MIDN 1/C Megan Musilli Selected for Rhodes Scholarship

Congrats to Midshipman 1st Class Megan Musilli, one of 32 new Rhodes Scholars announced Nov. 21.

She plans to pursue a M.Sc. in medical anthropology at Oxford.

MIDN 1/C Megan Musilli was one of 32 students selected
for Rhodes Scholarships this year. She will study medical
anthropology at Oxford University.

Musilli is a mathematics major and is training to become a Navy physician. Her research spans the study of traumatic brain injury and MRI scanning techniques at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, satellite tracking at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the concept of genetic algorithms and state machines in data compression at the Naval Academy.

She has served as squad leader, platoon commander, and regimental commander here at the Naval Academy. She earned a scholarship to study abroad at Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey, and served in medical and surgical clinics on board the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort in a 2015 humanitarian deployment to Panama and El Salvador.

She is on the varsity women’s crew team, which won the Division I Patriot League Championships and participated in the NCAA Women’s National Rowing Championships.

Rhodes Scholarships provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. They were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist and African colonial pioneer, and are provided in partnership with the Second Century Founder, John McCall MacBain and other generous benefactors.

The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904. Those elected this year will enter Oxford in October 2016.

Rhodes Scholars are chosen in a two-stage process. First, applicants must be endorsed by their college or university. Of the approximately 2,000 students who sought their institution’s endorsement this year, 869 were endorsed by 316 different colleges and universities. Committees of Selection in each of 16 U.S. districts then invited the strongest applicants to appear before them for an interview.

Applicants are chosen on the basis of the criteria set down in the will of Cecil Rhodes. The criteria include academic excellence, great personal energy, ambition for impact, and an ability to work with others and to achieve one’s goals. A Rhodes Scholar should be committed to making a strong difference for good in the world, be concerned for the welfare of others, and be conscious of inequities. And finally, a Rhodes Scholar should show great promise of leadership.