McLean, Va. (October 5, 2023) – The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) applauds Lester Mackey, a 2002 alum of CEE’s Research Science Institute (RSI), for being named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow.
“CEE is so proud of Lester,” said Joann P. DiGennaro, CEE President. “He is a worthy scholar of this most prestigious honor.”
Lester Mackey is a computer scientist and statistician whose research in machine learning and statistics focuses on techniques to improve efficiency and predictive performance in computational statistical analysis of large data sets. He applies his theoretical insights to develop scalable learning algorithms with direct benefit for society. He received a BSE (2007) from Princeton University and an MA (2011) and a PhD (2012) from the University of California at Berkeley. He was an assistant professor in statistics and created the Statistics for Social Good working group at Stanford University (2013–2016) before moving to Microsoft Research in 2016, where he is a principal researcher. His papers have appeared in Nature Communications, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the Annals of Statistics, the Annals of Probability, and the Annals of Applied Probability.
CEE’s Research Science Institute is the most prestigious international summer research program in the world for high school students. Collaboratively sponsored with MIT, students conduct original, innovative research. CEE’s program emphasizes advanced theory and research in STEM. One hundred of the world’s most accomplished high school scholars are selected annually to participate in RSI, which is cost-free to all competitively selected students. To date, more than 3,000 high school students representing every U.S. state and 61 nations have experienced RSI. For more information, visit https://www.cee.org/programs/research-science-institute.
The MacArthur Fellowship is a five-year grant totaling $800,000 to individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future. The Fellowship is designed to provide recipients with the flexibility to pursue their own artistic, intellectual, and professional activities in the absence of specific obligations or reporting requirements. There are no limits on age or area of activity. Individuals cannot apply for this award; they must be nominated.
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About the Center for Excellence in Education
CEE, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H.G. Rickover and Joann P. DiGennaro, President of the Center. The Center’s mission is to nurture high school and university scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and to encourage collaboration between and among scientific and technological leaders in the global community. CEE sponsors the Research Science Institute (RSI), USA Olympiad (USABO), Teacher Enrichment Program (TEP), and STEM Lyceums. For more, visit www.cee.org.
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