Louis Chen received his BSc (Hons) from the University of Singapore in 1964 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1971. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He was Distinguished Professor from 2013 to 2015 and Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor from 2006 to 2012. He was the Founding Director of the NUS Institute for Mathematical Sciences from 2000 to 2012. Currently, he serves on the Institute’s Scientific Advisory Board and Management Board (since 2013), and on the Advisory Committee of the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research (since 2010).
Chen’s research interests are in probability theory and computational biology, focusing largely on Stein’s method. His pioneering work on Poisson approximation, which deals with probabilities of rare events, has wide applications in many areas ranging from molecular biology to computer science. He is an elected Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (2000) and the Singapore National Academy of Science (2011). He was President of the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability (1997 - 1999), President of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2004 - 2005), and Vice-President of the International Statistical Institute (2009 - 2011).
