SJTU Alumni Tianwen Cai and Minghui Chen Elected 2023 AAAS Fellows

May 08,2024 Page views:19

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On April 18, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific societies and the publisher of Science—announced its list of 2023 AAAS Fellows. Among the 502 scientists, engineers, and innovators recognized with this prestigious lifetime honor were two Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) alumni: Tianwen Cai and Minghui Chen.

Tianwen Cai

  • Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, University of Pennsylvania
  • Daniel H. Silberberg Professor of Statistics and Data Science, Wharton School
  • Senior Scholar, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine
  • Master’s in Applied Mathematics, Class of 1989, School of Mathematical Sciences, SJTU

Cai served as Vice Dean of the Wharton School from 2017 to 2020. He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) in 2006 and received the prestigious COPSS Presidents' Award in 2008. He also served as President of the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA) in 2017–2018, received the ICSA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2019, and in 2023 was elected President-Elect of IMS, while also receiving the Noether Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Statistical Association and the Frontier Science Award from the International Congress of Basic Science.

Cai’s research focuses on big data analytics, including machine learning, high-dimensional statistics, large-scale inference, statistical decision theory, functional data analysis, nonparametric estimation, wavelet methods, and applications of big data in genomics and financial engineering. His work has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and Wharton Global Initiatives. He previously served as editor-in-chief of the Annals of Statistics and on editorial boards of leading journals including JASA.

Minghui Chen

  • Distinguished Chair Professor, Board of Trustees
  • Chair, Department of Statistics, University of Connecticut
  • Master’s in Applied Mathematics, Class of 1986, School of Mathematical Sciences, SJTU

Chen was elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) in 2005, IMS Fellow in 2007, and Fellow of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA) in 2016. He has held several prominent positions including President of ICSA (elected in 2011, served in 2013), Board Member of ISBA, and President of the New England Statistical Society (2018–2020). He received the ICSA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2020. Since 1994, Chen has led numerous research projects funded by the NIH and NSF and contributed to multiple major statistical monographs as editor and associate editor.

His research centers on Bayesian statistical methodology, including Bayesian computing, big data, categorical data analysis, Bayesian clinical trial design, DNA microarray data analysis, missing data methods, Monte Carlo techniques, prior elicitation, statistical modeling for prostate cancer data, survival analysis, and variable selection.

About the Award

Founded in 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest federation of scientific and engineering societies and the largest non-profit international science organization, with over 120,000 members in more than 90 countries. It is also the publisher of the prestigious journal Science. Since 1874, AAAS has selected distinguished scientists from its membership each year as AAAS Fellows in recognition of their exceptional contributions to science and technology. Notable past fellows include Thomas Edison (inventor of the light bulb), James Watson (co-discoverer of the DNA double helix), and numerous Nobel Prize winners.