Stanford Football Standout Earns Prestigious Academic Award

Stanford football may not be happy with their record on the field, but there have still been plenty of bright spots amid a rebuilding season. Earlier this week, it was announced that Stanford tight end Sam Roush was the recipient of a very prestigious academic award—the Military Bowl STEM Scholar-Athlete.

Roush, a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, has been an on-field star for Stanford while also being a true embodiment of what it means to be a Cardinal with his excellence in the classroom.

Presented by Fognigma, the STEM Scholar Athlete Program honors one football player at each university in the ACC and the American Conference, which are also the two conferences that are represented in the Go Bowling Military Bowl game. The players honored are either STEM students (science, technology, engineering or math) and/or aspire to have careers in STEM.

Currently a graduate student working towards his master's degree in computer science, Roush finished his undergraduate degree with a 3.8 GPA and has been named to the ACC All-Academic Team and Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators. Roush has focused his studies on artificial intelligence, finance and innovation in computer engineering.

During Roush's studies, he has completed numerous projects that have involved AI, 3-D models, html/logic programming, and many other tools and subjects.

"Sam has been a tremendous representative of Stanford Athletics and Stanford Football for the entire Stanford community," Stanford undergraduate advising director T.J. Burnett said. "He has been engaged in academic coursework, independent studies and internship opportunities.

"Beyond the classroom, he has been a fierce advocate for his student-athlete peers and the broader student experience at Stanford. He has held leadership positions on his team and is a key leader in Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

"He is excited to continue his master’s coursework in Computer Science with an emphasis on advanced computer science principles and approaches in artificial intelligence principles & techniques, mining data sets, and translational bioinformatics."

The recipients of the Military Bowl STEM Scholar-Athlete award will be honored at the Go Bowling Military Bowl Game that will be played on Dec. 27 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD, with the two players from the teams playing being the ones recognized. Kickoff for the game is at 11 a.m. (ET) and will be televised on ESPN.

"We are excited to once again present the Go Bowling Military Bowl STEM Scholar-Athlete Program and celebrate the successes of these student-athletes on the field and in the classroom," Military Bowl Foundation President & Executive Director Steve Beck said. "Along with our partners at Fognigma, we congratulate these young men for their achievements and look forward to their continued success."