Scholar Insights
Site news
-
A touch of hope for coral reefs
Bleached corals can rapidly recover after brief contact with healthy corals, offering new promise for dying reefs, writes Danny Collins (2024 cohort).
-
The mathematics of a better world
Sílvia Casacuberta Puig (2025 cohort) reflects on how a childhood love of mathematics grew into a mission: to improve the impact of algorithms on people’s lives.
-
Losing sight of the shore
Francis Opoku Twene (2025 cohort) reflects on stepping up in the operating room when it mattered most, and what he discovered on the other side of fear.
-
Through Their Eyes: Helping pediatric patients tell their stories
Bunmi Fariyike (2021 cohort) and Kathy Hu (2022 cohort) highlight the importance of empathy and storytelling in healthcare, sharing how Through Their Eyes, a KHS KHeystone Project, centers shared human experiences amid illness.
-
A tale of two diaries: one I wasn't meant to read, and one I was meant to write
Gil Joseph (2025 cohort) recalls a childhood summer in Haiti when a cousin’s diary and a blank notebook helped him make sense of loss.
-
Teaching is an exercise in humility
After working as a preschool and high school teacher, Ayodele Theard-Lewis (2025 cohort) explores how humility, not authority, builds trust and empathy in the classroom.
-
The hardest case I ever fought—and why it mattered
Deciding how and when to die is a human right, argues Josefina Miró Quesada Gayoso (2025 cohort).
-
Exploring digital well-being through an interdisciplinary lens
Yujie Tao's (2023 cohort) research is motivated by the goal of building systems that actually reconnect us to the present.
-
Don’t wait your whole life
A childhood lesson in delayed gratification takes on new meaning as Austin Taylor (2025 cohort) reflects on the courage and sacrifice required to pursue a dream.
-
Why leaders should talk about their failures
Carlota Parés-Morlans (2025 cohort) reflects on how sharing the struggles behind success can inspire others to keep pursuing their dreams.
-
The SAVE America Act is a Gen Z poll tax
Gevin Reynolds (2025 cohort) makes the case that the SAVE America Act would suppress youth turnout and undermine decades of hard-won voting access.
-
Engineering precision components for sustainable energy systems
Research from Philip Onffroy (2023 cohort) shows how precisely designed carbon architectures could power next-generation batteries, reactors, and even nuclear fusion energy.
-
Who did you vote for?
Sophia Pribus (2025 cohort) shares how choosing curiosity in a divided world helps bring us closer together.
-
When violence shatters our sense of safety, we have a choice
Gun violence has become part of daily life. Dara Drake (2025 cohort) reflects on choosing love, courage, and community.
-
How AI threatens the communities that sustain democracy—and what we can do
While the threat is real, safeguards to reduce AI risks to U.S. elections are already within reach, argues Aneesh Pappu (2025 cohort).
-
Before America tests another nuclear weapon, it must face the devastation it already caused
Although nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands ended 70 years ago, Kylie Jones (2024 cohort) recalls the harm and its ongoing consequences in an essay and short film.
-
Coffee stains and biomedical pathways: Finding my way as a medical student
Siwaar Abouhala (2025 cohort) considers how embracing imperfection, grounding in community, and redefining “why medicine” are guiding her early days at Stanford School of Medicine.
-
Inside the human cost of a broken mental health system — and why we can't look away
In his latest investigation, Eli Cahan (2019 cohort) reveals how psychiatric hospitals illegally turn people away in mental health crises with few consequences.
-
From mountains to moonshots: How Bolivia has shaped my work
Alina Santander Vinokurova (2024 cohort) returns to her homeland, where history, landscapes, and myths first trained her to be curious, seek connections, and honor complexity.
-
Bringing ideas to market — and back to the lab
A new paper from Kate Reinmuth (2022 cohort) shows commercialization doesn’t stifle academic discovery; in fact, licensing can fuel more university research.
-
If a plant biologist takes an electrical engineer backpacking …
Sydney Hunt (2023 cohort) asks: What happens when you genuinely engage with someone whose entire framework for understanding the world is dramatically different from your own?
-
Nothing of me is original…
An adoptee, Emerson Victoria Johnston (2023 cohort) explores how communities mold identity and why diverse ecosystems drive progress.
-
The weight of a shared dream: Reflections on the Quad Fellowship Leadership Summit
After her year as a Quad Fellow, Afi Tagnedji (2024 cohort) shares how science, technology, and diplomacy can bridge divides and drive solutions to shared global challenges.
-
More awake, less rested: The hidden cost of caffeine on sleep quality
Research from MD-PhD scholar Ank Agarwal (2024 cohort) shows that by rethinking when and how we consume caffeine, we can optimize both wakefulness and restfulness.
-
Every parenthood journey deserves its own road map
Personalized medicine holds the power to transform the parenting of newborns from a stressful guessing game to a supported, data-informed journey, writes Debbie Ho (2024 cohort).
