Hana Butler Gutiérrez ’24 was one of 35 individuals named to the 2025 Gates Cambridge Scholars U.S. cohort. The scholarship will sponsor Gutiérrez as she pursues a master’s of philosophy in the University of Cambridge’s micro and nanotechnology enterprise program.
Every year, around 75 scholars from all over the world are selected for the award based on their “outstanding intellectual ability,” “commitment to improving the lives of others” and “leadership potential,” according to the scholarship’s website. But for the program’s 25th anniversary this year, the number of scholarship recipients was expanded to 100, with 35 scholars from the U.S.
Selected applicants receive a full-tuition scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies in any subject at Cambridge.
After receiving the scholarship, Gutiérrez said she is “excited to be a student again.” Gutiérrez will begin her studies at Cambridge in October.
Although she graduated from Brown in May 2024, she has continued to work as a research engineer in Brown’s Applied Mechanics Lab under Associate Professor of Engineering Haneesh Kesari. In the lab, she is working to develop lattices that would absorb shock from an impact to avoid a pediatric brain injury.
Throughout much of middle and high school, Gutiérrez was always more humanities-oriented. But when she took an Advanced Placement physics course, her interests shifted entirely.
She was inspired by her physics teacher, who was one of the first women in STEM that Gutiérrez had met. Her teacher “was just so awesome in every shape, way or form. And I was like, 'I need to be like her,'” Gutiérrez said.
When Gutiérrez began taking engineering coursework at Brown, she noticed there were few other women in her classes. To support her fellow engineers, Butler co-founded Women Build at Brown during her junior year. Through the club, members are encouraged to complete projects using the Brown Design Workshop’s various machines.
In summer 2023, Gutiérrez worked as a summer associate for Boston Consulting Group before realizing that she wanted to do research.
“I think I’m an engineer, and I think I’m a scientist,” she decided.
In her senior fall, she began conducting research with Kesari. Kesari first had Gutiérrez as a student in 2021, but got to know her more in his course ENGN 1370: “Advanced Engineering Mechanics.”
Kesari told The Herald that Gutiérrez is “extremely intelligent” and “a really nice person.” Her intelligence, Kesari added, is “the kind of thing that would benefit mankind.”
When she began her research, Gutiérrez was also taking VISA 1420: “Sculpture II: Conceptual Propositions” with Daniel Stupar, adjunct lecturer in visual art.
Gutiérrez’s art was “beautiful and imbued with rich personal connections,” Stupar wrote in an email to The Herald, adding that he is excited to see Gutiérrez continue to “blend the creative with the analytical” in her future endeavors.
“Knowing her, whatever she brings (the scientific process) to, it will be really, really creative and out of this world,” Kesari said.
Over the past six months, Gutiérrez has developed a love for rock climbing — a sport that she says reminds her of solving an engineering problem.
“You do something over and over again” until “all of a sudden you can do it,” Gutiérrez said. She added that she enjoyed the “linear” nature of this training, which reminded her of her mother’s own work ethic.
Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Gutiérrez said that her dad helped her “develop work habits,” and her mom “taught (her) how to work hard.” Her mom, who initially began selling fruit to support her family, now has her own grocery store.
“She sets a goal for herself, she works towards it linearly and she obtains it,” Gutiérrez said. “You work hard and you try to help others with what you make.”
Hadley Carr is a university news editor at The Herald, covering academics & advising and student government.
