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Jianfeng Lu

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics Department, Duke University, Box 90320, Durham, NC 27708
242 Physics Bldg, 120 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours By email appointments  

Overview


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.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics · 2024 - Present Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Mathematics · 2020 - Present Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate Professor of Chemistry · 2016 - Present Chemistry, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Physics · 2023 - Present Physics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published March 19, 2024
Duke Announces 32 New Distinguished Professorships
Published March 19, 2024
Duke Awards 32 New Distinguished Professorships for 2024
Published July 10, 2015
Pratt Researchers to Harness Computational Power to Solve Time-Intensive Calculations

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Recent Publications


Mixing Time of Open Quantum Systems via Hypocoercivity.

Journal Article Physical review letters · April 2025 Understanding the mixing of open quantum systems is a fundamental problem in physics and quantum information science. Existing approaches for estimating the mixing time often rely on the spectral gap estimation of the Lindbladian generator, which can be ch ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Collaborative Research: RI: Medium: Machine learning for PDEs, and with PDEs

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2024 - 2028

NRT-HDR: Harnessing AI for Autonomous Material Design

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEParticipants · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2020 - 2026

Innovation of Numerical Methods for High-Dimensional Partial Differential Equations

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2023 - 2026

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Education, Training & Certifications


Princeton University · 2009 Ph.D.

External Links


Personal website