Welcome! This is Cheng Lu.

I’m a Ph.D. candidate majoring in Marketing Science at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). I’m advised by Prof. Dennis Zhang. My research interests lie in Causal Inference, Artificial Intelligence, and Social Media Platforms.

Education

• Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing Science, Washington University in St. Louis, 2023 - Present
• M.A. in Management, London Business School, 2022 - 2023
• B.S. in Economics, Tsinghua University, 2018 - 2022

Research

• Working Papers
  1. Cheng Lu, Mengxin Wang, Dennis J. Zhang, and Heng Zhang. “Generative Augmented Inference,”
     Preliminary version accepted at International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2026
     First Prize in Buchan Prize Paper Competition (Co-Authored, Quantitative category)
  2. Guangying Chen, Cheng Lu, Tat Chan, Zhengling Qi, Dennis J. Zhang, and Industry Collaborators. “A New Estimator for Encouragement Design in Randomized Controlled Trials When the Exclusion Restriction Is Violated,” Major Revision at Marketing Science.
     Runner-up for the 2024 INFORMS Information Systems Cluster Best Paper Award (Top 5%)
  3. Meng Liu, Cheng Lu, Xiang Hui, and Dennis J. Zhang. “How Effective Are Reactivation Referral Programs? Evidence from a Major Social Media Platform,” submitted.
     
• Work in Progress
  1. Cheng Lu, Raphael Thomadsen, Song Yao, and Dennis J. Zhang. “The Role of LLMs in Ads Personalization”
  2. Meng Liu, Cheng Lu, Shilei Luo, Xiang Hui, and Dennis J. Zhang. “Unexpected Consequences in Recommender-Based Content Moderation”

Conference Presentations

A New Estimator for Encouragement Design in Randomized Controlled Trials When the Exclusion Restriction Is Violated

• INFORMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2025
• Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Business Analytics, New Haven, CT, 2024
• INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2024

How Effective Are Reactivation Referral Programs? Evidence from a Major Social Media Platform

• ISMS Marketing Science Conference, Washington, DC, 2025

Teaching

Teaching Assistant - Washington University in St. Louis

• Applied Marketing Research (Undergraduate), FL 2024, FL 2025
• Marketing Research (Master), FL 2024, FL 2025
• Understanding & Conducting Business Experiments (Undergraduate), SP 2025
• A/B Testing in Business and Social Science (Master), SP 2025, SP 2026