Zihan Li, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Industrial & Systems Engineering — known as ISE — recently won the prestigious E.J. Sierleja Memorial Fellowship.
Awarded by the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers, the fellowship honors ISE students for academic excellence, campus leadership, character and service to industrial engineering professions. Li’s research explores machine learning and decision-making for complex engineering systems, with applications in manufacturing, energy and reliability.
In less than three years, Li passed his qualifying examination and produced four high-quality journal papers — including one that is now published, noted ISE Assistant Professor Minhee Kim, Ph.D., Li’s advisor.
“Zihan’s research productivity is truly exceptional,” Kim said. “Zihan’s research is at the intersection of quality engineering, machine learning, and statistics. What distinguishes his work is not only the technical rigor, but also his ability to identify fundamental questions that are often overlooked in the field.”
Li is Kim’s first Ph.D. student, and he has set a high bar for future Ph.D. students, Kim said.
“Receiving this award,” Li said, “is a great honor and an encouragement for my research journey. It recognizes not only my academic efforts but also the importance of developing reliable and responsible data-driven methods in engineering.”