Guannan Zhang, Ph.D.

GUANNAN ZHANG, PH.D.

Dr. Guannan Zhang is a Distinguished Staff Scientist in the Machine Learning and Data Analytics Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Florida State University (2012), as well as a Master's (2009) and Bachelor's (2007) degree in Mathematics from Shandong University. Dr. Zhang joined ORNL in 2012 as the Householder Fellow in the Computer Science and Mathematics Division. He was awarded the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award in 2022. He currently holds joint faculty appointments with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Auburn University and the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee.

His research focuses on high-dimensional approximation, uncertainty quantification, AI for science, stochastic optimization and control.

Contact: Email: zhangg@ornl.gov, Phone: (+1) 865-241-4503, Fax: (+1) 865-241-0381

News and Recent Updates

08/2025, We are excited to welcome Dr. Siming Liang to our group as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
07/2025, We are excited to welcome Mr. Jacob Hauck to our group as a graduate intern.
07/2025, Congratulations to Dr. Zezhong Zhang, former postdoctoral fellow in our group, on starting his tenure-track assistant professor position in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Auburn University.
01/2025, Excited to work with Mr. Juno Morrill and Mr. Jon Keehn from Oak Ridge High School on their Math Thesis Course in 2025.
01/2025, Excited to join the SIAM Committee on Programs and Conferences.
01/2025, Excited to join the editorial board of SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing.
11/2024, Our paper on "A Scalable Training-Free Diffusion Model for Uncertainty Quantification" received the best paper award at The Second Workshop on Enabling Predictive Science with Optimization and Uncertainty Quantification in HPC at SC 24.
09/2024, Deeply honored to receive a new DOE-ASCR-AI4Science grant as the Lead PI for "DyGenAI: Dynamic Generative AI for Prediction and Control of High-Dimensional Nonlinear Complex Systems". Grateful for this opportunity to advance AI in scientific computing.
08/2024, Congratulations to Dr. Yanfang Liu, former postdoctoral fellow in our group, on starting her tenure-track assistant professor position in the Department of Mathematics at Middle Tennessee State University.

Select Research Highlights

Generative AI for Uncertainty Quantification and nonlinear data assimilation

Machine-Learning-Assisted Automation of Single Crystal Neutron Diffraction

Atomic Resolution Cryogenic 4D-STEM Imaging via Robust Distortion Correction

Probabilistic Methods for Simulating Runaway Electron Dynamics in Fusion Tokamaks