Jianfeng Lu

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics

Jianfeng Lu is an applied mathematician interested in mathematical analysis and algorithm development for problems from computational physics, theoretical chemistry, materials science, machine learning, and other related fields.

More specifically, his current research focuses include:
High dimensional PDEs; generative models and sampling methods; control and reinforcement learning; electronic structure and many body problems; quantum molecular dynamics; multiscale modeling and analysis.

Appointments and Affiliations

• James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics
• Professor of Mathematics
• Professor of Physics
• Associate Professor of Chemistry

Contact Information

• Office Location: 242 Physics Bldg, 120 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
• Office Phone: +1 919 660 2875
• Email Address: jianfeng@math.duke.edu
• Websites:
  • Personal website

Education

• Ph.D. Princeton University, 2009

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Feng Kang Prize of Scientific Computing. Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2023
• IMA Prize in Mathematics and its Applications. Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. 2017
• CAREER Award. National Science Foundation. 2015
• Sloan Research Fellowship. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 2013
• Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship. Princeton University. 2008

Courses Taught

• PHYSICS 590: Selected Topics in Theoretical Physics
• MATH 757: Introduction to Linear Programming and Game Theory
• MATH 690-70: Topics in Applied Mathematics
• MATH 690-60: Topics in Numerical Methods
• MATH 660: Numerical Partial Differential Equations
• MATH 631: Measure and Integration
• MATH 555: Ordinary Differential Equations
• MATH 494: Research Independent Study
• MATH 493: Research Independent Study
• MATH 393: Research Independent Study
• MATH 391: Independent Study
• MATH 375: Introduction to Linear Programming and Game Theory

In the News

• Duke Announces 32 New Distinguished Professorships (Mar 19, 2024 | Duke Today)
• Duke Awards 32 New Distinguished Professorships for 2024 (Mar 19, 2024 | Duke Today)
• Pratt Researchers to Harness Computational Power to Solve Time-Intensive Calculations (Jul 10, 2015)
• Sloan Foundation Names Charbonneau, Lu as 2013 Research Fellows (Feb 15, 2013)

Representative Publications

• Purohit, V; Repasky, M; Lu, J; Qiu, Q; Xie, Y; Cheng, X, Posterior sampling via Langevin dynamics based on generative priors (2024) [abs].
• Chidambaram, M; Gatmiry, K; Chen, S; Lee, H; Lu, J, What does guidance do? A fine-grained analysis in a simple setting (2024) [abs].
• Lu, J; Wang, Y, Guidance for twisted particle filter: a continuous-time perspective (2024) [abs].
• Liu, K; Lu, J, Error Bounds for Open Quantum Systems with Harmonic Bosonic Bath (2024) [abs].
• Lu, J; Stubbs, KD, Algebraic Localization of Wannier Functions Implies Chern Triviality in Non-periodic Insulators, Annales Henri Poincare, vol 25 no. 8 (2024), pp. 3911-3926 [10.1007/s00023-024-01444-z] [abs].