#  Yongkai Chen Receives 2026 STAI-X Outstanding Paper Award 

 





July 06, 2026

 

 

   ![Yongkai Chen](/sites/g/files/omnuum10116/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-07/Yongkai%20Chen%20resized.jpg?itok=wD3Na3zL) 

 

The Harvard Statistics Department is thrilled to share that Postdoctoral Fellow Yongkai Chen has been selected to receive the 2026 STAI-X Outstanding Paper Award. Chen will be presented the award at the upcoming [Statistics and Trustworthy AI for Cross (X)-Domain Acceleration](https://statistics.fas.harvard.edu/news/2026/05/department-statistics-announces-stai-x-2026-conference)[ Conference](https://statistics.fas.harvard.edu/news/2026/05/department-statistics-announces-stai-x-2026-conference) hosted by the Harvard Departments of Statistics and Biostatistics from July 31 to August 1, 2026.

Chen and his co-authors, Wenxuan Zhong (University of Georgia) and Ping Ma (University of Georgia), received this award for their paper "[Wahkon: A Statistically Principled Deep RKHS Superposition Network.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14041)"

In partnership with several leading statistical organizations and journals, as well as the [StatsUpAI Interest Group](https://statsupai.org/) of the American Statistical Association, the STAI-X Conference advances the integration of statistics and AI to accelerate trustworthy cross-domain discovery, innovation, and collaboration with broad impact.

Congratulations, Yongkai, on receiving this award!



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Featured Awards ](/news-type/featured-awards)