The Hebrew University of Jerusalem conferred a prestigious honorary doctorate degree on Nobel Laureate and Stanford University Professor Alvin E. Roth during the 89th Board of Governors Meeting on October 19 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Roth is the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He is a distinguished economist and professor, widely celebrated for his groundbreaking contributions to game theory and market design. His innovative work has had a profound impact on both theoretical economics and practical applications, earning him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2012, which he shared with Lloyd Shapley, one of the fathers of game theory.

Roth’s primary research interests lie in game theory, experimental economics, and market design. He is best known for his work on matching theory, which applies algorithms to efficiently pair participants in a market. His contributions have revolutionized fields such as organ transplantation, school choice systems, and labor markets. Roth’s research has directly influenced the redesign of public school admissions processes in major cities such as Boston and New York, and the organization of kidney exchanges. In 2021, he traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in connection with the first kidney exchange between the UAE and Israel.

President of the Hebrew University Tamir Sheafer conferred the Degree of Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa upon Prof. Roth, "in tribute to his myriad contributions that have reshaped the field of economics, including the sub-discipline of Market Design, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2012; with appreciation for making his groundbreaking ideas accessible to the academic community and general public through his writing; and with gratitude for his warm ties with the Hebrew University and its academic community, including his mentorship, public lectures, and contributions to the Israel Institute of Advanced Studies."

Accepting the accolade, Prof. Roth said, "It’s a great honor to participate in the celebration of the 89th Board of Governors meeting, and upon the 101st anniversary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which is older than the State of Israel, and is a bulwark in troubled times."
Roth is a past president of the American Economic Association. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and has been a Guggenheim and Sloan fellow. Roth received his Ph.D. and M.S. at Stanford University and graduated with a B.S. from Columbia University.