On December 31, 2025, the Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDSAI) officially announced the laureates of the 2025 2nd IDSAI Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is the highest honor of the institute, aiming to recognize international scholars who have made lifelong outstanding contributions to the fields of data science and artificial intelligence.The laureates of this edition are three internationally renowned experts:

Professor Ramesh K. Agarwal (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Reason for Award: In recognition of his lifelong outstanding contributions in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), rarefied gas dynamics, hypersonic flows, multidisciplinary optimization design, and sustainable energy technologies. His pioneering research has significantly advanced innovations in aerospace engineering, wind energy utilization, and geological carbon sequestration, earning him recognition as an international leader in fluid mechanics and aerodynamics.

Profile: Currently the William Palm Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautical Sciences from Stanford University in 1975. He previously served as Executive Director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University and as a Program Director at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories. He is a Fellow of 28 professional societies, including AIAA, ASME, and IEEE. He has received numerous international honors, including the AIAA Reed Aeronautics Award (the highest aviation award), SAE Medal of Honor, and ASME Honorary Membership. He has authored multiple monographs and over 600 papers.

Professor Linda R. Petzold (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)

Reason for Award: In recognition of her pioneering and enduring contributions in numerical methods for differential-algebraic equations (DAEs), discrete stochastic simulation, multiscale system modeling, and computational science software development. Her numerical algorithms and software tools are widely applied in biological system modeling, materials science, and social network analysis, profoundly impacting the progress of computational science and engineering.

Profile: Currently the Mehrabian Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1978. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and a Fellow of ACM, ASME, SIAM, and AAAS. She has received major awards including the IEEE Sidney Fernbach Award, SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering, and Dahlquist Prize. She developed classic numerical software such as DASSL/DASPK, with over 180 papers and 2 books.

Professor Zeshui Xu (Sichuan University, China)

Reason for Award: In recognition of his lifelong outstanding achievements in fuzzy decision theory, multi-attribute group decision-making, information fusion, computational intelligence, and uncertainty processing. His research results have global leading influence in decision science and information processing, promoting the application and development of data-driven decision methods in complex uncertain environments.

Profile: Currently the Chair Professor at the Business School of Sichuan University. He is a Fellow of multiple international societies including IEEE, IFSA, IET, BCS, and RSA. He is a recipient of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Youth Fund and the Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor from the Ministry of Education. He is a member of Academia Europaea, IASCYS Academician, and Distinguished Fellow of IETI. He ranks among the global leaders in decision theory and information fusion, with over 100,000 citations on Google Scholar and numerous published papers, recognized as one of the top experts in international decision science.

IDSAI stated that this recognition of the three laureates' lifelong dedication and pioneering contributions will further inspire global scholars to advance innovative research and applications in data science and artificial intelligence.