
Zheng Li is currently Vice Chair of the University Council of Tsinghua University, Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Doctoral Supervisor, Dean of the Institute of Industrial Culture at Tsinghua University, Dean of the Tsinghua University–China COSCO Shipping Corporation Joint Research Institute for Green and Intelligent Digital Supply Chains, and Director of the Research Center for Complex Systems Engineering in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Tsinghua University. He received his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 1986 and 1991, respectively, and was a visiting scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1994 to 1996.
He previously served as Vice President of Tsinghua University, Associate Provost, Director of Human Resources, Director of the Office of Academic Affairs, and Dean of Xinya College, and has long been engaged in education administration and talent cultivation.
His major research areas include production system analysis and management and intelligent manufacturing systems. He has published more than 200 academic papers and authored or co-authored 10 books and textbooks. He has received major honors including the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the National Invention Award, the Ministry of Education Outstanding Young Teacher Award, and the Beijing May 1st Labor Medal, and he is a recipient of the State Council Special Allowance. In teaching, he serves as Director of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Industrial Engineering and Director of the Teaching Guidance Committee for the Master of Engineering Management program, and has received the Special Prize, First Prize, and Second Prize of the National Teaching Achievement Awards in Higher Education.
In recent years, he has conducted research on digital manufacturing, future factories, and intelligent manufacturing, with work spanning production system optimization, manufacturing system design, supply chains and complex systems engineering, and AI-based visual control in production management. He has undertaken research tasks under the National Natural Science Foundation of China Science Center Project, "Systems Engineering Theory and Applications for Intelligent Interconnected Systems," and has continued related work in areas such as "Super-Intelligent Production Systems: Theory and Design Methods." In recent years, he has produced a series of research outcomes in digital manufacturing operations management, production scheduling optimization, process monitoring, and cutting stock optimization, and has published books including Intelligent Manufacturing: Technology Frontiers and Exploratory Applications and Systems Engineering for Intelligent Manufacturing.