Student Awards

This award recognizes a graduating senior in the Statistics major who has demonstrated exceptional academic performance, engagement with the discipline, and a strong commitment to their studies in statistics.

Previous Recipients

Bingyu Zhou, 2022,
Aaron Ludkowski, 2023
Yiyang Xiong, 2024
Talia Duffy, 2025

This award honors a graduating senior in the Statistics & Computer Science major who has excelled academically and shown outstanding achievement at the intersection of statistics and computing.

Previous Recipients

Vaishnavi Myadam, 2022
Angela Zhao, 2023
Lucas Owen Hancock, 2024
Qicheng Jin, 2025

This award recognizes a transfer student who has distinguished themselves through academic excellence, adaptability, and meaningful contributions to the Department of Statistics since joining the University of Illinois.

Previous Recipients

Chloe Yang, 2025

This award celebrates an undergraduate student who has made significant contributions to the department through leadership, outreach, mentorship, or volunteer service, helping to build community and support fellow students.

Previous Recipients

Earl Chae, 2022
Pragati, Salunke, 2023
Mingli Xu, 2024
Alyssa Anastasi, 2025

Presented at the end of each semester, this award recognizes undergraduate students who have demonstrated excellence in research as part of the Research Experience in Statistics program, showcasing creativity, technical skill, and scholarly impact.

Previous Recipients

Jerry Liang, Fall 2024 - Detection of a Fast-Decaying Gaussian Signal
Mentor: Georgios Fellouris

Tailei Liu, Qianhua Zhou, Fall 2024 - A Computationally Efficient Matching Method via Sparse Mixed Integer Programming
Mentor: Ruoqi Yu

Elen Huang, Luke Thorell, Spring 2025 - Measuring Student Comprehension of the Simulation Process and its Product: An Analysis Contrasting Ownership of Modeling Simulations Versus Using Pre-Built Applets
Mentor: Kit Clement

The Doctoral Student Teaching Award is meant to honor Statistics Department doctoral students who have done exemplary work as graduate teaching assistants. The award considers all aspects of a student’s graduate TA record of the previous academic year including the summer semester, and will require at least one TA appointment for which ICES ratings are available. Evidence for the award will be taken from ICES scores and consultation with those who supervised the student’s TA appointments the previous year. The executive committee will select the awardees.

Previous Recipients:

James Balamuta, 2019
Danielle Sass, 2019
Albert Yu, 2019
Alton Barbehenn, 2020
Theren Williams, 2020
Dongxiao Wu, 2020
Eduardo Cardenas-Torres, 2021
Man Fung Leung, 2022
Peng Xu, 2022
Tianning Xu, 2023
Evangelos Tsiamalos, 2023
Soren Dunn, 2024
Siddhanth Sabharwal, 2024

The Doctoral Student Leadership and Service Award is meant to honor Statistics Department doctoral students who through their effort, skill and generosity with their time have helped to create a better and more productive environment within the department throughout their time in the doctoral program. It will recognize the cumulative selfless contributions and diverse ways in which students create opportunities for others, assist in the development of their peers, and generally make a better and more stimulating workplace for Statistics students, faculty and staff.

Previous Recipients:

Trevor Harris, 2020
Yutong (Jack) Li, 2020
Joshua Loyal, 2021
Robin Tu, 2021
Mehrdad Mohammadi, 2023
Austin Warner, 2023
Anwesha Chakravarti, 2024
Jaideep Mahajan, 2024

The Qualifying Exam Award recognizes outstanding academic achievement by honoring the PhD student who earns the highest score on the Department of Statistics Qualifying Exam each year. This award highlights exceptional mastery of core statistical concepts and reflects the recipient’s dedication and preparation during a critical milestone in the doctoral program.

Previous Recipients

Weihong Huang, 2013
Xichen Huang, 2013
Yao Shun, 2013
Yunbo Ouyang, 2014
Runmin Wang, 2015
Yanglei Song, 2016
Wei Han, 2017
Yangfan Zhang, 2018
Shishuang He, 2020
Hanjia Gao, 2021
Diptarka Saha, 2021
Byeongjip Kim, 2022
Anwesha Chakravarti, 2022
Kaihong Zhang, 2023
Yi Zhang, 2023
Chenyang Wang, 2024

The Horace W. Norton Prize for Outstanding Research in Statistics is awarded annually to a PhD student who demonstrates exceptional research achievement in the field of statistics. Presented at the Robert Bohrer Memorial Student Workshop, this prestigious award recognizes innovative contributions and scholarly excellence that advance statistical science.

Previous Recipients

Nanxiang Ge, 1994
Jinming Zhang, 1995
Sarah Hattz, 1997
O. Kakou, 1997
G Khurelbaatar, 1997
Jenn Jung Wu, 1998
Hanga Galfalvy, 1998
Yonghong Gao, 1999
Li Liu, 2000
Sarah Hartz, 2002
Mi-ok Kim, 2002
Moon-Ho Ring Ho, 2003
Ying Wei, 2004
Carlos Lamarche, 2005
Yan Yang, 2006
Ruibin Xu, 2007
Antonio Galvao, 2007
Hyokyoung “Grace” Hong, 2008
NO WORKSHOP, 2009
Xingdong Feng, 2010
Yunwen Yang, 2011
Xianyang Zhang, 2012
Jingfei “Emma” Zhang, 2013
Xuan Bi, 2014
Srijan Sengupta, 2015
Shiyu Wang, 2015
Subhadeep Paul, 2016
Yunbo Ouyang, 2017
Yanglei Song, 2018
NO WORKSHOP, 2019
Yinyin Chen, 2020
Trevor Harris, 2021
Yan Liu, 2021
Josh Loyal, 2022
Rong Tang, 2023
Hanjia Gao, 2024
Rentian Yao, 2024
Yuhan Li, 2025

The Norton Prize Honorable Mention is awarded to a PhD student whose research presentation at the Robert Bohrer Memorial Student Workshop demonstrates exceptional quality and promise. While the top honor is reserved for the Norton Prize recipient, this recognition highlights another student’s strong contribution to statistical research and their effective communication of scholarly work.

Previous Recipients

Hyun Keun Cho, 2012
Yeonwoo Rho, 2013
Daniel Sewell, 2014
No Honorable Mention - 2 Norton Prizes, 2015
Xiwei Tang, 2016
Lingrui Gan, 2018
Fei Xue, 2018
Xinming Yang, 2020
Runmin Wang, 2020
No Honorable Mention - 2 Norton Prizes, 2021
Yangfan Zhang, 2022
Anamitra Chaudhuri, 2023
No Honorable Mention - 2 Norton Prizes, 2024
Byeongjip Kim, 2025