USNA Midshipman Named One of 32 Rhodes Scholars

Midshipman 1st Class (senior) Lucy Ford, 21, of St. Augustine, Fla., was recently selected as the Naval Academy’s 50th Rhodes Scholar. Nearly 900 applicants were endorsed by over 300 schools for one of the 32 scholarships awarded this year.

Ford is an ocean engineering major at the Naval Academy where she focuses on environmental change and energy. She currently serves as the 5th Battalion Commander and is the co-chairman of the Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference. She is involved in the Women’s Glee Club and mentors youth through the Anne Arundel County Teen Court. As part of a semester exchange, she studied at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore during her junior year.

This past summer Ford received the Summer International Service Leadership (SISL) grant to travel to Kigali, Rwanda where she worked to develop energy policy and increase health care access, electrifying health clinics in rural Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with sustainable and reliable electricity.

Ford plans to pursue a Master’s of Science in Nature, Society, and Environmental Governance with a focus in Energy Policy followed by a Master’s of Science in Economics for Development at Oxford.

Ford will attend Nuclear Power School after graduating from Oxford to become a submarine officer.

Rhodes Scholarships provide two to three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. Rhodes Scholars are chosen based on high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor. The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending on the academic field, the degree pursued, and the college chosen at Oxford. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England.