Tian Zheng
Tian Zheng is a Columbia statistician whose work includes sparsity, social networks, genetics, and climate emulation. She earned a statistics doctorate at Columbia in 2002 and became chair of the statistics department in 2019. ClimSim, a paper she coauthored, received a NeurIPS 2023 outstanding paper award in the dataset category. The dataset contains 5.7 billion pairs of input and output vectors for hybrid physics and machine-learning climate emulation. As of October 2026, she is a professor of statistics at Columbia and deputy director of Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics.
- Now at
- Columbia University and Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics
- Works
- 334
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 17 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.
Timeline
-
1998
Applied mathematics at Tsinghua
In 1998 she completes a B.Sc. in applied mathematics at Tsinghua University, with a minor in computer science.
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2002–2017
Doctorate and faculty ranks
She earns a master's degree in statistics at Columbia in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2002. Shaw-Hwa Lo supervises the dissertation, Multiple-Marker Screening Approach Towards the Study of Complex Traits in Human Genetics. In 2007 she becomes an untenured associate professor, in 2012 she receives tenure, and in 2017 she is promoted to full professor.
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2008–2014
An ASA award and fellowship
The American Statistical Association gives her its Outstanding Statistical Application Award in 2008. She becomes a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2014.
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2017–2021
Education work and the chair
From 2017 to 2020 she serves as associate director for education at Columbia's Data Science Institute and receives the Columbia Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2017. She becomes chair of the statistics department in 2019. A Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award comes in 2021.
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2022
An IMS fellowship
The Institute of Mathematical Statistics names her a Fellow in 2022 for fundamental research on sparsity and variable importance and for significant contributions to social network theory and genetics.
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2023
The ClimSim dataset paper
ClimSim, a paper she coauthors, receives a NeurIPS 2023 outstanding paper award in the dataset category. The dataset holds 5.7 billion pairs of multivariate input and output vectors for hybrid physics and machine-learning climate emulation.
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2024–2025
An AAAS fellowship and a committee
She becomes a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2024. In 2025 she serves on the National Academies Committee on the Frontiers of Statistics in Science and Engineering.
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As of October 2026
Professor and LEAP deputy director
She is a professor of statistics at Columbia University and deputy director, chief convergence officer, and education director of Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics. In 2026 she teaches Introduction to Statistical Reasoning.
Sources and credits
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- Tian Zheng - Wikipedia
- Tian Zheng, PhD | Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) - New York
- Tian Zheng | TZStats aiX Lab | Tian Zheng, Columbia Stats
- Announcing the NeurIPS 2023 Paper Awards – NeurIPS Blog
- #NeurIPS2023 outstanding papers - ΑΙhub
- Frontiers of Statistics in Science and Engineering: 2035 and Beyond | TZStats aiX Lab | Tian Zheng, Columbia Stats
- Executive Committee + Staff - LEAP
- What Is Statistics Really About? | TZStats aiX Lab | Tian Zheng, Columbia Stats