mathematics

Xuming He

Xuming He is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Xuming He rather than just read about it. In short: Xuming He (Chinese: 何旭铭) is the Kotzubei Beckmann Distinguished Professor and Inaugural Chair of Statistics and Data Science at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Key takeaways

Xuming He belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Xuming He to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Xuming He from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Xuming He (Chinese: 何旭铭) is the Kotzubei Beckmann Distinguished Professor and Inaugural Chair of Statistics and Data Science at the Washington University in St. Louis. He serves as President (2023–2025) of the International Statistical Institute.

Biography He earned a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics from Fudan University in 1984. He went to graduate school at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1985 and received a Master's degree in Mathematics and then Ph.D. in Statistics in 1989. He joined the University of Michigan as H. C. Carver Collegiate Professor in 2011, and served as Department Chair from 2015 to 2020. He was appointed as the inaugural chair of the department of Statistics and Data Science at Washington University in St. Louis on July 1, 2023. His prior appointments include faculty positions at National University of Singapore and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include theory and methodology in robust statistics, semiparametric models, quantile regression, data depth, dimension reduction, and subgroup analysis. His interdisciplinary research aims to promote the better use of statistics in biosciences, climate studies, dysphagia research, and social-economic studies.

Honors and awards Xuming He is Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute. He held a Visiting Chair Professorship of the Changjiang Scholars program, sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Education and Li Ka Shing Foundation (2008). He was IMS Medallion Lecturer and Keynote Speaker at the 2007 Joint Statistical Meetings, and Plenary Speaker at the 21st International Conference on Computational Statistics (COMPSTAT 2014). At the 62nd World Statistics Congress (2019) he delivered The International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC)'s President's Lecture. In 2015, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Chinese Statistical Association. In 2021, he received the American Statistical Association Founders Award, the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan, as well as a Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award. He received the Carver Medal (2022) from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics for his decades-long contributions to the statistics profession. In 2025, he received the Gottfried E. Noether Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Statistical Association.

Professional services Elected Council member of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) 2004–2006; President of the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA), 2010; Elected Council member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) 2013–2017; Program Director of Statistics, National Science Foundation 2003–2005; Program Chair, 2010 Joint Statistical Meetings; Chair of the Scientific Program Committee, 2013 World Statistics Congress; Editor of the IMS Bulletin (2007–2010); Co-Editor of Journal of the American Statistical Association (2011–2014) Editor of IMS Monographs/Textbooks (2017–2020) President-Elect of the International Statistical Institute (2021-2023)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Xuming He

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Xuming He claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Xuming He before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Xuming He ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Xuming He

In research: Xuming He appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Xuming He in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Xuming He is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the National University of Singapore, Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute, Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Xuming He outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Xuming He in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Xuming He means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Xuming He out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Xuming He in simple terms?

Xuming He (Chinese: 何旭铭) is the Kotzubei Beckmann Distinguished Professor and Inaugural Chair of Statistics and Data Science at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Why does Xuming He matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Xuming He?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Xuming He.