Lu joins the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

The School of Engineering is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Lu as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Lu joins Tufts from the University of Chicago, where he served as an Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, focusing on the intersection of machine learning and physics. He earned his PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2022, where he was a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow, and holds a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from Harvard University.

Lu’s research develops foundational machine learning approaches to model and interpret complex physical systems. He emphasizes identifying physically relevant features, accelerating expensive simulations, solving inverse problems, and integrating physical constraints into learning algorithms. His work spans physics-informed machine learning, interpretable representation learning, and scientific generative modeling, with applications in areas such as dynamical systems, quantum physics, and fluid dynamics.

Lu brings a distinguished record of interdisciplinary scholarship and innovation to Tufts. He was recognized in 2024 as a “Rising Star in Data Science” by the University of California San Diego, the University of Chicago, and Stanford University. This honor celebrates the potential of exceptional data scientists. In his new role, Lu will continue advancing applied physics and machine learning research while engaging with students.

The School of Engineering is excited to welcome Lu and looks forward to the impact he will make both in the lab and the classroom, helping to train the next generation of engineers and scientists.