Professor Li was born in Hunan, China and received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering and Economics (with honors) from Carnegie-Mellon University, his MA degree in Mathematics and PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Li worked as a research scientist in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of MIT and as an assistant professor in the Robotics and Manufacturing Laboratory of New York University. He received the National Natural Science Award (3rd class) from China, the University Scholar Award from Carnegie-Mellon University, the E.I. Jury Award from UC Berkeley, the Research Initiation Award from the National Science Foundation, the ALCOA Fellowship from the ALCOA Foundation and the E. Anthony Fellowship from UC Berkeley.