News Archive

UWA Electrical Engineering and Mathematics graduate, Brooke Krajancich, has been awarded an inaugural Knight-Hennessy scholarship to Stanford University.

The scholarship aims to attract the best young minds and teach them to work across disciplines to solve global problems.

“This is an astonishing development opportunity that aims to turn us into the next leaders, to help solve the world’s biggest challenges,” she said.

At only 21 years old, Brooke is among the first 49 people to be awarded the scholarship, chosen from more than 3600 applicants worldwide. “It’s a dream come true,” she said.

The scholarship will cover her tuition and living costs for five years and a flight home to Perth annually.

As the only Australian scholar, Brooke will pursue a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford School of Engineering.

With a focus on bio-electronic, bio-sensing, and medical imaging innovation, she envisions working to address major healthcare issues such as Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and cancer.

Brooke claims that she had never seen herself working in medicine until she was persuaded to do medical technology research for her honours project.

“I’m actually quite scared of blood,” she said. “But I just fell in love with it.”

During her studies at UWA, she has worked at Bioimaging Research and Innovation Translational Engineering Laboratory (BRITElab) with a team of students, postgraduate staff, and medical professionals, testing and collecting data on an intra-operative imaging technique to assist in breast cancer surgery.

John Dell, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, says “UWA is extremely proud of Brooke’s achievements and looks forward to seeing what the future holds for her.”

Media references

Hannah Carlisle (Marketing Officer, Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences) (+61 8) 6488 5079