Faculty

  • Professional Experience
    • Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering and of Climate, Columbia University, 2026-
    • Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2022-2026
    • Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2020-2022
    • Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2017-2020
    • Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2012-2017
    • Postdoc, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 2010-2012 
    • Senior Scientist, Polyera Corporation, 2008-2010
  • Honors & Awards
    • Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering, Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology, 2025 
    • Research Excellence Award in Electrochemical Energy Storage, American Chemical Society ENFL Division, 2025 
    • Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate Analytics, 2025 
    • Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2020
  • Education
    • PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
    • BS and MS, Materials Science, Fudan University

Additional information

  • Professional Experience
    • Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University, 2026-
  • Education
    • PhD, Computer Science, Purdue University
    • BS. Computer Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • Honors & Awards
    • ASE 2024 Distinguished Reviewer Award, ACM SIGSOFT, 2024
    • ACM SIGSAC Doctoral Dissertation Award, ACM SIGSAC, 2024
    • CCS 2024 Distinguished Paper Award, ACM SIGSAC, 2024
    • OOPSLA 2019 Distinguished Paper Award, ACM SIGPLAN, 2019

Additional information

  • Professional Experience
    • Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, 2026-
    • Nevada Gold Mines Professor and Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Reno, 2025-2025
    • Nevada Gold Mines Professor and Assistant Professor, University of Nevada, Reno, 2020-2025
  • Professional Affiliations
    • Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME)
    • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Education
    • PhD, Materials Engineering, McGill University
    • MEng, Mechanical Engineering, McGill University
    • BEng, Mechanical Engineering, McGill University
  • Honors & Awards
    • Jason Geddes Regents’ Rising Researchers Award, Board of Regents, Nevada Systems of Higher Education, 2025
    • Excellent Contribution Award, Editorial Office of Green and Smart Mining Engineering, 2025
    • Mousel-Feltner Award for Excellence in Research and/or Creative Activity, College of Science, University of Nevada, Reno, 2024
    • Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Sustainability Leader of the Year Award, 2024
    • Doctoral Award, Fonds de recherche du Québec Nature et Technologies, 2014
    • Fellow of Brace Water Resources Foundation, McGill University, 2013
    • MEDA Doctoral Award, McGill University, 2012
    • International SAG Conference Postgraduate Award, SAG Conference, 2011
    • BMP Industrial Innovation Scholarship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2010

Additional Information

  • Research Areas
    • Computational mechanobiology
    • Soft tissue mechanics
    • Data-driven solid mechanics
    • Breast cancer biomechanics
    • Machine learning methods in computational mechanics
    • Uncertainty quantification methods in computational mechanics
    • Reconstructive surgery
    • Skin
       
  • Research Areas

    Plasma physics; numerical modeling of magnetized plasma; turbulence and transport processes; fusion exhaust and control strategies; ML/AI applications in fusion energy science.

  • Select Publications

    A full list of my publications is available on Google Scholar.

    B. Zhu, M. Zhao, X. Xu, A. Gupta, K. Kwon, X. Ma and D. Eldon, “Latent space mapping: revolutionizing predictive models for divertor plasma detachment control”, Physics of Plasmas 32, 062508 (2025)
     

    K. Fan, X. Xu, B. Zhu, C. Dong, T. Xia and Z. Li, “Theoretical and global simulation analysis of collisional microtearing modes”, Physics of Plasmas 31, 052102 (2024)
     

    B. Zhu, X. Xu and X. Tang, “Electromagnetic turbulence simulation of tokamak edge plasma dynamics and divertor heat load during thermal quench”, Nuclear Fusion 63, 086027 (2023)
     

    B. Zhu, M. Zhao, H. Bhatia, N. Li, T. Bremer, X. Xu, W. Meyer and T. Rognlien, “Data-driven model for divertor plasma detachment prediction”, Journal of Plasma Physics 88, 895880504 (2022)
     

