Li Shengwu receives tenure at Harvard

Lee Hsien Yang’s eldest son, Li Shengwu, received tenure at Harvard University at just 39 years old. The accomplished mathematician is founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s grandson and current PM Lee Hsien Loong’s nephew.

Prof Li announced on Twitter yesterday (27 Feb) that he has received tenure. He added, “Now that it’s no longer tempting fate, let me say this: Be kind to yourself. It’s easy on the tenure track to work to the point of negative marginal return.

“Focused work is hard. If you can work on a proof for four real hours in a day, that is a good day.”

Prof Li has brought honour to Singapore through his many accomplishments in mathematics in a very short time.

After completing his GCE A-Level examinations, Prof Li was awarded the Angus Ross Prize by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) for being Singapore’s top A-level literature student.

He was awarded two scholarships – the Overseas Research Scholarship and the Clarendon Scholarship awarded by Oxford University – as he furthered his studies at Oxford.

Prof Li graduated at the top of his class in 2009 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. He won the Hicks and Webb Prize, an award presented to outstanding economics students, that same year.

He went on to achieve a master’s degree in economics from Oxford University, and in 2011, he won the George Webb Medley Prize for his outstanding graduate thesis.

Prof Li received a doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 2016. He also became the very first Singaporean to be inducted into the Harvard Society of Fellows, a society which recognizes young scholars for their potential to advance academic wisdom.

Just two years later, Prof Li won the coveted Exeter Prize, which is awarded to the best economics paper published in the previous calendar year.

Last year, he became the very first Singaporean to be awarded the prestigious 2023 Sloan P. Foundations Fellowship prize – a highly competitive award which is given to “outstanding” early-career researchers.

Prof Li quickly climbed the ladder at Harvard University, as well. He became an assistant professor in 2018 and an associate professor in 2023 before receiving tenure this week.