This year, seven students of Indian descent have been awarded the esteemed Knights-Henessey scholarship at Stanford University. Ninety scholars, including Wasan Kumar, Aneesh Pappu, Isha Sanghvi, Kritika Singh, Krishna Pathak, and Rahul Penumaka, were selected for the world’s largest graduate fellowship.

The students of Indian descent are studying in the domains of engineering, law, technology, and medicine. They have enrolled in programs leading to PhDs, MBAs, and MDs, demonstrating a range of interests in policy, entrepreneurship, social impact, and research and development.

For the first time, the scholarship has been awarded to 90 students from 30 countries, to pursue 45 graduate programs across all seven schools at Stanford. This year’s group of scholars includes students from Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Bulgaria, France and Sri Lanka.

Of the students in the 2024 batch, 47% have passports that are not from the US. Every scholar contributes a different viewpoint to our expanding community. Executive director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars Tina Seelig said, “It is encouraging to see them forge connections and acquire knowledge across disciplines, cultures, and ideologies, which enhances their capacity to tackle the world’s most pressing issues.”

Scholars awarded the Knight-Hennessy Graduate Fellowship, which is fully endowed and available to the entire university, can receive financial aid for up to three years in order to pursue graduate studies there. Scholars are chosen on the basis of their ability to exhibit civic mindset, purposeful leadership, and independence of thought.