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#008-17 Naval Academy Midshipmen Receive Gates Cambridge Scholarships

  POSTED ON: Thursday, February 9, 2017 1:09 PM by mediarelations@usna.edu

U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen 1st Class (seniors) Chris Panuski, 21, of Davidson, N.C., and Rachel Wible, 21, of York, Penn, were recently selected as a 2017 Gates Cambridge Scholars.

Midshipman 1st Class Kyle Ritterbeck, 23, of Columbus, Ohio, was selected as a finalist.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program was established in 2000 and funded by a $210 million donation to the University of Cambridge by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It enables academically outstanding students from outside the United Kingdom with a strong interest in social leadership and responsibility to pursue graduate study at Cambridge. Thirty-six U.S. students were awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship this year.

Panuski is an electrical engineering and physics double-major at the Naval Academy, and will commission as a Cryptologic Warfare Officer. He will pursue a master’s degree in physics, specializing in photonic and electronic systems. He aspires to couple his passion for research and innovation with a career of technical leadership in service to both the United States and the broader global community.

Wible is a mechanical engineering major at the Naval Academy and plans to study nuclear energy while attending Cambridge University. This program combines the technicality of nuclear engineering with the intricacy of nuclear policy. Upon completion she will enter the U.S. Navy as a Submarine Officer.

Ritterbeck is a mechanical engineering major at the Naval Academy and was a finalist for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. He has been accepted to the University of Cambridge's Engineering for Sustainable Development program to study how infrastructure can be improved in the developing world, why improved infrastructure is necessary, and how it can improve foreign economies as well as the safety of others. Ritterbeck will commission as a Submarine Officer upon graduation from the Naval Academy this May.

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, 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 about the Naval Academy, please visit: www.usna.edu or our Facebook page www.facebook.com/USNavalAcademy/.

For more information about Gates Scholars, visit the Gates Cambridge Scholarship website: http://www.gatesscholar.org/.


Category: Press Releases