In Memoriam: Professor Shaw-Hwa Lo (1951–2025)

The Department of Statistics at Columbia University mourns the passing of Professor Shaw-Hwa Lo, who passed away in Taiwan on October 25, 2025, at the age of 74.

Professor Lo was a pioneering statistician, a visionary thinker, and a beloved teacher whose work shaped modern statistics, data science, and the field of genetics. He joined Columbia University in 1990 and served the department and the broader university with extraordinary dedication for more than three decades.

Born in Taiwan, Professor Lo earned his B.S. in Mathematics from National Taiwan University, M.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Columbia, he taught at Rutgers and Harvard Universities.

At Columbia, Professor Lo played a central role in rebuilding and expanding the Department of Statistics, serving first as Co-Chair (1995–1998) and then Chair (1998–2004). His leadership helped transform the department into a leading center for statistical research and education.

Professor Lo’s research spanned asymptotic theory, resampling methods, survival analysis, and statistical genetics. He was known internationally for developing the Partition Retention (PR) framework and the I-Score, highly innovative tools for variable selection and prediction in high-dimensional data. His innovations bridged theory and application, advancing work in public health, biology, and transportation safety.

In 2019, he received the inaugural Chernoff Excellence in Statistics Award from the New England Statistical Society, recognizing his lifetime achievements in advancing statistics and data science.

Professor Lo is remembered for his intellectual rigor, generosity, and unwavering mentorship. His students and colleagues recall him as a passionate and inspiring guide who believed that statistics should address problems that matter to society.

He is survived by his wife, Vicky Chao, his daughter, Adeline Lo, and his son, Alexander Lo. His passing is a profound loss to the Columbia community and to the global field of statistics.

Tributes and remembrances may be shared on www.online-tribute.com/Shaw-HwaLo