Lara Ozkan, an MIT senior from Oradell, Latest Jersey, has been chosen as a 2025 Marshall Scholar and can begin graduate studies in the UK next fall. Funded by the British government, the Marshall Scholarship awards American students of high academic achievement with the chance to pursue graduate studies in any field at any university within the U.K. As much as 50 scholarships are granted every year.
“We’re so proud that Lara shall be representing MIT within the U.K.,” says Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships. “Her accomplishments thus far have been extraordinary and we’re excited to see where her future work goes.” Ozkan, together with MIT’s other endorsed Marshall candidates, was mentored by the distinguished fellowships team in Profession Advising and Skilled Development, and the Presidential Committee on Distinguished Fellowships, co-chaired by professors Nancy Kanwisher and Tom Levenson.
Ozkan, a senior majoring in computer science and molecular biology, plans to pursue through her Marshall Scholarship an MPhil in biological science at Cambridge University’s Sanger Institute, followed by a master’s by research degree in artificial intelligence and machine learning at Imperial College London. She is committed to a profession advancing women’s health through innovation in technology and the applying of computational tools to research.
Prior to starting her studies at MIT, Ozkan conducted computational biology research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. At MIT, she has been an undergraduate researcher with the MIT Media Lab’s Conformable Decoders group, where she has worked on breast cancer wearable ultrasound technologies. She also contributes to Professor Manolis Kellis’ computational biology research group within the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Ozkan’s achievements in computational biology research earned her the MIT Susan Hockfield Prize in Life Sciences.
On the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Ozkan has examined the moral implications of genomics projects and developed AI ethics curricula for MIT computer science courses. Through internships with Accenture Gen AI Risk and pharmaceutical firms, she gained practical insights into responsible AI use in health care.
Ozkan is president and executive director of MIT Capital Partners, a corporation that connects the entrepreneurship community with enterprise capital firms, and he or she is president of the MIT Sloan Business Club. Moreover, she serves as an undergraduate research peer ambassador and is a member of the MIT EECS Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. As a part of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Undergraduate Advisory Group, she advises on policies and programming to enhance the scholar experience in interdisciplinary computing.
Beyond Ozkan’s research roles, she volunteers with MIT CodeIt, teaching middle-school girls computer science. As a counselor with Camp Kesem, she mentors children whose parents are impacted by cancer.
