Bio
Dr. Dan Lu is a Senior Computational Earth Scientist in the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She specializes in integrating advanced computational methods with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) to address complex challenges in hydrology and Earth system modeling. Her research spans uncertainty quantification (UQ), data assimilation, multi-data and multi-model integration, and the development of physics-informed, explainable, and trustworthy AI foundational models.
As a Principal Investigator, Dr. Lu leads multiple U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects spanning coastal flooding prediction, Earth system modeling, groundwater level prediction, hydropower forecasting, geophysical inversion, and geological carbon storage simulation. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and developed two AI–UQ toolsets: AI for UQ tool , which accelerates forward and inverse UQ using generative AI, and UQ for AI tool, which quantifies predictive uncertainty in AI models. Dr. Lu is an active contributor to the scientific community, serving on program committees for international conferences, review panels for federal funding agencies, and editorial boards of four leading geoscience journals.
Dr. Lu earned her Ph.D. in Computational Hydrology from Florida State University in 2012 and received the DOE Early Career Award in 2023.
Awards
- DOE Early Career Award, 2023.
- Distinguished Researcher Award, 2025.
- Best Paper Award, Supercomputing Conference (SC25), 2025.
- ACM Gordon Bell Climate Modeling Finalist, 2025.
- ACM Gordon Bell Climate Modeling Finalist, 2024.
- HPCwire Top Supercomputing Achievement Award, 2024.
- Performance Award in Directing AI Summer Institute, 2024.
- Best Paper Award, AI for Climate at NeurIPS, 2024.
- Honorable Mention Paper Award, AI for Climate at ICLR, 2024.
- Best Project Award, Trustworthy AI for Scientific Discovery, 2023.
- Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award, 2022.
- Top 10 Cited Paper, Advances in Water Resources, 2012 – 2013.
- Editor’s Highlight Paper, Water Resources Research, 2012.
- Multiple Travel Awards for Conferences, 2009 – 2012.
Professional Service
- Editor-in-Chief: Journal of Hydrology, 2025 -- Present
- Topic Editor: Geoscientific Model Development, 2021 -- Present
- Associate Editor: Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, 2021 -- Present
- Associate Editor: Frontiers in Water, 2022 -- Present
- Associate Editor: Water, 2024 -- Present
- Editor: Special Issue on AI-driven digital twin for hydrological systems, Journal of Hydrology, 2025.
- Editor: Special Issue on Data-driven machine learning for advancing hydrological and hydraulic predictability, Frontiers in Water, 2022.
- Co-editor: Special Issue on advances in multiphase flow and transport in the subsurface environment, Geouids, 2018.
- Leadership team of Climate Change Science Institute at ORNL, 2023 -- Now.
- DOE Multisector Dynamic Research Working Group Member, 2023 -- Now.
- AGU Groundwater Technique Committee, 2016 -- Now.
- SIAM Activity Group Member on Mathematics of Planet Earth, 2021 -- Now.
- Program Committee for Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning Workshop at ICML, 2022 -- Now.
- Program Committee for Tackling Climate Change using AI Workshop at NeurIPS, 2022 -- Now.
- Program Committee for Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning Workshop at ICLR, 2023 -- Now.
- Program Committee for AI for Robust Engineering and Sciences Workshop, 2021 -- 2022.
- Program Committee for Climate and Weather Domain of PASC19 Conference, 2019.
- Program Committee for Smoky Mountains Computational Sciences and Engineering Conference, 2023.
- Panel, Trust, but Verify in HPC: Uncertainty for AI and Computing, 2025.
- Panel, “Learn Your Lab” Research Panel: Artificial Intelligence, 2025.
- Panel, AI Foundation Models Powering Geospatial Digital Twins Workshop, 2024.
- Director of Artificial Intelligence Summer Institute, 2024.
Professional Affiliations
- Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- European Geosciences Union (EGU)
- Geologic Society of America (GSA)