PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Na Li

Also known as Na “Lina” Li

Na Li is a control researcher whose work connects machine learning with energy networks, biomedical systems, and robotics. She studied mathematics at Zhejiang University, earned a doctorate in control and dynamical systems at Caltech, and joined Harvard after a postdoctoral year at MIT. Her research on smart-grid coordination and multi-agent control earned an NSF CAREER Award in 2016 and a 2019 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award; she also received the IEEE Control Systems Society’s 2024 Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize. In 2026, she and colleagues released RLE-Bench, an open-source benchmark for AI coding agents working on physical robots. As of October 2026, she is Harvard’s Winokur Family Professor and Area Chair for Electrical Engineering.

Works
331
Citations
11,964
h-index
51

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2014

    From mathematics to control

    At Zhejiang University, she studies pure mathematics and asks how its ideas apply to real systems. She earns a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2007 and completes a Ph.D. in control and dynamical systems at Caltech in 2013. After a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at MIT, she joins Harvard SEAS as an assistant professor in 2014.

  2. 2016

    A CAREER Award for smart grids

    In 2016, the NSF selects her for a CAREER Award supporting research on smarter, autonomous power grids, including distributed algorithms and customer incentives.

  3. 2019

    Multi-agent control research

    In 2019, she receives an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award to develop real-time decision algorithms for multi-agent systems, including underwater networks and swarm-robot tests.

  4. 2023

    Winokur professorship and Thoma Medal

    By 2023, she holds the Winokur Family Professorship at Harvard. She receives the IFAC Manfred Thoma Medal for contributions to control of multiagent networked systems and applications in biomedical and energy systems.

  5. 2024

    Antonio Ruberti research prize

    In 2024, she receives the IEEE Control Systems Society’s Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize for contributions to control, learning, and optimization of cyber-physical systems, with applications in biomedical and energy systems.

  6. 2025

    IEEE Fellow

    In 2025, IEEE names her a Fellow for contributions to control, learning, and optimization and applications to energy and biomedical systems.

  7. September 2026

    RLE-Bench for robot engineers

    In September 2026, a Harvard and Georgia Tech team led by Li releases RLE-Bench, an open-source benchmark that tests how well AI coding agents can engineer physical robots. The benchmark includes 48 tasks in robot control, perception, and design.

  8. As of October 2026

    Harvard professor and area chair

    As of October 2026, she is the Winokur Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics and Area Chair for Electrical Engineering at Harvard SEAS.

Career

  1. NowHarvard UniversityWinokur Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics, Area Chair for Electrical Engineering
  2. 2013–2014Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2013California Institute of TechnologyPhD in control and dynamical systems
  2. 2007Zhejiang UniversityBachelor's degree in mathematics

From the biography.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. An electrical engineer and applied mathematician, in brief harvardmagazine.com. Checked 26 October 2026.
  2. Na Li awarded 2019 Young Investigator from Office of Naval Research seas.harvard.edu. Checked 26 October 2026.
  3. Na Li wins prestigious NSF Career Award seas.harvard.edu. Checked 26 October 2026.
  4. Li awarded Manfred Thoma Medal seas.harvard.edu. Checked 26 October 2026.
  5. IEEE CSS Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize ieeecss.org. Checked 26 October 2026.
  6. Professor Na Li elected an IEEE Fellow seas.harvard.edu. Checked 26 October 2026.
  7. Can Your AI Engineer a Robot? seas.harvard.edu. Checked 26 October 2026.
  8. Na Li | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences seas.harvard.edu. Checked 26 October 2026.