Professor Ming LI (Theoretical Computer Science)
Professor Ming LI (University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario)
Professor Li is cited for his significant contributions to the field of theoretical computer science. He is an internationally known and respected computer science researcher, and his work has pioneered new ideas in the fields of Kolmogorow complexity, machine learning theory, analysis of algorithms, and computational biology. These can be applied to many different fields, such as mathematics, physics, philosophy, and molecular biology.
Educational Background
Professor Li took his M.Sc. in 1983 and his Ph.D. in 1985, both at Cornell University in Computer Science. He has been with the University of Waterloo since 1989.
Career Development
Professor Li is a Professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. He holds Guest Professorships at the University of Science and Technology of China and City University of Hong Kong. In 1996, he was awarded the Steacie Prize, one of the most prestigious honours in Canadian science, focussing in particular on exceptional young researchers.
Major Contributions
Professor Li has an international reputation. He has been invited to serve on the editorial boards of several prestigious journals like Journal of Computer and System Sciences. He had also been invited to speak at international conferences like 19th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming, 1992 in Vienna; the Canadian Workshop on Machine Learning, 1994 in Banff; the 6th International Conference on Algorithmic Learning Theory, 1995, Japan; and at the 11th Symposium on Fundamentals of Computation Theory, 1997 at Krakow.
Other Honorary
Professor Li has co-authored a book, An Introduction to Kolmogorov Complexity and Its Applications (Springer 1993) which is considered a classic in its field. It has been translated into Chinese, and partly into Russian and Japanese. He has written over 100 publications.
Professor Li has also taken on the social responsibility in helping China to develop its computer science. He has organized summer schools for the last 4 years, and helped Beijing University to establish an information science department.