Lishuai Li is a Professor in the Department of Data Science with affiliations to the Departments of Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, while serving as the Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research) at City University of Hong Kong. Her research spans the interdisciplinary field of data science and intelligent systems, where she develops analytical methods—from statistical approaches to Artificial Intelligence—for operational excellence of complex systems, e.g. industrial intelligence, low altitude economy, and air transportation systems.
A Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Professor Li is also a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), where she chairs the Air Transportation Section (INFORMS ATS). Her editorial roles include Associate Editor for “Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies,” Area Editor for “Artificial Intelligence for Transportation,” and Editorial Board membership for “Journal of Air Transport Management,” “Aerospace,” and “International Journal of Reliability and Safety.”
Professor Li obtained her Ph.D. and M.Sc. from MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and her B.Eng. in Aircraft Design and Engineering from Fudan University. Her professional experience includes positions at McKinsey & Company in the US and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She is also a licensed private pilot.
Awards and Achievements
- 2026 “Best Paper” US-Europe Air Transportation Research and Development Symposium. Best Paper in the Track of Environment and Energy Efficiency:
Ruijia Gu, Chi Li and Lishuai Li (2026), Uncertainty Quantification in Flight Time Prediction for Airline Flight Planning. Delft, Netherlands, June 2026.
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- 2025 “Silver Award” The 50th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva..
- 2024 “Top 2% of the World’s Most Cited Scholars (Single Year, Stanford-Elsevier indicator)” Stanford University. [URL]
- 2024 “Silver Award” The 49th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva.
- 2024 “ 6th Place, the MIT ARCLab Prize for AI Innovation in Space 2024” MIT. [URL]
- 2024 “2nd Place, The 1st Low-Altitude Economy Flight Management Challenge” Meituan Academy of Robots Shenzhen (MARS) and Tsinghua University. [URL]
- 2023 “Top 2% of the World’s Most Cited Scholars (Single Year, Stanford-Elsevier indicator)” Stanford University. [URL]
- 2023 “Gold with Congratulations of Jury Award” the 3rd Asia Exhibition of Innovations & Inventions Hong Kong.
- 2023 “Merit award in 2023 China Intelligent Transportation Innovation Challenge” the 18th China Intelligent Transportation Annual Conference 2023 (ITSAC 2023).
- 2022 “Top 2% of the World’s Most Cited Scholars (Single Year, Stanford-Elsevier indicator)” Stanford University. [URL]
- 2019 “Best Presentation Award” The 3rd International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions (SSPCR).
- 2018 “Best of Session Award (ATM-D: Analytics) ” The IEEE/AIAA 37th Digital Avionics Systems Conference.
- 2017 “Outstanding Scholar Award” Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission.
Patents
- He, Fang, Li, Lishuai & Zhang, Lei, Grid Based Path Search Method for UAV Delivery operations in Urban Environment, US Patent No. 11,915,599, 27 Feb 2024.
- Li, Lishuai, Charruaud, Florence, Zhao Weizun, Method of presenting flight data of an aircraft and a graphical user interface for use with the same, US Patent No. 11,299,288, 12 Apr 2022.
- He, Fang, Li, Lishuai, Zhang, Lei & He, Xinyu, Route Network Planning for Drone Logistics in Urban Environment, US Provisional Patent No. Priority# 17/468,628, 7 Sep 2021.
