Dr. Xinli Lu has long been engaged in the research of thermal fluid science and energy engineering in China, New Zealand and United States. After receiving his PhD degree from the University of Auckland in 2004, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and then a research scientist in the field related to geothermal energy and geological fluid dynamics. He became a researcher in thermal engineering until 2014 before he joined the Tianjin University as a full-time researcher at the Geothermal Research Center under the Department of Energy and Power Engineering.    

Dr. Lu has 10 years of research experience at the University of Illinois. His research on CO₂-driven geysering phenomena and multiphase flow with particular reference to planetary science has made him a known scientist in this field. His major academic achievements are summarized as follows: (1) as second author, along with other world leading scientists, Dr. Lu published one research paper in Science in 2006. This paper investigated a unique eruption phenomenon at the South Pole of Enceladus, a 500km diameter moon of Saturn. CNN, FOX News, The New York Times and other news media timely reported this research result. (2) As an invited author (first author), Dr. Lu published another important research paper in 2009 in a prestigious journal - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.