Lu Xing

About

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University, advised by Prof. Walid G. Aref. My research is in data management systems, with an emphasis on building robust and adaptive data structures that deliver predictable performance under changing data and workloads. My work investigates performance perturbations in tree-based indexes, develops techniques to mitigate their effects, and explores adaptive indexing mechanisms for evolving workloads. More broadly, I am interested in spatial data management, learned indexes, data discovery, and the intersection of data systems and AI.

Before joining Purdue's CS department, I completed a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a BS in Bioscience at the University of Science and Technology of China, and published on abscisic acid signaling in plants. I was a visiting scholar at Purdue from 2012 to 2014.

I am on the academic job market during the 2026–2027 cycle.

Publications

Data Management Systems

1. LORY-J: Location-aware Join Discovery from Data Lakes.
   Lu Xing, Mir Mahathir Mohammad, Walid G. Aref, El Kindi Rezig.
   VLDB 2026, Demonstration Track (to appear). PDF
2. The Ubiquitous Skiplist: A Survey of What Cannot be Skipped About the Skiplist and its Applications in Big Data Systems.
   Lu Xing, Venkata Sai Pavan Kumar Vadrevu, Walid G. Aref.
   ACM Computing Surveys, 2025. PDF DOI arXiv
3. An Adaptive Index for Oscillating Write-Heavy and Read-Heavy Workloads.
   Lu Xing, Ruihong Wang, Walid G. Aref.
   37th International Conference on Scientific and Statistical Database Management (SSDBM), 2025. DOI Code
4. GTX: A Write-Optimized Latch-free Graph Data System with Transactional Support.
   Libin Zhou, Lu Xing, Yeasir Rayhan, Walid G. Aref.
   ACM SIGMOD, 2025. PDF DOI arXiv
5. An Experimental Evaluation and Investigation of Waves of Misery in R-trees.
   Lu Xing, Eric Lee, Tong An, Bo-Cheng Chu, Ahmed Mahmood, Ahmed M. Aly, Jianguo Wang, Walid G. Aref.
   Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment (PVLDB), 15(3):478–490, 2022. PDF arXiv Code
6. Data-Independent Memory Hard Functions: New Attacks and Stronger Constructions.
   Jeremiah Blocki, Ben Harsha, Siteng Kang, Seunghoon Lee, Lu Xing, Samson Zhou.
   Annual International Cryptology Conference (CRYPTO), pp. 573–607, Springer, 2019. PDF DOI Full version

Molecular Biology (prior PhD)

* denotes equal contribution.

1. The ABA receptor PYL9 together with PYL8 plays an important role in regulating lateral root growth.
   Lu Xing*, Yang Zhao*, Jinghui Gao*, Chengbin Xiang, Jian-Kang Zhu.
   Scientific Reports, 6:27177, 2016. PDF DOI
2. The ABA receptor PYL8 promotes lateral root growth by enhancing MYB77-dependent transcription of auxin-responsive genes.
   Yang Zhao*, Lu Xing*, Xingang Wang, Yueh-Ju Hou, Jinghui Gao, Pengcheng Wang, Cheng-Guo Duan, Xiaohong Zhu, Jian-Kang Zhu.
   Science Signaling, 7(328):ra53, 2014. DOI
3. ABA receptor PYL9 promotes drought resistance and leaf senescence.
   Yang Zhao, Zhulong Chan, Jinghui Gao, Lu Xing, Minjie Cao, Chunmei Yu, Yuanlei Hu, Jun You, Haitao Shi, Yingfang Zhu, Yuehua Gong, Zixin Mu, Haiqing Wang, Xin Deng, Pengcheng Wang, Ray A. Bressan, Jian-Kang Zhu.
   Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 113(7):1949–1954, 2016. DOI
4. Type One Protein Phosphatase 1 and its regulatory protein Inhibitor 2 negatively regulate ABA signaling.
   Yueh-Ju Hou, Yingfang Zhu, Pengcheng Wang, Yang Zhao, Shaojun Xie, Giorgia Batelli, Bangshing Wang, Cheng-Guo Duan, Xingang Wang, Lu Xing, Mingguang Lei, Jun Yan, Xiaohong Zhu, Jian-Kang Zhu.
   PLoS Genetics, 12(3):e1005835, 2016. PDF DOI
5. HDG11 upregulates cell-wall-loosening protein genes to promote root elongation in Arabidopsis.
   Ping Xu, Xiao-Teng Cai, Yao Wang, Lu Xing, Qiong Chen, Cheng-Bin Xiang.
   Journal of Experimental Botany, 65(15):4285–4295, 2014. DOI
6. The unique mode of action of a divergent member of the ABA-receptor protein family in ABA and stress signaling.
   Yang Zhao, Zhulong Chan, Lu Xing, Xiaodong Liu, Yueh-Ju Hou, Viswanathan Chinnusamy, Pengcheng Wang, Chengguo Duan, Jian-Kang Zhu.
   Cell Research, 23(12):1380–1395, 2013. DOI

Experience

Research Assistantships

Internships

Teaching Assistantships

Education

Awards & Honors

• Computer Science Graduate Student Association Travel Grant, Purdue University — Summer 2025
• Graduate Teaching Award, Department of Computer Science, Purdue University — Fall 2023
• Purdue Graduate School Summer Research Grant — 2023, 2024