Nancy Ranxing Li, Ph.D. — Product Leadership & Research

Academic & Professional Dossier

Ph.D. · Product Leadership · Research

Nancy Ranxing Li,
Ph.D.

Group Product Manager · Cambridge, MA

Researcher-turned-product-leader with a Ph.D. in Materials Science, 14 published papers, and a decade of systems-level product strategy at Verizon and Shell TechWorks.

Published Papers

$150M

Capital Budget Managed

First Edge Platform

Age at Ph.D.

Cambridge, MA · Open to research & leadership opportunities

Profile

Researcher.
Strategist.
Builder.

Materials Science → Systems Engineering → Product Leadership

Nancy Ranxing Li earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Boston University at age 24, publishing 14 peer-reviewed papers. She subsequently bridged deep technical research into systems engineering at Shell TechWorks and large-scale product strategy at Verizon.

Her work spans safety-critical control systems, 5G Edge compute infrastructure, IoT Smart Cities platforms, and AI-driven product roadmaps — underpinned by rigorous research methodology and a $150M capital management track record.

Analytical Systems Thinker Research-Driven Cross-Domain Product Strategy Academic Authority

Professional Experience

Career Timeline

2016 — Present

Verizon

Group Product Manager, Cloud/Edge Compute · IoT Smart Cities

Launched Verizon's first 5G Edge compute platform, establishing a foundational infrastructure for next-generation applications. Led a cross-functional team to design and deploy a traffic safety SaaS solution at city scale.

—Managed $150M capital budget across AI and cloud product lines
—Drove roadmap strategy for AI, cloud, and Edge compute portfolios
—IoT Smart Cities platform — traffic safety SaaS from zero to launch

5G Edge IoT AI Product SaaS

2013 — 2016

Shell TechWorks (STW)

Technical Product Manager / Systems Engineer

Joined as the first employee of Shell's internal technology incubator. Created initial product proposals that secured $1M in seed funding and established the engineering foundation for the team.

—Employee #1 — defined product vision and technical architecture
—Managed requirements for $250M safety-critical control system
—System designed to prevent offshore oil spills — zero-failure tolerance

Systems Eng. Safety-Critical $250M Program

2009 — 2013

Boston University

Research Assistant · Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering

Conducted doctoral research in materials science, contributing to the field through rigorous experimental methodology and high-output academic publishing. Completed Ph.D. at age 24.

—14 peer-reviewed publications in materials science
—Ph.D. completed at age 24 — exceptional research velocity
—Foundation for cross-domain analytical framework applied in industry

14 Papers Ph.D. Materials Science

Academic Output

Research & Publications

14 peer-reviewed papers published during doctoral research at Boston University (2009–2013), establishing a rigorous quantitative and experimental methodology that continues to inform product decisions.

Output Volume

peer-reviewed publications

Research Domain

Materials Science & Engineering

Boston University, 2009–2013

Methodology Transfer

Rigorous experimental methodology → systems engineering requirements → data-driven product roadmap decisions

Education

Academic Credentials

2015

Certificate

Systems Design and Management

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management

Advanced program bridging engineering systems and business strategy — directly informing product architecture decisions at scale.

2013

Ph.D.

Materials Science and Engineering

Boston University

Doctoral research resulting in 14 published papers. Completed at age 24. Focus on experimental material characterization and quantitative analysis methods.