Two from MIT named 2026 Knight-Hennessy Students | MIT Information

MIT grasp’s pupil Sunshine Jiang ’25 and Rupert Li ’24 are recipients of this yr’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Now in its ninth yr, the extremely aggressive scholarship supplies as much as three years of economic help for graduate research at Stanford College. 

Sunshine Jiang  ’25

Sunshine Jiang, from Hangzhou, China, graduated from MIT in 2025 with a bachelor’s diploma as a double main in physics and electrical engineering and pc science, together with minors in arithmetic and economics. She is going to obtain her grasp of engineering diploma this month and can begin her PhD in pc science at Stanford Faculty of Engineering this fall. 

Jiang researches embodied synthetic intelligence and robotics, growing data-efficient, adaptive methods for general-purpose robots that broaden accessibility. She has offered her analysis at main conferences, together with the Convention on Robotic Studying, the Worldwide Convention on Robotics and Automation, and the Worldwide Convention on Studying Representations. 

Jiang led the event of AI-powered methods that present entry to conventional Chinese language artwork in rural school rooms, based cross-country packages that develop ladies’ entry to STEM schooling, and created a Covid-19 documentary amplifying neighborhood voices, which was featured on China Day by day.

Rupert Li ’24

Rupert Li, from Portland, Oregon, is presently pursuing a PhD in arithmetic at Stanford Faculty of Humanities and Sciences. He graduated from MIT in 2024 with a bachelor’s diploma, double majoring in arithmetic and pc science, economics, and knowledge science. Alongside together with his bachelor’s diploma, he additionally acquired a grasp’s diploma in knowledge science. Li then traveled to the UK as a Marshall Scholar, the place he earned a grasp’s diploma in arithmetic from the College of Cambridge.

Li’s analysis pursuits lie in likelihood, discrete geometry, and combinatorics. He enjoys serving as a mentor for MIT PRIMES-USA, a highschool math analysis program, and beforehand served as an advisor for the Duluth REU, an undergraduate math analysis program. Along with the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship and the Marshall Scholarship, he has been awarded the Hertz Fellowship, P.D. Soros Fellowship, and the Goldwater Scholarship, and he acquired honorable point out for the Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize.