Luke Melas-Kyriazi ’16 is among thirty-two Americans named as Rhodes Scholars representing the United States in 2020. Melas-Kyriazi, currently a senior at Harvard pursuing a B.A. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Computer Science, was selected from an initial pool of over 2,900 applicants.
The Rhodes Scholarship allows for study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. In a press release issued by the Office of the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, the newly named Rhodes Scholars will go to Oxford in September 2020 “to study in fields broadly across the social, biological and physical sciences, and in the humanities. They are leaders already, and we expect their impact to expand exponentially over the course of their public-spirited careers.”
Melas-Kyriazi’s research agenda on machine learning has included work analyzing demographic diversity and blood laboratory data in order to improve clinical decision-making. As treasurer of the Harvard Student Agencies, the largest student-run company in the world, he manages a $1.2 million reserve fund to support educational and business opportunities for students. Melas-Kyriazi also organizes hackathons for computer science undergraduates across the U.S. and Canada.
At Oxford, Melas-Kyriazi will undertake studies culminating in a D.Phil. in Computer Science, and will join an international group of Scholars from over sixty countries. He is the sixth HCHS alum awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. Those who preceded him include Nnenna Lynch ’89; Sean Campbell ’98; David Bauer ’05, who was also winner of the 2005 Intel Science Talent Search; Alexandra Rosenberg ’06; and Gabriel Zucker ’08.
