MIT graduate Steven Troung ’20 has been granted a 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholarship and will become part of the eighth cohort of this esteemed fellowship. Knight-Hennessy Scholars receive up to three years of financial assistance for graduate education at Stanford University.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars are chosen for their originality of thought, intentional leadership, and community-oriented perspective. Troung is committed to advancing scientific research in metabolic disorders, particularly diabetes, a condition that has impacted numerous family members.

Truong, the offspring of Vietnamese immigrants, originally comes from Minneapolis and earned his bachelor’s degrees in biological engineering and creative writing from MIT in 2020. While attending MIT, he engaged in research on innovative diabetes treatments alongside professors Daniel Anderson and Robert Langer at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and with Professor Douglas Lauffenburger in the Department of Biological Engineering.

Troung also initiated a diabetes research initiative in Vietnam and co-led the largest genome-wide association study in Vietnam with medical professionals at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, where the team explored the genetic factors linked to Type 2 diabetes.

In his final year at MIT, Truong received a Marshall Scholarship to pursue post-graduate studies in the U.K. As a Marshall Scholar, he earned an MPhil in computational biology at Cambridge University and an MA in creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Truong is currently working towards an MD and a PhD in biophysics at the Stanford School of Medicine.

Besides being awarded a Knight-Hennessy Scholarship and the Marshall Scholarship, Truong also received a 2019-20 Goldwater Scholarship and the 2023 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Students who wish to apply for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program can reach out to Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships in Career Advising and Professional Development.