Macalester graduate named Knight-Hennessy Scholar

Ronan Wallace ʼ22 has been awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship—the first Macalester graduate to receive this honor.

Wallace will join a cohort of eighty-four students from twenty-five countries. The group will receive three years of full tuition and a living stipend to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. Wallace, a computer science major, plans to earn his master’s degree in computer science.

The scholars will also participate in leadership development training and build deep relationships.

“It’s a multidisciplinary cohort that is spanning all disciplines, and that’s a big reason why I wanted to do this,” said Wallace. “I want to be a leader. I want that training to carry out work that I feel passionate about.”

Wallace has a clear focus for the work ahead of him. As a current Fulbright Research Scholar, Wallace works with rural villages in Nepal’s Mustang district. His project blends Wallace’s interests in technology, environmental science, and anthropology.

Wallace conducts oral interviews, notes onsite observations, and creates 3D models of key communal spaces. The finished 3D models highlight landmarks from monasteries to historic walnut trees. They also track evidence of climate change. As Nepal’s monsoon seasons grow more extreme, buildings and fields are more likely to be damaged.

“Not only are we creating the snapshot of what this damage looks like now, the landscape that remains is then preserved as snapshots in time,” Wallace said. “So if further damage occurs, then we’ll always have those digitally documented either for restoration or preservation.”

Wallace’s path to this work began while he was still a student at Macalester. As a National Science Foundation summer research fellow, he performed environmental monitoring projects. Wallace then found ways to apply that work during a study away semester in Nepal. He met his future co-researcher, Yungdrung, on a program excursion to Lubra. The two connected and still work closely together.

“Several nights we would be staying up, chatting, connecting with his story and his family and how flooding was affecting them,” Wallace said. “We were soundboarding about what collaboration we could have. We landed on 3D modeling and it’s been three years since then.”

Creating the 3D models requires special equipment and significant technical expertise. Wallace is currently the only member of his team able to complete that task. He hopes to use the resources provided by the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship to increase access to the technology.

“I see a lot of potential in how it can provide visual context. We’ve already used these models to bring in other grants and funding,” said Wallace. “I’m seeing it work, but I’m trying to figure out how I can give it legs of its own.”

About the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship

The Knight-Hennessy Scholarship was created in 2016. It is named after Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Stanford University president emeritus John Hennessy. The program’s goal is to “educate and prepare a community of scholars for leadership roles in academia, industry, government, nonprofits, and the community at large.” Scholars are visionary thinkers, courageous leaders, and contribute to a better world.