Ben Zhu

Assistant Professor of Applied Physics (starting January 1, 2026)

(mail) 200 S.W. Mudd, MC 4701
500 W. 120th Street
New York, NY 10027

Emailben.zhu@columbia.edu

Ben Zhu is a theoretical and computational physicist whose research advances our understanding of fusion and laboratory plasmas. His work focuses on magnetic fusion energy (MFE), with particular emphasis on the nonlinear dynamics of magnetized plasmas across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Research Interests

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

Links

Zhu investigates phenomena such as plasma instabilities, turbulence, transport barriers, bifurcation processes, and particle and heat exhaust in magnetic confinement devices including tokamaks and stellarators. His research integrates both fluid and kinetic theories, employing high-performance computing and advanced numerical methods to model boundary plasma behavior. Zhu is also at the forefront of applying machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI) to plasma physics, developing neural-network-based kinetic closures and surrogate models for tokamak control and predictive modeling.

Zhu received his BS degree in Applied Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2008, his MS degree in Applied Science from the University of California, Davis in 2009, and his PhD in Physics from Dartmouth College in 2017. His doctoral work explored the interplay between turbulence, transport, and spontaneously generated shear flows at the tokamak edge using global three-dimensional two-fluid electromagnetic simulation. After serving as a research associate at Dartmouth College, he joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 2018 and became a staff scientist in 2020. He was honored with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Award in 2024.

Select Publications

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)

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

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

Professional Affiliations

American Physical Society

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

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