Guannan Qu

Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bio

Guannan Qu is an associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Carnegie Mellon University. He received B.S. degree from Tsinghua University in 2014, and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2019. He was a postdoctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology from 2019 to 2021. His research interest lies broadly in machine learning, control theory, robotics, optimization, with a recent focus on developing fundamental principles in generative AI and physical AI towards interpretability, scalability, and safety. His research is recognized by NSF CAREER Award, AFOSR YIP, and multiple best (student) paper awards or finalists, including ECC 2026, ICRA 2025, AAAI 2025 Workshop on Multi-Agent AI in the Real World, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, among others.

Education

Ph.D., 2019
Harvard University

B.S., 2014
Tsinghua University

Research

Keywords

• Reinforcement Learning
• Control, Optimization
• Power Systems
• Smart Grid
• Networked Systems
• Multi-Agent Systems
• Internet of Things