Research Interests

• Statistical Theory and Principles toward the foundation of Data Science;
• Multi-resolution Inferences, such as accumulating statistical evidence for individualized treatments (high resolution prediction) and dealing with partial prior knowledge (low resolution information);
• Multi-phase Inferences, such as handling uncongeniality between data pre-processors (e.g., imputers) and data analysts and preserving information in a distributed pre-processing system;
• Multi-source Inferences, such as comparing large observational datasets with small probabilistic samples and designing methods to gain combined information guided by  bias-variance trade-off;
• Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Statistics, such as connecting and the interplay between Bayesian, Fiducial, and  frequentist (BFF) perspectives, and their extensions, including belief function;
• Statistical Computing  and Computational Statistics, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo, EM-type algorithms and their self-consistent generalizations, and user-friendly combining rules for multiple-imputation inference;
• Signal extractions and Uncertainty Assessments in natural, social, and medical sciences, such as in astronomy/astrophysics and in psychology/psychiatry;
• Elegant Mathematical Statistics, especially distribution theory and stochastic algebra

Education

• 1990: Ph.D. in Statistics - Harvard University
• 1987: M.A. in Statistics - Harvard University
• 1986: Diploma in Graduate Study of Mathematical Statistics - Research Institute of Mathematics, Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China
• 1982: B.S. in Mathematics - Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China

Experience

• 2012 - present; Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
• 2004 - 2012: Chair, Department of Statistics, Harvard University (on leave 2010-2011)
• 2001 - present: Professor, Department of Statistics, Harvard University
• 2001 - 2005: Research Associate (Professor), Department of Statistics and the College, The University of Chicago
• 1991 - 2001: Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, Department of Statistics and the College, The University of Chicago
• 1993 - present: Faculty Research Associate, Population Research Center, National Opinion Research Center (NORC), The University of Chicago
• 1982 - 1984: Instructor of Mathematics, Department of Basic Science, China Textile University, Shanghai, P.R. China

Sample Publications

• Meng, X.L. (2016). There is Individualized Treatment. Why Not Individualized Inference? Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application 3, 79-111. Main paper. DASH entry.
• Meng, X.L. (2014). A Trio of Inference Problems that Could Win You a Nobel Prize in Statistics (If You Help Fund It). In Past, Present, and Future of Statistical Science (Eds: X. Lin, et. al), CRC Press, pp. 537-562. Final draft.
• Blocker, A.W. and Meng, X.L. (2013). The Potential and Perils of Preprocessing: Building New Foundations. Bernoulli 19, 1176-1211.  Final draft.
• Yu, Y. and Meng, X.L. (2011). To Center or Not to Center: That Is Not the Question -- An Ancillarity-Sufficiency Interweaving Strategy (ASIS) for Boosting MCMC Efficiency (with discussion). Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 20, 531-615. Main paper (531-570), Supplement, Discussion (571-602) and Rejoinder (603-615).
• Nicolae, D., Meng, X.L. and Kong, A. (2008). Quantifying the Fraction of Missing Information for Hypothesis Testing in Statistical and Genetic Studies (with discussion). Statistical Science 23, 287-331. Main paper (287-312) and Rejoinder (325-331).
• Kong, A., McCullagh, P., Meng, X.L., Nicolae, D. and Tan, Z. (2003). A Theory of Statistical Models for Monte Carlo Integration (with discussion). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society B 65, 585-618; JSTOR.
• van Dyk, D.A. and Meng, X.L. (2001). The Art of Data Augmentation (with discussion). Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 10, 1-111. Main paper (1-50) and Rejoinder (98-111).
• Meng, X.L. and van Dyk, D.A. (1997). The EM Algorithm - An Old Folk Song Sung to a Fast New Tune (with discussion). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society B 59, 511 - 567; JSTOR.
• Gelman, A.E., Meng, X.L. and Stern, H. (1996). Posterior Predictive Assessment of Model Fitness via Realized Discrepancies (with discussion). Statistica Sinica 6, 733-807.
• Meng, X.L. (1994). Multiple-Imputation Inference with Uncongenial Sources of Input (with discussion). Statistical Science 9, 538-573. Main paper (538-558) and Rejoinder (566-573).

Curriculum Vitae (contains links to most lecture videos and articles)

Short Biography (Dean's Office, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)

The XL-Files (a collection of IMS Bulletin columns: comments after each are welcome!)

On Rejection (thoughts about an inevitable but necessary experience)