Christopher Panuski,
Naval Academy

Degrees: B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Physics

How did the Stamps Scholarship help shape your undergraduate experience?
At the Naval Academy, due to the nature of the institution, research opportunities, academic funding, and internships are fairly limited. The Stamps Scholarship enabled me to circumvent these traditional challenges and to pursue my interests in scientific research and development while still engaging in the leadership development program at the Academy. To offer a few examples, the Stamps Scholarship afforded me the ability to take an online photonics fabrication and design course, to complete an extended internship at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and to attend the 2016 IEEE Photonics Conference in Hawaii. Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Stamps!

Tell us a piece of wisdom you’ve learned over the past four years.
A positive attitude and a bit of humor will get you and your team through anything.

Who has had the greatest impact on you throughout your college career and how so?
My mother, father, and two brothers. They have always pushed me to seek out additional opportunities and challenges, yet have been there to support me, teach me, and, most importantly, poke fun all along the journey!

What’s your favorite Stamps Scholar memory?
During my first Stamps convention, I still remember Mr. Stamps answering a common question that was asked by another scholar: how do you deal with failure (or something to that effect)? Mr. Stamps gave the group a candid answer ‚Äì you can’t fail. He explained that leaders should work energetically to avoid failure at all costs, but that if it did occur, then it should occur early and quickly. It was a unique perspective that isn’t commonly voiced, and it has stuck with me over the past few years.

What comes next?
Following graduation, I will be commissioned as a cryptologic warfare officer in the Navy and will head to MIT to begin my PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. My ultimate goal is to combine my passion for research and innovation with a career of technical leadership in service to both the United States and the broader global community.

Please share your favorite inspirational quote.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men and women to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exup?©ry