Luca Nashabeh CC'26 Awarded Churchill Scholarship

We're thrilled to announce that physics and math double-major Luca Nashabeh (CC '26) has been named a Churchill Scholar, alongside fellow Columbia student Christine Li (SEAS ’26). Both students coincidentally grew up at least partially in the Bay Area before pursuing their studies at Columbia, where Luca arrived as a Rabi Scholar. In the Physics Department, he initially gravitated towards experimental scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) research with the Pasupathy Research Group before pursuing more theoretical work under Héctor Ochoa. He was awarded a 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholarship in recognition of his research on the effect of strain in multilayer graphene moiré heterostructures. 

With his Churchill Scholarship, Luca plans to pursue a MASt with a focus on theoretical physics, supporting his long-term goal of completing a PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics. Christine is a computer science major with a special interest in quantum computing, and she plans to pursue an MPhil in advanced computer science during her studies.

The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States was established in 1959 and sent its first Churchill Scholars to Cambridge in 1963. Universities may nominate up to two students for the Churchill Scholarship, which provides one year of funding to sixteen students for postgraduate science research at Churchill College, Cambridge. This is the second time in three years that a Columbia Physics major has received the award. Brian Jiang (CC'23) received the scholarship in 2023, while his Columbia College peer, Karen Copeland, received the Kanders Churchill Scholarship in public policy; both programs are sponsored by the Churchill Foundation. This is the first year that the Foundation has selected two Churchill Scholar nominees in science from Columbia.