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) techniques to tackle challenges in hydrological and Earth system modeling. Her expertise spans uncertainty quantification, data assimilation, multi-model analysis, data analytics, and the development of physics-informed, explainable, and reliable AI frameworks.
As a Principal Investigator, Dr. Lu leads multiple Department of Energy (DOE) projects, advancing research in areas such as coastal flooding prediction, Earth system modeling, hydropower forecasting, geophysical inversion, and geological carbon storage simulation. Her scientific contributions include 91 peer-reviewed publications and the development of four innovative software tools. She is an active contributor to the scientific community, serving on program committees for multiple international conferences, review panels for various funding agencies, and editorial boards of five leading geoscience journals.
Dr. Lu earned her Ph.D. in Computational Hydrology from Florida State University in 2012 and received the prestigious DOE Early Career Award in 2023.
Awards
- DOE Early Career Award, 2023.
- Distinguished Researcher Award, 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 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, “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)