Midshipman 1st Class (senior) David Liedtka, 21, of Hamilton Square, N.J., has been selected as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar. The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program provides full funding for students to pursue a graduate degree at Stanford University. Liedtka is one of 49 scholars selected to the program’s first inaugural cohort of students. Over 3,600 candidates competed for one of the 49 scholarships awarded.
Liedtka is a computer science and information technology double major at the Naval Academy, and will commission as a Cryptologic Warfare Officer. He is currently a squad leader in 22nd Company and has served as the 22nd Company Commander for the fall 2017 semester and a squad leader during Plebe Summer in 2017. He is a Trident Scholar and has been a javelin thrower on the varsity track and field team for four years.
Liedtka is a 2014 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, N.J. As a midshipman, he interned for the National Security Agency, where he worked in their cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit, the Office of Tailored Access Operations. This past summer, he interned at the Maui High Performance Computing Center conducting machine learning research. Liedtka plans to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford.
Knight-Hennessy scholarships provide full funding for students to pursue any graduate degree at Stanford. This includes the JD, MA, MBA, MD, MFA, MS and PhD programs, as well as all joint-and dual-degrees. The program aims to develop a community of future global leaders who will address complex challenges through collaboration and innovation. Knight-Hennessy scholars are selected based on criteria such as: independence of thought, purposeful leadership and a civic mindset. The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is the largest fully endowed graduate fellowship in the world, and is funded through the generosity of Stanford Alumnus and Nike Inc. co-founder, Phil Knight, and numerous benefactors. The program is named for Mr. Knight and former Stanford President John Hennessy. The pioneer cohort of scholars is 57 percent women, and includes citizens from 20 countries who will be pursuing degrees in 28 different Stanford graduate departments.
Founded in 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy today is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service. More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen. U.S. News and World Reports has recognized the Naval Academy as a top five undergraduate engineering school and a top 20 best liberal arts college. Midshipmen learn from military and civilian instructors and participate in intercollegiate varsity sports and extracurricular activities. They also study subjects such as leadership, ethics, small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering and weapons, cyber security, and military law. Upon graduation, midshipmen earn a Bachelor of Science degree in a choice of 25 different subject majors and go on to serve at least five years of exciting and rewarding service as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.
For more information on the Knight-Hennessy Scholars, visit https://knight-hennessy.stanford.edu/.
For more information about the Naval Academy, please visit www.usna.edu or their Facebook page.
