Isabella Lu portrait.jpg

Isabella Lu

Computer Science × Environmental Engineering — Columbia SEAS '28

About

I'm a computer science undergrad at Columbia, minoring in environmental engineering. I'm interested in the intersections of computer science and climate change. Recently, I've been building instruments for electrochemistry and ML emulators for land-surface models in the Arctic. Outside of academics, I enjoy running, jiujitsu, and spending time with my friends and family.

Research & work experience

2023 — present
Zn plating · Z′ vs −Z″
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
SUMMER@SEAS
2026

An automated electrochemical system for zinc electrodeposition

Building a three-electrode cell with closed-loop imaging and QCM mass-change feedback in a choline chloride/urea deep eutectic solvent, working toward a ML-powered feedback loop that utilizes electrochemical data to influence current and voltage.

Python · QCM · EIS
Arctic fieldwork images/research-arctic.jpg
NSF LEAP-STC
× NCAR, REU
2025

Emulating snow–shrub interactions in the Arctic

Designed nested Gaussian Process Regressor emulators for snow and plant processes in the Community Land Model under Dr. Linnia Hawkins in order to develop a better understanding of modeled plant processes in the Arctic. Presented at AGU, the CESM Summer Student Conference, and Columbia's Undergraduate Data Science & AI Research Fair.

Python · GPR · CLM
LEAP Pangeo JupyterHub platform
NSF LEAP-STC
Data & Compute Intern

Data Management for the LEAP Pangeo JupyterHub

Maintaining the user and data-administration side of the LEAP Pangeo JupyterHub platform— debugging offboarding automation, reconciling directory metadata against researcher registry, and data cleaning.

Python · JupyterHub · Google Cloud
North Pacific chlorophyll data images/research-ocean.jpg
UC Santa Cruz
Ocean Sciences
2023–24

North Pacific chlorophyll × sea temperature

Analyzed CMIP6 chlorophyll fields across the North Pacific in R— time-series decomposition, global projections, and quantile linear regression with prewhitening— and checked simulation reliability against satellite observation.

R · CMIP6 · Data Analysis

Sidequests

My other interests at Columbia
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BJJ

Vice President @ Columbia BJJ

When I'm not studying, I'm practicing jiujitsu with my friends. I've also automated some of our documentation pipelines. As secretary the year before, I handled most communication and social media. I also sit on the Club Sports Governing Board as martial-arts rep this year, managing communication between Columbia Club Sports and our martial arts clubs.

Columbia WICS graphics images/sidequest-wics.jpg
WICS

Publicity Lead @ Columbia WICS, previously @ DivHacks

I design the Instagram brand system— palette, fonts, templates— for Women in Computer Science, and lead graphics for DivHacks (2025), Columbia's largest fall hackathon. If you've seen a WICS or DivHacks sticker before, it's likely one of my designs :)

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TASA

Organizing Committee, Publicity @ TASA

I design social media graphics and take event photography for the Taiwanese American Student Association's cultural programming!