Tec graduate obtains Knight-Hennessy Scholarship to Stanford

Rodrigo Ruz Cuen, an Engineering Physics graduate from the Tec’s Monterrey campus has been awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS) scholarship from Stanford University to study for a master’s in Electrical Engineering.

He is the second Mexican to have obtained the KHS scholarship for a School of Engineering program and the fourth Mexican to have obtained this support to study for a graduate degree at Stanford.

“I knew that I wanted to study for a graduate degree abroad when I started college, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Stanford would award me a scholarship.

“I feel a lot of commitment to do well. I hope that this can lead the way so that more people can also gain access to these opportunities,” said Rodrigo, who graduated from the Tec in December 2021.

Rodrigo, who is currently working in Querétaro, received the news that he had been selected to receive the KHS scholarship in March of this year. He will start his course next September.

Research: key to obtaining the KHS scholarship

Rodrigo discovered the Knight-Hennessy Scholars scholarship when he was studying his second year of Engineering Physics at the School of Engineering and Sciences (EIC).

He said that the KHS program director visited Monterrey campus at that time. During the Q&A session, his ears pricked up when the Stanford representative shared that nobody from Latin America had been awarded scholarships for the School of Engineering.

“I remember asking: ‘What do I have to do to get one? and they asked me: ‘Are you doing any research?’ In part, that was what led me to really get involved in my research when I was studying at the Tec.”

During his course, he was working in the Nano Sensors and Devices research group, on a line of research to do with Microfluidic devices based on electrokinetic and/or centrifugal forces at the EIC.

“I’m grateful to my research group mentor, Víctor Hugo Pérez-González, and the Engineering Physics professors.” - Rodrigo Ruz

This year, he received the 2021 Rómulo Garza Research and Innovation Award in the undergraduate student category, which is given by Tec de Monterrey and the Xignux company.

He won the award for his research paper “Amplification factor in DC insulator-based electrokinetic devices: a theoretical, numerical, and experimental approach to operation voltage reduction for particle trapping.”

After winning this international scholarship, Rodrigo Ruz says he feels grateful to his professors and classmates, saying:

“I’m obviously grateful to my research group mentor, Dr. Víctor Hugo Pérez-González, and the Engineering Physics professors.”

Full funding

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars scholarship was founded in 2016 by Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike Inc. and an alumnus of Stanford University, together with John Hennessy, who was president of the university from 2000 to 2016.

According to the KHS scholarship website, Mr. Knight and numerous benefactors have provided endowments totaling more than 750 million dollars, which makes Knight-Hennessy Scholars the scholarship with most endowments in the world.

This scholarship, which has been awarded annually since 2018, consists of three years’ funding to cover tuition fees and academic, personal, and transportation expenses, as well as one annual trip to and from Stanford.

The mission of the Stanford University scholarship is to bring together scholars from around the world and from many disciplines to create a learning environment that will help prepare them for leadership in a highly diverse and complex world.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Stanford would give me a scholarship.” - Rodrigo Ruz

To this end, Luke Anthony Peña, Director of Global Admission and Financial Aid at Knight-Hennessy Scholars, said:

“At KHS, we believe that our world’s greatest challenges can be addressed through multidisciplinary and multicultural leadership. Mexico is a country with many talented leaders and our efforts to elevate the common good are stronger with their voices.”

Those aspiring to obtain this scholarship were selected through a rigorous process that began in October 2021 and concluded in March 2022.

Now that he has been awarded the KHS scholarship, Rodrigo wants to say that in his experience, there are always dreams worth making an effort to achieve, no matter how distant they seem.

“The road is often long, and I’m not going to say this happened overnight. I really believe that it took a lot of effort over many years,” he said.

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