    K. Fan, X. Xu, B. Zhu and P. Li, “Kinetic Landau-Fluid closures of non-Maxwellian distributions”, Physics of Plasmas 29, 042116 (2022)
     

    B. Zhu, H. Seto, M. Yagi and X. Xu, “Drift reduced Landau fluid model for magnetized plasma turbulence simulations in BOUT++ framework”, Computer Physics Communication 267, 108079 (2021)
     

    M. Francisquez, T. Bernard, B. Zhu, A. Hakim, B. N. Rogers, and G. W. Hammett, “Fluid and gyrokinetic turbulence in open field-line, helical plasmas", Physics of Plasmas 27, 082301 (2020)
     

    C. Ma, B. Zhu, X. Xu and W. Wang, “Machine learning surrogate models for Landau fluid closure”, Physics of Plasmas 27, 042502 (2020)
     

    B. Zhu, M. Francisquez and B. Rogers, “GDB: a global 3D two-fluid code for plasma turbulence and transport at tokamak edge region”, Computer Physics Communications 232, 46 (2018)
     

    B. Zhu, M. Francisquez and B. Rogers, “Global 3D two-fluid simulation of tokamak edge region: turbulence, transport, profile evolution and spontaneous E×B rotation", Physics of Plasmas 24, 055903 (2017)


     

  • Professional Experience

    Assistant Professor, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, 2026-present


    Research Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2020-2025


    Postdoctoral Staff Researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2018-2020


    Postdoctoral Associate, Dartmouth College, 2017-2018
  • Honors & Awards

    U.S. DOE Early Career Research Program Award, 2024
     

    Physics and Astronomy Graduate Research Award, Dartmouth College, 2017
     

    Conference Gordon F. Hull Fellowship, Dartmouth College, 2016


    Selamawit Tsehaya Teaching Award, Dartmouth College, 2016



     

  • Professional Experience
    • Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University, 2025-
    • Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024-2025
  • Education
    • PhD, Computer Science, University of Toronto
    • BS, Mathematics, Universidá d'Uviéu
    • BS, Physics, Universidá d'Uviéu
  • Professional Experience
    • Sun-Wu Assistant Professor, Columbia University, 2025-
    • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Oxford, 2024-2025
  • Professional Affiliations
    • Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
    • Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO)
    • Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
    • Society for Conservation Biology (SCB)
  • Honors & Awards
    • IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award Runner-Up, 2024
    • Siebel Scholar, 2024
    • Rising Star in Data Science, UChicago, 2023
    • Rising Star in EECS, GATech, 2023
    • Rising Star in Management Science and Engineering, Stanford MS&E, 2023
    • Google PhD Fellowship, 2022 INFORMS Doing Good with Good OR Award, 2021
    • AAAI Best Paper Award Runner Up, 2021
  • Education
    • PhD, Computer Science, Harvard University
    • AB, Computer Science and Hispanic Studies, Dartmouth College
  • Education
    • PhD, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, MIT
    • BA, Mathematics, Columbia University
  • Professional Experience
    • Senior Lecturer, Columbia University, 2025-
    • Visiting Assistant Professor, Swarthmore College, 2023-2025
    • Senior Lecturer, Bryn Mawr College, 2020-2023
    • Associate Professor of Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 2013-2020
    • Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania, 2010-2013
  • Honors & Awards
    • DO-IT Trailblazer Award, Univ. of Washington, 2023
    • Rosalyn R. Schwartz Teaching Award, Bryn Mawr College, 2023
    • Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing Faculty, University of Pennsylvania, 2019
    • Paul Charles Michelman Memorial Award for Exemplary Service, Columbia University, 2009
    • Presidential Teaching Award, Columbia University, 2007
    • Andrew P. Kosoresow Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service, Columbia University, 2006
  • Education
    • PhD, Computer Science, Columbia University
    • MS, Computer Science, Columbia University
    • BS, Computer Engineering, Boston University