Dr. Lily Xu

Lily Xu joined Columbia IEOR as an Assistant Professor in July 2025. Her research develops methods across machine learning, optimization, and causal inference for planetary health challenges, with a focus on biodiversity conservation. She aims to enable practitioners to make effective decisions in the face of limited data, taking actions that are robust to uncertainty, effective at scale, and future-looking. In her work, Lily partners closely with NGOs to bridge research and practice, serving as AI Lead for the SMART Partnership. Since 2020, she has co-organized the EAAMO research initiative, committed to advancing Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization. Her research has been recognized with best paper runner-up at AAAI, the INFORMS Doing Good with Good OR award, a Google PhD Fellowship, and a Siebel Scholarship.