Lingzhou Xue is a Professor of Statistics at Penn State. He received his B.Sc. in Statistics from Peking University in 2008 and his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Minnesota in 2012. He was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University from 2012-2013.

His research interests include high-dimensional statistics, nonparametric statistics, statistical and machine learning, large-scale optimization, and statistical modeling in biomedical, environmental, and social sciences. His recent research focuses on causal inference, federated learning, graphical models, high-dimensional inference, optimal transport, random objects, and reinforcement learning.

He has advised 16 Ph.D. students (including nine who have graduated) and three postdocs. Under his supervision, four Ph.D. students and one postdoc have become tenure-track faculty in statistics. Please see both Statistical Learning and Data Mining (SLDM) Lab and Microbiome Data Science (MDS) Lab for more details.

He became an Elected Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) in 2024, an Elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) in 2023, and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) in 2016. He received the inaugural Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Emerging Leader Award in 2021, the inaugural Bernoulli Society New Researcher Award in 2019, and the International Consortium of Chinese Mathematicians Best Paper Award in 2019.

Education & Experiences
  • Professor of Statistics, Eberly College of Science, Pennsylvania State University, 2023 - present.
  • Associate Director, National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), 2020 - present.
  • Associate Professor of Statistics, Eberly College of Science, Pennsylvania State University, 2019 - 2023.
  • Assistant Director, National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), 2017 - 2020.
  • Assistant Professor of Statistics, Eberly College of Science, Pennsylvania State University, 2014 - 2019
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton University, 2012 - 2013
    Mentor: Professor Jianqing Fan
  • Ph.D. in Statistics, University of Minnesota, 2008 - 2012
    Advisor: Professor Hui Zou
  • M.Sc. in Statistics, University of Minnesota, 2008 - 2011
  • B.Sc. in Statistics, Peking University, 2004 - 2008
Selected Honors and Awards
  • Penn State Schreyer Honors College (SHC) Excellence in Advising Award, 2025.
  • Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) Fellow, 2024.
  • Penn State Huck Institutes Leadership Fellow, 2024.
  • American Statistical Association (ASA) Fellow, 2023.
  • National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) Distinguished Service Award, 2023.
  • The inaugural Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Emerging Leader Award, 2021.
  • Adobe’s Data Science Research Award, 2020.
  • International Consortium of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM) Best Paper Award, 2019.
  • The inaugural Bernoulli Society (BS) New Researcher Award, 2019.
  • International Chinese Statistical Association International Conference Young Researcher Award, 2016.
  • International Statistical Institute (ISI) Elected Member, 2016.