Three alumni, one a grad student, named 2021 Knight Hennessy Scholars
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program, which funds graduate study at Stanford, has announced its 2021 cohort, which includes three individuals with Stanford affiliations.
The scholars – the fourth Knight-Hennessy Scholars cohort – will also participate in the King Global Leadership Program, which strives to develop inspiring, visionary leaders who have strong cross-cultural perspectives and are committed to the greater good.
The incoming cohort of 76 scholars from around the world will join graduate programs during the 2021-22 academic year in every Stanford School: Business, Earth, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Sciences, Law and Medicine.
The three incoming scholars with Stanford affiliations are: Joy Hsu, ’20, who is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science, Olivia Martin, ’19, and Nancy Xu, ’19.
Hsu, who is from Hualien, Taiwan, will pursue a PhD in computer science, with a focus on artificial intelligence and computer vision, in the School of Engineering. She aspires to one day become a computer science professor, as well as an advisor to local and national governments on policies regarding artificial intelligence.
Hsu, who earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in computer science in 2020, is currently pursuing a master’s degree with distinction in research in computer science, with concentrations in artificial intelligence and biocomputing.
Martin, who is from San Diego, California, will pursue a JD at Stanford Law School and a PhD in economics, with a focus on public economics and administrative law, at the School of Humanities and Sciences. She aspires to help governments better collect and use data to design and implement sustainable, equitable and evidence-based policy.
Martin, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Stanford in 2019, received an Anna Laura Myers Prize for Outstanding Honors Thesis in Economics for her honors thesis, titled Understanding the Geography of Housing Instability: Eviction and Affordable Housing Development.
Xu, who is from Fremont, California, will pursue a master’s degree in business administration at the Graduate School of Business and a PhD in computer science at the School of Engineering. She aspires to develop scalable artificial intelligence systems that will benefit society-at-large, particularly by learning and automating complex tasks and processes.
At Stanford, Xu earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and computer science with honors in 2019.
