Most recently, he worked in Richard Carthew’s lab at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, where he designed a genetic tool to control the timing, location, and level of a newly discovered protein’s expression. Cooper has presented his work using this tool in talks at regional and national conferences and won Best Overall Poster at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s 2025 Undergraduate Research Expo. His senior thesis was awarded the 2026 David Shemin Prize for Basic Research and was incorporated into a co-authored manuscript Cooper hopes will be published later this year.
Outside the lab, Cooper enjoys engaging with the human side of science. For his minors, he studied how scientific knowledge is influenced by existing societal values and institutions. To understand this big question, Cooper has written on a wide array of topics, ranging from the first empirical descriptions of neurological disease in Ancient Greece to apprehension around early recombinant DNA research in the 1970s.
Cooper also attended the 2025 Annual Meeting of the History of Science Society in New Orleans and served as academic chair of the Slivka Residential College of Science and Engineering and vice president of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø's Classics Undergraduate Advisory Board. He was a member of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s Quiz Bowl team and greatly enjoyed his time as a peer-guided-study group leader in biology for two years. This summer, Cooper will teach the course Principles of Genetic Engineering for high school students at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s Center for Talent Development.
In the fall of 2027, Cooper will begin his studies in the Development, Regeneration, and Stem Cell Biology PhD program at the University of Chicago on his path toward helping bridge science and the humanities as a professor of biology.
Cooper is the fifth Wildcat to win the Findlay Fellowship. Last year, Lauren Guerra (WCAS ’25) won the award and also studied at the University of Cambridge. Hannah Christensen (WCAS ’24) won the award in 2024 and attended the University of St. Andrews. Three years ago, Madeline Brown (WCAS ’23) won the award and attended the University of Oxford. was the first recipient of the award and also studied at the University of Oxford.
Contact Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe at e-pardoe@northwestern.edu to learn more about the Findlay Fellowship.