Journal
- Liu, Lujie. , He, Xinyu. , Ye, Yongchao. & Li, Lishuai*. (Dec 2025). An industrial process optimization framework: from data to deployment with case studies in food production processes. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. doi:10.1007/s10845-025-02755-6
- Ye, Yongchao. , Zhu, Xinting. , Xuejin, Shen. , Xiaoyu, Chen. , S. Joe, Qin. & Li, Lishuai*. (Oct 2025). Learning Satellite Pattern-of-Life Identification: A Diffusion-Based Approach. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. 62. 615 - 629. doi:10.1109/TAES.2025.3624708
- Xiang, Chuankai. , Mo, Yanfang. , Liu, Wei. , Wu, Zhibin. & Li, Lishuai*. (Aug 2025). Path pool based transformer model in reinforcement framework for dynamic urban drone delivery problem. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 177, 105165. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2025.105165
- He, Xinyu. , Li, Lishuai*. , Mo, Yanfang. , Sun, Zhankun. & Qin, S. Joe. (2025). Air Corridor Planning for Urban Drone Delivery: Complexity Analysis and Comparison via Multi-Commodity Network Flow and Graph Search. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. 193, 103859. doi:10.1016/j.tre.2024.103859
- He, Xinyu. , Li, Lishuai*. , Mo, Yanfang. , Huang, Jianxiang. & Qin, S. Joe. (Mar 2024). A distributed route network planning method with congestion pricing for drone delivery services in cities. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 160, 104536. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2024.104536
- He, Xinyu. , He, Fang. , Li, Lishuai*. , Zhang, Lei. & Xiao, Gang. (Oct 2022). A route network planning method for urban air delivery. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. 166. doi:10.1016/j.tre.2022.102872
- He, Yuxin. , Li, Lishuai*. , Zhu, Xinting. & Tsui, Kwok Leung. (2022). Multi-Graph Convolutional-Recurrent Neural Network (MGC-RNN) for Short-Term Forecasting of Transit Passenger Flow. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. doi:10.1109/TITS.2022.3150600
- Zhu, Xitning. & Li, Lishuai*. (2021). Flight Time Prediction for Fuel Loading Decisions with a Deep Learning Approach. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 128. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2021.103179
- Lin, Yu. , Li, Lishuai*. , Ren, Pan. , Wang, Yanjun. & Szeto, W. Y. (2021). From Aircraft Tracking Data to Network Delay Model: A Data-Driven Approach Considering En-Route Congestion. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 131. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2021.103329
- Hong, Ning. , Li, Lishuai*. , Yao, Weiran. , Zhao, Yang. , Yi, Cai. , Lin, Jianhui. & Tsui, Kwok Leung. (2019). High-Speed Rail Suspension System Health Monitoring Using Multi-Location Vibration Data. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 21/7. 2943 - 2955. doi:10.1109/TITS.2019.2921785
- Ren, Pan. & Li, Lishuai*. (2018). Characterizing air traffic networks via large-scale aircraft tracking data: A comparison between China and the US networks. Journal of Air Transport Management. 67. 181 - 196. doi:10.1016/j.jairtraman.2017.12.005
- Li, Lishuai*. , Hansman, John. R. , Palacios, Rafael. & Welsch, Roy. (2016). Anomaly Detection via a Gaussian Mixture Model for Flight Operation and Safety Monitoring. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. 64. 45 - 57. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2016.01.007
- Li, Lishuai*. , Das, Santanu. , Hansman, R. John. , Palacios, Rafael. & Srivastava, Ashok. N. (2015). Analysis of Flight Data Using Clustering Techniques for Detecting Abnormal Operations. Journal of Aerospace Information Systems. Vol. 12, No. 9. 587 - 598. doi:10.2514/1.I010329
External Services
Public Service
- 2023 - 2024, Member, Global Future Council on the Future of Autonomous Mobility, World Economic Forum.
Professional Activity
- 2025 - Now, President, Air Transportation Section (ATS), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
- 2022 - 2024, Vice Chair, Aviation Applications Section (AAS), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Membership of Professional Bodies
- Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS)
- Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
- Senior Member, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
- Senior Member, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Journal Editorship
- Associate Editor, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 01/2024 – present
- Area Editor, Artificial Intelligence for Transportation, 05/2025 - present
- Editorial Board, Journal of Air Transport Management, 03/2023 – present
- Editorial Board, Aerospace, 11/2021 – present
- Editorial Board, International Journal of Reliability and Safety, 12/2021 – present
Last update date :
22 Jun 2026
