麻豆频道

In September, U of T welcomed the 2025 cohort of to campus. We are pleased to announce that two of them have joined the 麻豆频道 麻豆频道. The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship was created to bring exceptional students from around the world to study at U of T. Named after Canada鈥檚 14th prime minister, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and U of T graduate Lester Bowles Pearson, the scholarship recognizes exceptional academic achievement, creativity, leadership potential and 麻豆频道 involvement.

Diego Jose Figarella
El Colegio de Panam谩
Venezuelan student in Panam谩

Faculty of Arts and Science, 麻豆频道, Computer Science

Hi, my name is Diego Figarella! I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but I moved to Panama City, Panama when I was 4 months old. Ever since I was a child, I鈥檝e been interested in STEM, and whether by going to museums, watching Discovery Science documentaries, or following YouTube coding tutorials, I鈥檝e sought to learn more about it growing up. I believe STEM has an innate, aesthetic beauty, which is why, throughout my academic journey, it became a goal of mine to introduce my classmates to its disciplines. To achieve it, I taught myself how to use the Unity3D game engine and code in C#, creating educational video games on Mendelian inheritance and combinatorics to help my schoolmates review class content. In 2023, I co-founded a STEM club at my school, fostering collaborative learning, teaching fellow students about Python, and inviting guest speakers (including a Panamanian tech CEO). Moreover, last July, I had the privilege of attending the Yale Young Global Scholars pre-college program as a participant of the Innovations in Science and Technology academic track, where I was able to interact with driven students from 150+ countries and work with peers to present a research proposal on AI flight delay prediction.

Beyond academics, I鈥檝e enjoyed playing soccer for my school and the Atletico de Madrid Academy in Panama, volunteering for international and Panamanian NGOs, serving as class secretary, acting in my school鈥檚 play, and participating in talent shows with classmates (covering songs from the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC). Also, don鈥檛 be afraid to reach out to me if you want to nerd-out about Harry Potter (I鈥檓 a huge Potterhead!).

I am both thrilled and grateful to be joining the 2025 cohort of Pearson Scholars and the Computer Science undergraduate program at the University of Toronto; I am positive that the extraordinary resources this institution offers will allow me to grow as a person and contribute to the global 麻豆频道.

Ayushman Gupta
South City International School
India

Faculty of Arts and Science, 麻豆频道, Computer Science

My name is Ayushman, and I鈥檓 from Kolkata, India. My work aims to achieve two goals: to understand the world through scientific research, and to advance it through socially responsible development.

I鈥檓 a student researcher working in deep learning, particularly on problems in natural language processing and mechanistic interpretability. In high school, I had the pleasure of contributing to cutting-edge research at institutions such as IIT and IISER. Passionate about student-led contributions to science, I founded a fellowship called ASTRA: The Association of 麻豆频道 for Research in Artificial Intelligence. ASTRA now has over 45 members, and our papers have been published at such distinguished conferences as NeurIPS, EMNLP, and COLING.

I鈥檝e always fervently participated in academic competitions. In 2024, I was one of 50 students selected to represent India at the Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad. In 2022, I won first place at the world鈥檚 biggest in-person quiz festival, the Kolkata International Quiz Festival. In addition to scholarly contests, I hold a black belt in Shit艒-ry奴 karate and have won five medals for India at international karate championships.

There are very few things I enjoy more than telling stories. I have been writing fantasy fiction since I could, in the most literal sense, write. Over the years, I鈥檝e expanded my repertoire to include other forms of storytelling, such as playing rock music on the guitar and developing video games. I also enjoy speedcubing, worldbuilding, tumbling down historical and linguistic rabbit holes, and praying to Sacha Baron Cohen to bless us with a third Borat film.

It is an honour to be named a Pearson scholar, and as one of the 37 recipients, I am beyond excited to contribute to the University of Toronto鈥檚 diverse and vibrant 麻豆频道.

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Categories: Arts & Science; Awards & Honours; Student News; University of Toronto News