The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently announced the election of 120 new members and 30 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Peking University Mathematics Alumnus Professor Jun Liu, Professor of Statistics at Harvard University, has been elected as a Member of the NAS.
Jun Liu, Professor of Statistics at Harvard University, earned his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Peking University in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1991. He has made pioneering contributions to sequential Monte Carlo and particle filtering methods, establishing fundamental theoretical frameworks and innovative techniques for the design of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, which have been widely applied in engineering, bioinformatics, big data analytics, personalized medicine, and other fields. His proposed "Gibbs Conservative String Sampling and Pointer" algorithm remains one of the most widely used tools among biologists for identifying intricate patterns in DNA and protein sequences, with groundbreaking applications in understanding gene regulation and protein homology.
In recent years, Professor Liu has achieved a series of breakthroughs in statistical learning theory and methodology, significantly advancing big data processing. His honors include the 2002 COPSS Presidents' Award, NSF CAREER Award, Morningside Gold Medal in Applied Mathematics, ICSA Outstanding Achievement Award, and ICSA Pao-Lu Hsu Award. He is a Highly Cited Researcher by ISI, an IMS Medallion Lecturer, a Bernoulli Lecturer, an IMS Fellow, and an ASA Fellow. Additionally, he has served as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the ASA journal and as an Associate Editor for several top-tier international statistical journals. In 2000, he was appointed as a Changjiang Scholar by Peking University. In 2015, he led the establishment of the Center for Statistical Science at Tsinghua University and served as its Honorary Director. In 2024, he took on the role of Director of the Preparatory and Development Committee to lead the establishment of the Department of Statistics and Data Science at Tsinghua University.
For the official announcement, please visit:
https://www.nasonline.org/news/2025-nas-election/