Four 2025 Rhodes Scholars hail from MIT
The four represent the second most number of Rhodes Scholars named in a single year from the Institute.
Yiming Chen ’24, Wilhem Hector ’25, Anushka Nair ’25, and David Oluigbo ’25 have been selected as 2025 Rhodes Scholars to pursue postgraduate studies at Oxford University beginning next fall. The four scholars represent the second most number of Rhodes Scholars named in a single year from the Institute.
According to MIT News, Chen received an international scholarship from the Rhodes’ China constituency; Hector is the first Haitian citizen ever to become a Rhodes Scholar and was awarded the Global Rhodes Scholarship. Oluigbo and Nair were U.S. Rhodes winners.
Professor Nancy Kanwisher, a co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Distinguished Fellowships, said that “it is profoundly inspiring to work with our amazing students, who have accomplished so much at MIT and, at the same time, thought deeply about how they can have an impact in solving the world's major challenges… we are thrilled but not surprised to see so many of them recognized this year as finalists and as winners.”’
A winner’s perspective:
In a statement to The Tech, Oluigbo wrote “Winning the Rhodes Scholarship is not just an honor that I am incredibly grateful for but a responsibility—to transform gratitude into action and knowledge into action when it comes to leveraging AI to bridge health disparities.”
The Tech spoke with Chen about the international Rhodes selection experience, her plans at Oxford, and her experience at the Institute. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
TT: What was getting selected for the Rhodes like?
Chen: I found out at the end of September. I went to Hong Kong for the final interview because I was part of the China constituency, and they did it a bit earlier. The entire experience was surreal. There was a dinner beforehand to get to know everyone, and then the one on my interview the next day, and then they told me the evening of. I honestly couldn't believe it because everybody there was super inspiring and just amazing in their own ways. The entire process of preparing for it had been very introspective; it helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life and what potential future path could be.
TT: What will you be doing at Oxford next year?
Chen: I will be doing a PhD in computer science, particularly in computer vision, with a focus on medical imaging, which is what I did for my MEng.
TT: What was your MIT experience like, and how has that played into your overall development?
Chen: As an international student, because of COVID, freshman year was online in China… so I talked mostly with people who were also in China in the same time zone and that kind of made me feel imposter syndrome because a lot of my peers had more experience in research and more computer science knowledge. I came in without knowing that I wanted to do computer science at all, but I think overcoming imposter syndrome came with just challenging myself with classes and that made me realize, instead of comparing like laterally with my peers, I should just compare [myself] to my old self and go for vertical growth instead.
I'm really thankful for my experience at MIT. I tried a lot of different things, especially ones outside my comfort zone while also sticking to some of my hobbies growing up. I took on more leadership and did things to give back to the communities, like organizing concerts, a zoom talent show freshman year, and also participating in traditions, such as being on Ring Committee. Sometimes, I feel like I try to do many things at once, but I don’t regret it a single bit looking back. I also really enjoyed the teaching [assistant] opportunities. They taught me a lot about effective scientific communication. These experiences kind of solidified why I wanted to do a PhD and potentially go down the academia route.”