Jianfeng Lu, professor of Mathematics at Duke, was recently awarded the 2023 Feng Kang Prize, which recognizes young Chinese scientists domestically and internationally who have made noteworthy contributions in the wide-ranging field of scientific computing.
Lu is an applied mathematician who specializes in developing mathematical analysis and algorithms to address problems in computational physics, theoretical chemistry, materials science, and other related fields. His research primarily centers around electronic structure and many-body problems, quantum molecular dynamics, multiscale modeling and analysis, and rare events and sampling techniques.
“I feel extremely honored to be recognized by the award, as it is named after the pioneer of computational mathematics in China,” said Lu.
The award is administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computational Mathematics and Scientific and Engineering Computing and is presented once every two years. Recipients are granted a prize of 20,000 Chinese Yuan.
“Since Lu came to Duke in 2012, he has been an enormous driver of research activity in computing and its applications,” said Mathematics Chair and Phillip Griffiths Professor Robert Bryant.
“He is a great teacher, with a steady stream of students and postdocs, and his work touches on so many areas of interest to the department and the university that he's always in demand for a new project. The Feng Kang prize is the most recent in a string of honors, and I was very happy to learn of this recognition of his creativity and amazing work.”
Department of Mathematics