Professor Pengfei Li of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo was the winner of the 2022 CRM-SSC Prize in Statistics. The award recognizes a statistical scientist’s excellence and accomplishments in research during the first 15 years after earning his/her doctorate (or equivalent degree). It is awarded annually by the Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) and the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) and is widely viewed as the most prestigious honour for mid-career researchers in the field of statistics in Canada. The citation of the award reads:

“To Pengfei Li, for ground-breaking and pioneering research contributions to the EM-test for the order of finite mixture models; for original and creative methodological developments in the areas of the empirical likelihood, density ratio models, statistical genetics, non-probability sampling; for exceptional research productivity; and excellence in statistical education.”

The award was announced at the 2022 annual meeting (virtual) of the Statistical Society of Canada. An article detailing the research and some personal stories of Professor Pengfei Li will become available later in the summer on the SSC website.