PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Christopher J. Earls

Christopher J. Earls is a Cornell engineering professor whose research studies scientific AI, inverse problems, and how AI systems behave. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering at Virginia Tech and a doctorate at the University of Minnesota, then coauthored studies of inverse methods for structural monitoring and naval ships. His later work used Green’s functions in a rational neural network and examined how LLaMA-2 predicts physical systems from time-series data; he led Cornell’s Scientific Artificial Intelligence Center in 2023, joined an AI-and-mathematics project on the gut microbiome in 2025, and, as of October 2026, is a Senior Fellow at Cornell’s Brooks School Tech Policy Institute and the J. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering.

Works
121
Citations
1,231
h-index
21

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1990–1995

    Civil engineering degrees

    He earns a B.S. in civil engineering at Virginia Tech in 1990 and an M.S. there in 1992, then completes a Ph.D. in civil engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1995.

  2. 2011

    Monitoring naval ship hulls

    In 2011, he coauthors a Cornell study on model-based structural health monitoring for naval hulls. The study examines inverse problems that use optimization and Bayesian methods to find corrosion and blast damage.

  3. 2016

    A Cornell teaching award

    He receives Cornell Engineering’s James and Mary Tien Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.

  4. 2017

    Ship monitoring by inverse methods

    In 2017, he coauthors a study that uses ship-motion data and computer vision to infer vessel condition. His team tests the inverse framework on the research vessel R/V Melville.

  5. 2022

    Green’s-function neural networks

    In 2022, he coauthors work on a rational neural network that uses Green’s functions to make data-driven partial differential equation learning understandable to mathematicians.

  6. 2023

    Leading Cornell’s SciAI Center

    In 2023, he leads Cornell’s Scientific Artificial Intelligence Center, launched with a grant from the Office of Naval Research.

  7. 2024

    Large language models and physical rules

    In 2024, he coauthors a study showing that LLaMA-2 predicts dynamical-system time series without fine-tuning or prompt engineering. It finds that accuracy improves as the input context grows.

  8. 2025

    AI models for gut microbiome research

    In 2025, he joins a Cornell project that uses AI and mathematical models to study how gut microbes make neurotransmitters such as GABA and how this affects brain function and performance.

  9. As of October 2026

    Cornell engineering professorship

    As of October 2026, he is a Senior Fellow at Cornell’s Brooks School Tech Policy Institute and the J. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering. His research focuses on mathematical and physical approaches to mechanistic interpretability of complex AI behavior, and his interests include scientific AI and inverse problems.

Career

  1. NowCornell UniversitySenior Fellow, Brooks School Tech Policy Institute
  2. NowCornell UniversityJ. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering
  3. Cornell UniversityScientific Artificial Intelligence Center lead

Education

  1. 1995University of MinnesotaPh.D.
  2. 1992Virginia TechM.S.
  3. 1990Virginia TechB.S.

From the biography.

Checked career sources: news.cornell.edu, publicpolicy.cornell.edu.

Sources and credits

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  1. Christopher J. Earls | Cornell Duffield Engineering duffield.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Model-based structural health monitoring of naval ship hulls researchportal.hw.ac.uk. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Cornell engineers look to help arctic ships assess ice buildup news.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Rational neural network advances machine-human discovery news.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. New center merges math, AI to push frontiers of science news.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. LLMs learn governing principles of dynamical systems, revealing an in-context neural scaling law aclanthology.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Expanded SPROUT Awards maintain engineering innovation momentum news.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Our Team - Cornell Brooks Public Policy publicpolicy.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.