Noam Kantor, Marshall Scholar '17, Oxford University

I graduated from the joint BS/MS program in number theory at Emory University, working under Dr. David Zureick-Brown, and now study at Oxford with the help of the Marshall Scholarship to work with Prof. Minhyong Kim. (Degree expected May 2020.)

Mathematically, I am specifically interested in p-adic geometry, diophantine finiteness results like Faltings' Theorem, and techniques from homotopy theory in algebraic geometry. Through the years I participated in the WADE Into Research Number Theory REU and University of Chicago's REU.

I also think a lot about civic tech and how mathematics and algorithms are shaping society. The state of technology in our world raises difficult and immediate questions about democracy, privacy, mental health, and social justice, and I hope to center these issues wherever I land. For example, last summer I worked at the US Census Bureau as part of the Civic Digital Fellowship, and I helped draft an Ethical Tech 101 course as a research assistant for Ethical Tech.

Finally, in an effort to engage more of the public in thinking about these issues, I started Jewish Digital Future, an organization that brings together Jewish thinkers in the intersection of technology and society.

When I'm not doing math I sing in an Oxford chapel choir, engage in religious dialogue, and think about the challenges and opportunities of our quickly-changing world.