Qian Xuesen
Li participated in the examination for the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program, and obtained the same score as Qian Xuesen. However, there was only one scholarship awardee and Qian published two or three more articles than Li, so Qian was preferred. Nevertheless, Li went to study in the United States and received master and doctor's degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, Li co-founded the Man-Vehicle Laboratory. Li was also the Director of the MIT innovation center. In 1951, Li collaborated with Charles Stark Draper and published an article on optimal control, which opened a new field of automation.