Alumna among first Knight-Hennessy scholars

Earlier this month, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program announced that 49 students from around the world would be pursuing graduate studies at Stanford as members of the first class of scholars. Announced in 2016, the program aims to prepare a new generation of leaders with the deep academic foundation and broad skill set needed to develop creative solutions for the world’s most complex challenges.

Scholars will receive financial support for the full cost of attendance for their graduate education at Stanford. Through the King Global Leadership Program, funded by a gift from Robert King, MBA ’60, and his wife, Dorothy, scholars also will build on their core degree programs with leadership training, mentorship and experiential learning across multiple disciplines.

In its first year, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program received 3,601 applications from around the world. The primary admission criteria were independence of thought, purposeful leadership and a civic mindset. Applicants were also required to apply to and be admitted by the Stanford graduate program of their choice.

Stanford members of the first class of Knight-Hennessy Scholars are:

Matthew Colford, who is from Palo Alto, California. He will pursue a JD at Stanford Law School. Colford graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He aspires to serve in public office at a state or local level, working on regional issues such as conservation and capital formation for local businesses. Prior to his position as a partner in policy and regulatory affairs at Andreessen Horowitz, he served as special assistant to U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power and as a research assistant at the Hoover Institution in the Office of Condoleezza Rice. He also interned at the White House in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. He co-authored a chapter in General Jim Mattis’ book Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military, published by Hoover Institution Press. At Stanford, he won the Stanford Award of Excellence and a John Gardner Fellowship and was awarded a research grant to conduct thesis field research and data collection in West Africa.

Jason Khoo, who is from Hong Kong. He will pursue an MD at Stanford School of Medicine. He graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in human biology with honors and a concentration in implementing innovations in low-resource settings. He aspires to a career as a human-centric physician, working with patients to identify their values and achieve their life goals through health, innovation and technology. At Stanford, he was a resident assistant and a bioengineering researcher and worked in patient care coordination at Arbor Free Clinic. He was also a teaching assistant for wilderness medicine and a founding member of the Pre-Med Asian Pacific American Medical Association. After graduating Stanford, he co-founded and served as CEO of a life sciences startup focused on building technology to decentralize and personalize lab testing. He received the NIH Clinical and Translational Science award, the Environmental Protection Agency Sensor Challenge award, a grant with the TomKat Center’s Innovation Transfer program for sustainable energy technology and a Stanford Bioengineering undergraduate research grant.

Amanda Zerbe, who is from Woodside, California. She will pursue a master’s degree in environment and resources at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and a JD at Stanford Law School. She graduated from Stanford with bachelor’s degrees in Earth systems and international relations. As a research consultant for U.N. Global Pulse, an initiative of the United Nations, she manages the Data for Climate Action challenge, and attended the United Nations climate change conferences in Paris and Bonn. Amanda is also a consultant for the Flora Family Foundation. At Stanford, she interned at NOAA Fisheries and the Micheli marine ecology lab and was a summer fellow at the National Audubon Society. She also served as co-editor-in-chief of Intersect, Stanford’s journal of science, technology and society, and was a co-founder and vice president of the Stanford Ocean Group.

Visit the Knight-Hennessy website for more.