Professor Na Li recognized for work in control, learning, optimization

Professor Na “Lina” Li has received the 2024 IEEE Control Systems Society Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize.

The Winkour Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Li was honored for “fundamental contributions to control, learning, and optimization of cyber-physical systems and application to biomedical and energy systems.”

Li’s expertise includes theory development, algorithm design, and applications, for robotics, buildings, biomedical systems, and more. Her research goal is to develop foundational learning and control tools to explore and exploit real-world system structures that can lead to reliable, efficient, and autonomous operation of such systems. 

The Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize was established in 2005 to honor the memory of Ruberti, one of the first professors of Automatic Control in Italy. Nominees are judged based on contributions to either theory or applications of systems and control, with particular focus on impacts through publications, patents, and products, as well as broader impacts in society and toward diversity and inclusiveness goals. Winners must be 40 years old or younger.

Li received the award at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control in December 2024.

Li’s other honors include the IFAC Manfred Thoma Medal, McDonald Mentoring Award, Donald P. Eckman Award, ONR YIP Award, AFOSR YIP Award, NSF CAREER Award, Harvard Climate Change Solution Fund, and the Harvard PSE Accelerator Award.