Mengyao (Hana) Liu

B.E. in Architecture and Urban Planning from Tsinghua University

B.A. in Classics from Sorbonne University (Paris-IV)

M.A. in History of Science from EHESS (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales)

I am broadly interested in the production of knowledge in ancient worlds, with a particular interest in the Greco-Roman and Chinese traditions. My curiosity is a comparative and genealogical one at root: by comparing different societies, I seek to grasp the historicity of intellectual practices and the ideas thus produced. Currently, my research interest focuses on astronomy and astrology in Ancient Greece and China.
While completing my B.A. in Classics at Sorbonne University, I investigated how the urban metamorphoses of Rome materialized the transformation of the political regime. My master's thesis at EHESS, "Statues pour les corps, livres pour les mots" : La vie (βἰος) et la rhétorique (λόγος) dans les Discours Sacrés, offers insight into the psychosomatic relations conceived by the Greeks. The inquiry breaks into two interdependent questions: the therapeutic usage of rhetorical practices and the unconventional representation of Asclepius in the Sacred Tales of Aristides.
Having one year of training in computer science from Tsinghua University and currently pursuing a PhD minor in CS at Stanford, I am passionate about the potentials of digital humanities.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding applying to Stanford, learning ancient Greek, Chinese or Latin, or anything else.