Ben Fischer, from Livingston, Montana, graduated Tau Beta Pi from Stanford University in 2024 with a B.S. in Product Design and a minor in International Relations. He is driven to improve civic well-being through prosocial platform design. In his time as an undergraduate, Ben conducted wide-ranging research on causes and cures to community disconnect, ranging from cult lexicons to Tanzanian postcolonial policy to physical interventions for digital overuse. On a leave of absence from Stanford, Ben built a VC-backed company called Lighthouse, which brought embodied, synchronous connection over the pandemic to thousands of users worldwide. He also co-founded Tree Tutors, one of the first remote-only peer-tutoring networks to close COVID-19's education gap. Ben has since conducted research for the Prosocial Design Network, surfacing emerging design features with potential to reduce digital abuses and foster inclusivity online. In school, Ben was a decorated captain of Stanford's Mock Trial team, co-instructed design courses and acted in plays.

Ben brings industry experience into the academic challenges he seeks to engage with in the U.K. Ben has worked in strategy, policy, and product across three of the world's most significant AI companies, including at Palantir, where he currently serves as the Global Communications team's Chief of Staff. An avid teacher, Ben taught public speaking to third- and fourth graders in the Bay Area and currently coaches his former mock trial program.

As a Marshall Scholar, Ben hopes to study the relationship between identity authentication protocols on social media and digital behavior, with the intention of one day building the next generations of platforms to foster healthier digital identities. He plans to pursue King's College London's MPhil/PhD program in the Digital Humanities.