-
Run with me: A Kenyan’s race toward a dream
With a goal of attending college in the U.S. and becoming a doctor, Maryanne Chege (2024 cohort) runs the race of her life, finishing with help from an unexpected ally.
-
The untapped power of 700 million people: How clean energy changes lives
Abundance erases the awareness of privilege, says Katherine Tang (2024 cohort) of her mission to bring electricity to Sub-Saharan Africa through the power of renewable energy.
-
Eat the story
Guided by community and culture, Marina Luccioni (2024 cohort) shares a “taste” of her journey finding a more equitable and reciprocal way to practice science.
-
Beyond day science: How night science drives scientific breakthroughs
Sometimes an unruly, exploratory, and boundless approach to science is just what we need, writes Yu Tin Lin (2024 cohort).
-
A better way to detect space debris
Research conducted by Ashwyn Sam (2020 cohort) uses plasma waves to improve the accuracy of detecting space debris, a growing threat to space infrastructure.
-
Why I believe local politics can restore trust in democracy
David Millman (2024 cohort) shares how truthful and compelling narratives drive action at the local level, with potential for broad societal impact.
-
Let us dance with killer whales: An oral historian’s journey through a misrepresented community
Preserving individual stories in a community sometimes means making hard choices between different views, says Maximilian Du (2024 cohort).
-
Breathing life into ghost towns: Harnessing the promise of €1 homes
The offer of €1 homes amid a global refugee crisis is a troubling reflection of the underlying xenophobia shaping these programs, says Leona Neftaliem (2023 cohort).
-
Mexico's democratic disaster
Gianmarco Coronado Graci (2023 cohort) shares his concerns in a Journal of Democracy article about justice, democracy, and the rule of law in Mexico.
-
Bridging the gap: From innovation to implementation in healthcare
Born from a KHeystone Project, the Stanford Healthcare Design Challenge aims to bridge the gap between healthcare innovation and implementation
-
Why I care
It was never about science or physiology, says Nadine Jawad (2020 cohort).
-
The process is the path: What I discovered on the Camino de Santiago
It takes a 600-mile pilgrimage for Carolyn Bruckmann (2023 cohort) to realize it's not about the destination after all.
-
Building climate resilience one community at a time
Sometimes a local approach may be the most effective for addressing a global problem, says Hannah Melville-Rea (2023 cohort)
-
Supporting Indigenous self-determination through collective memory
A trip to the extreme south of Chile brings Kelsey Freeman (2022 cohort) new insights on her work with Indigenous communities
-
The brain that changes, the woman who inspires
Hannah Lee (2023 cohort) says even when it feels like hope is lost and there's nothing anybody can do, there's a field of people who believe that even helping one person is enough.
-
Time’s up for non-compete agreements
People want to move and so do their ideas, according to research from Kate Reinmuth (2022 cohort) and Emma Rockall.
-
Why I want to be Miss Michigan
Alma Cooper (2023 cohort) sees an opportunity to represent the girls of color who often go unseen, and to inspire others to free themselves from circumstances and perceptions.
-
Reimagining public service
"We must envision a new paradigm for public service that directly addresses citizens' concerns, steering clear of populist temptations," writes Santiago Paz (2023 cohort).
-
U.S. immigration policy waits beside the golden door
Like mercy being twice blessed, the courage of immigrants isn’t a one-way street, writes Sandesh Kalantre (2023 cohort). It takes courage from members of an accepting society.
-
Live long and saucer
Objects, like people, can live a long time with the right care, writes Fran Reuland (2023 cohort). They deserve many tries. And their stories deserve to be passed down.
-
‘My generation has been destroyed’ — Inside the mental health crisis facing Michigan’s Muslim youth
In the Arab American enclave of Dearborn, the war in Gaza and increased surveillance from the FBI stoke anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, writes Eli Cahan (2019 cohort).
-
A full classroom of students is dying every week. Bring Narcan to every school.
Narcan should be made readily available at all elementary and secondary schools across the U.S., writes Kevan Shah (2023 cohort) for The Hill.
-
A different dawn: Waking up to war in Kyiv
Driven by the broken promises of peace that shadow our past, I am committed to building a future where unity and healing prevail, writes Salome Mikadze (2023 cohort).
-
Coast redwoods will never die
The redwood’s Latin name is Sequoia sempervirens, meaning ‘always alive.’ There is love in that name, like in the one a parent gives their child, writes Will Dwyer (2023 cohort).
-
Decarbonizing concrete: No time to waste
Cement hides a dark secret: It’s responsible for a staggering 8% of global CO2 emissions, writes Krish Mehta (2023 cohort).
-
Celebrating impoverished joy
If overcoming poverty isn’t an option, and wallowing in despair isn’t what you choose, we must examine what is left, writes Lydia Burleson (2022 cohort).
Knight-Hennessy scholars represent a vast array of cultures, perspectives, and experiences. While we as an organization are committed to elevating their voices, the views expressed are those of the scholars, and not necessarily those of KHS.