Hanfeng Li

Hanfeng Li is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). He holds the title of UB Distinguished Professor and is affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on operator algebras, noncommutative geometry, and dynamical systems, particularly exploring connections between these fields through the lens of sofic groups and algebraic actions. Li earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

His research interests include soficity, entropy theory, algebraic actions of countable groups, and L²-invariants. He has made significant contributions to understanding mean dimension, Fuglede-Kadison determinants, and the variational principle for sofic group actions. Li has been recognized with prestigious honors, including being named to the American Mathematical Society (AMS) 2021 Class of Fellows.

Li's work bridges operator algebras and dynamical systems, with a focus on structural properties of noncommutative spaces and their topological counterparts. His recent studies emphasize actions of general countable groups and their implications for entropy and dimension theories.