Penn fourth-year and three recent alumni named 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholars

One fourth-year student and three recent graduates each have been awarded a 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, receiving up to three years of financial support to pursue a graduate degree and global leadership training at Stanford University. 

Penn’s 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholars are fourth-year Aravind Krishnan, from Newark, Delaware; 2021 graduate Carson Eckhard, from Tampa, Florida; 2020 graduate Meera Menon, from San Ramon, Calif.; and 2020 graduate Jun Hou Shin, from Seoul, South Korea.

They are among this year’s 84 Scholars from 25 countries, selected based on their “demonstration of independence of thought, purposeful leadership, and a civic mindset.” The scholarship program, now in its eighth year, is designed to prepare them “to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders who address complex challenges facing the world.”

Krishnan plans to pursue an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Stanford’s School of Medicine. At Penn he is in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management, a dual degree in the College of Arts and Sciences and Wharton School. He is studying molecular and cell biology, health care management and policy, and statistics. Krishnan co-founded ToxiSense, which develops more sustainable and cost-effective assays for bacterial contamination in medical products and for bacterial infections, a project that won the Perelman Grand Prize at the Penn Venture Lab Startup Challenge. He has conducted research in the Perelman School of Medicine’s Greenberg Lab, where he worked on understanding DNA damage repair mechanisms and telomere biology. Krishnan was co-president of the student-led Shelter Health Outreach Program, a mobile free medical clinic in Philadelphia. He also co-founded the West Philadelphia Sanctuary, a community gathering space to address loneliness and social isolation among at-risk populations, which won a Penn 2024 Projects for Progress Award. He was a 2024 Truman Scholar, Perry World House Student Fellow, and U.N. Millennium Fellow and was awarded several grants. Krishnan aims to be a physician-scientist focused on combining science and care delivery for underserved disease areas, like infectious disease.

Eckhard plans to pursue a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a Ph.D. in history from the School of Humanities and Sciences. At Penn, she earned a bachelor’s degree in history and English from the College and was co-founder of Project HOPE, which won the 2021 President’s Engagement Prize. Eckhard was a founding board member and vice chair of The Liberation Foundation, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that supports incarcerated Pennsylvanians. As a 2023 Marshall Scholar, Eckhard studied history at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge, where she is currently a Prize Fellow at the Centre for History and Economics.

Menon plans to pursue an M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education. At Penn, Menon earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wharton. She co-founded The Unscripted Project a winner of the 2020 President’s Engagement Prize. The Unscripted Project is a nonprofit that uses improvisational theater to equip students with life skills, like speaking confidently. Menon aspires to lead an education philanthropy that strengthens nonprofits through long-term funding and building capacity, ensuring they can scale sustainably and serve students effectively.

Shin plans to pursue a J.D. from the Stanford Law School. At Penn, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, concentrating in international relations, from the College. As an active-duty Korean military officer, he recently served in the Office of the President of South Korea, where he represented the Korean National Security Office in facilitating bilateral meetings with the United States and led efforts to strengthen multinational cybersecurity partnerships. Before his military service, he provided legal assistance and translated for asylum-seekers at the Korea Legal Aid Corp. Shin aspires to leverage his multicultural background to resolve international disputes and spearhead inclusive negotiations.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships serves as Penn’s primary information hub and support office for students and alumni applying for major grants and fellowships.