Zunli Lu

Zunli Lu is the Thonis Family Professor of Low-Temperature Geochemistry and Earth System Evolution at Syracuse University's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences. His research integrates geochemical analyses to study Earth's environmental evolution, focusing on ocean-atmosphere-climate interactions and their impacts on biosphere development. He leads interdisciplinary projects on mass extinctions, ocean oxygenation, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction.

Education: Ph.D. (2008), M.S. (2005) in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of Rochester, and B.S. (2002) from Nanjing University.

Research interests include paleo-redox proxies (e.g., I/Ca), mass extinction mechanisms, and environmental responses to climate change. He has advised numerous doctoral students (e.g., Ashley Prow, Kristina Gutchess) who have gone on to prestigious postdoctoral positions. Recent grants include a $2M NSF Frontier grant to study mass extinction causes via multi-proxy modeling.

Teaching focuses on oceanography, geochemical modeling, and Earth systems at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Service includes roles on the Provost’s Promotion Committee and NSF review panels. His work bridges geochemistry, paleontology, and Earth systems modeling, with field projects across marine and continental environments.