Dr. Lan's research interests lie in theory, algorithms, and applications of stochastic optimization and nonlinear programming. Most of his current research concerns the design of efficient algorithms with strong theoretical performance guarantees and superior practical performance for solving challenging optimization problems. Dr. Lan is actively pursuing the application of stochastic and nonlinear optimization models/algorithms in large-scale data analysis, such as machine learning and image processing.

Dr. Lan's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

His academic honors include an NSF CAREER Award, first place in the INFORMS JFIG Paper Competition, finalist in the Mathematical Optimization Society Tucker Prize, second place in the INFORMS George Nicholson prize, and first place in the INFORMS Computing Society Student Paper competition.

He serves as an associate editor for Computational Optimization and Applications (2014-present).

Dr. Lan received his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in 2009 and served as a faculty member in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida from 2009-2015.

He is a member of INFORMS.