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Alumnus Wins Soros Fellowship for Graduate Study

Fellowship supports high achieving immigrants and children of immigrants

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Yasa Baig, ’22, has been awarded a PD Soros Fellowship in support of a Ph.D. in bioengineering at Stanford, joining 20 other Duke recipients of the award.  Born in India and raised in Massachusetts, Baig earned a B.S. in physics and computer science at Duke  where he was a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship and was an A.B. Duke Scholar. As a Marshall Scholar, Baig went on to complete a master’s degree in physics and another in mathematics at the University of Cambridge. 

At Stanford, Baig is helping to build the first generation of virtual cell models: AI systems trained on large-scale biological data to simulate and predict cellular behavior on a computer. These models could dramatically accelerate drug discovery and enable personalized medicine. He plans to become a professor leading a lab at the intersection of biology and AI, with the goal of achieving engineering-level control over living systems.

Baig shared, “I am proud to be part of a country that values the contributions of immigrants, especially in science, and deeply grateful to the PD Soros Foundation for recognizing and supporting that vision.” Hungarian immigrants Daisy M. Soros and Paul Soros (1926-2013) founded the Soros Fellowship in 1998, a program that supports immigrants or the children of immigrants. Soros awards up to $90,000 for fellows to complete graduate studies in the United States. 

A complete list of this year’s Soros winners can be found on the fellowship website.

To receive support in applying for opportunities, such as the Soros Fellowship, Duke students and recent alumni should contact the Nationally Competitive Scholarships advisors in the Office of University Scholars and Fellows.

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