Runze Li, Evan Pugh University Professor and Eberly Family Chair Professor in Statistics at Penn State, has been honored with the Gottfried E. Noether Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Statistical Association. The award is given each year to a distinguished senior researcher/teacher in nonparametric statistics and was established in 1999 to honor Gottfried Emanuel Noether, a leading scholar in nonparametric statistics with interests in research and teaching.
Li's research centers around developing statistical methods for high dimensional data, such as variable selection and feature screening, as well as non-parametric modeling and semiparametric modeling, and their application to social behavior science research.
Li is well known for his pioneering contributions to high-dimensional data analysis, which has shaped modern statistical methodology research and underpins the foundational principles used in today's data science. His contributions have applications across social sciences, environmental sciences, meteorology, genetics, bioinformatics and neuroscience.
Li is a fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics, American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His honors and awards include the U.S. National Science Foundation Career Award in 2004, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization Gerbier-Mumm International Award in 2012, the International Chinese Statistical Association Distinguished Achievement Award in 2017 and a Faculty Research Recognition Award for Outstanding Collaborative Research by the Penn State College of Medicine in 2018. Li was also honored with the Penn State Eberly College of Science's Distinguished Mentoring Award in 2023 and the Harry C. Carver Medal from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 2024. He has delivered more than 50 distinguished lectures, named lectures, plenary lectures and keynote speeches at universities and international statistical conferences, including the Peter Hall Memorial Lecture at the 2018 Conference of the International Society of Nonparametric Statistics in Salerno, Italy, and the 2023 IMS Medallion Lecture at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto, Canada. He was co-editor of the Annals of Statistics from 2013 to 2015, is serving as co-editor elect of the Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA) and will be co-editor of the JASA from 2027 to 2029, respectively.
Before joining the faculty at Penn State, Li earned a doctoral degree in statistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000. He joined the faculty at Penn State in 2000 and was promoted to associate professor in 2005 and to professor in 2008. He served as the chair of Penn State's graduate program in statistics from 2007 to 2012 and from 2024 to present. Li also served as the associate department head of statistics from 2018 to 2023 and was named distinguished professor of statistics in 2012, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Statistics in 2014 and holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Statistics in 2018.
