Lu “Lucie” Lu, Ph. D.

Human Rights
Research and Writing in International Relations

Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
MA, University of Ottawa
Joint Honors BS, University of Ottawa

International Cooperation
International Norms
Chinese Global Governance
China-U.S. Foreign Relations,
Political Communication and Public Opinion
Computational Social Science

Lucie Lu is an Assistant Professor of Graduate International Relations at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to this position, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center on Contemporary China at Princeton University in 2024 through 2025 and in the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program at Columbia University in 2023 through 2024 academic year. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2023.

In addition to academic positions, she has served as a non-residential Project Fellow at the Penn Project on the Future of US-China Relations and Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), where she provides academically-informed, policy-relevant analysis on US-China relations.

Her research interests include international organizations and cooperation, Chinese foreign policy and global governance, as well as political communication and computational social science. Her work primarily examines how rising powers like China use economic tools to influence the development of international norms, both in shaping existing norms such as human rights and in establishing emerging ones related to areas like renewable energy and information security. She previously taught at Columbia University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her work has appeared in International Affairs, Journal of International Development, Studies in Comparative International Development and Political Science and Politics.

Dai, Xinyuan and Lu, Lucie. “Beyond Liberal Narratives: China and International Human Rights Order.” Volume 101, Issue 2. March 2025. International Affairs.

Lu, Lucie and Williams, Miles. “Attention Versus Handshakes: Pathways of Influence in China’s Foreign Aid and Loans.” Volume 37, Issue 3. April 2025. Journal of International Development.

Lu, Lucie and Webb Williams, Nora. “Codes of Conduct at Political Science Conferences: Prevalence and Content.” Volume 57, Issue 4. 2024. PS: Political Science & Politics.

Yang, Yujeong, Lu, Lucie, Williams, Miles, and Jia, Xinle. “Connect First, then Suppress: Chinese vs. Western Communication Development Projects and Internet Freedom?” Studies in Comparative International Development. Online. 2025.