The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is pleased to announce Runze Li as the 2024 IMS Carver Medal recipient. Professor Li is the Eberly Family Chair Professor of Statistics at the Pennsylvania State University at University Park. The award is made in recognition of his exceptional contributions to IMS, especially through his steady service and guidance of the Annals of Statistics editorial board as co-editor and then as Editor during a long period of difficult times due to unexpected circumstances. Professor Li has also made excellent contributions as program chair of joint meetings of the IMS and several different Pacific-Rim statistical associations.

Runze Li received his PhD in Statistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000. His research interests include variable selection and feature screening for high-dimensional data, nonparametric modeling and semiparametric modeling and their application to social behavior science research. He is also interested in longitudinal data analysis and survival data analysis and their application to biomedical data analysis.

Li joined Penn State as an assistant professor of statistics in 2000, and became associate professor, full professor, distinguished professor and Verne M. Willaman Professor of Statistics in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2014, respectively. Since 2018, he is the Eberly Family Chair Professor of Statistics. He received his NSF Career Award in 2004. He is a fellow of IMS, ASA and AAAS. As well as co-editor of the Annals of Statistics, he has served as associate editor of Annals of Statistics and Statistica Sinica, and currently serves as associate editor of JASA and Journal of Multivariate Analysis.

Li has received numerous honors and awards, including the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization Gerbier–Mumm International Award for 2012; Highly Cited Researcher in Mathematics (2014– ); ICSA Distinguished Achievement Award, 2017; Faculty Research Recognition Awards for Outstanding Collaborative Research.], by the College of Medicine at Penn State University, 2018; and the Distinguished Mentoring Award from Eberly College of Science, Penn State University, 2023. He gave an IMS Medallion Lecturer at last year’s Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto.

The IMS created the Carver Medal in 2002 in honor of Harry C. Carver, Founding Editor of the Annals of Mathematical Statistics and one of the Institute’s founders. The medal is for exceptional service specifically to the IMS and is open to any member of the IMS who has not previously been elected President.

Runze Li will be presented with the Carver Medal at the 2025 JSM in Nashville.