Nadav Lidor ’16 was named a 2017 Rhodes Scholar on Nov. 19. The Rhodes program provides the opportunity for Lidor to study at Oxford University free of all expenses for two or three years.
Viewed as one of the oldest and most prestigious fellowships in the world, Rhodes Scholarships are awarded based on academic performance, character and potential for leadership.
Currently residing in Tel Aviv, Lidor will represent Israel in a group of 63 international Rhodes Scholars. Current Stanford student Meghan Shea ’16, who also received the scholarship, will join Lidor and his international peers at Oxford as one of 32 U.S. scholars.
“Beyond my terrific professors and research opportunities, my time at Stanford was a chance to explore new fields — anything from art in New York to sailing in the (San Francisco) Bay,” Lidor told the Stanford News Service. “This wouldn’t have happened without these experiences, and the support of my family and friends who inspire and challenge me to dream big.”
While at Stanford, he spent time researching natural language processing and artificial intelligence with Chris Manning and Dan Jurafsky, both professors of linguistics and computer science. Lidor wishes to use his background in technology and artificial intelligence to confront social issues.
Jurafsky explained to the Stanford News Service that part of Lidor’s research at Stanford included improving algorithms that diagnose schizophrenia, an example of his commitment to solve social problems with technology.
“He has the brilliance and the motivation to advance the state of the art of research in computer science, but also has a rarer gift, a deep passion for finding ways to apply computer science to questions that matter in the world,” Jurafsky told the Stanford News Service.
In addition to holding a bachelor’s degree from Stanford in computer science and symbolic systems, Lidor studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s honors program in the humanities and at the United World College of Costa Rica. At Oxford, Lidor intends to pursue a master’s degree by research in computer science.
Contact Elise Most at emost ‘at’ stanford.edu.