Young, Scrappy, and Hungry

Young, Scrappy, and Hungry

If the Rhodes Scholarship is the gold standard of graduate awards, the Knight-Hennessy is the Bitcoin. Nike co-founder Phil Knight started the program with a $400 million gift in 2016, making it the largest fully endowed scholarship program. In March, Hayley Raquer ’16 was named one of 49 scholars. As an immunologist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Raquer studies the body on a subcellular level, examining how the immune system fights bacteria and viruses, with a focus on primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID). Patients with PID have variants or mutations in their genomes that cause their immune system to fail. Raquer started her research career at SCU, working with Leilani Miller, associate professor in the Department of Biology. She is the only immunologist in this year’s class, but was excited to join the community of learners: “Maybe I’m young and naïve, but I really do think that we can solve a lot of the world’s problems if we put our minds to it.”

First-Time Grads

Overcoming all odds due to the pandemic, the Class of ’24 finally get to experience the graduation that they have long been waiting for.

Brain Games

The therapeutic potential of AI-powered brain implants is no doubt exciting. But questions abound about the inevitable ethical ramifications of putting new, largely unregulated tech into human beings.

Sociology, Gen Ed, and Breaking the Rules

Fewer students are majoring in social sciences but they’re still one of the most popular areas of study. Santa Clara sociologists explain why.