His research interests are mathematical modeling of mixing in fluids, investigating the properties of solutions to some types of fluid mechanics equations and studying the time-fractional differential equations. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include mathematical foundations and advanced courses in pure math.
Xu has a B.Sc. in mathematics (honors) from Zhejiang University and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. From 2016 to 2019, he held postdoctoral research positions at Carnegie Mellon University and the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, Brown University.