Meet Your PZers

Max Lu

He/Him
Research Assistant

Max is a media and education scholar with a global perspective and a passion for making knowledge more accessible through emerging AI technologies. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), where his research explores how generative AI supports critical thinking, perspective-taking, and self-regulated learning—particularly in the context of news consumption and civic discourse. His interdisciplinary work draws on engineering, media studies, and the learning sciences to understand how people learn in an AI-driven world.

PZ Work

A member of Howard Gardner and Wendy Fischman’s research team studying higher education in the United States, Max leverages cutting-edge generative AI to extract insights from large qualitative datasets, ensuring rigor, auditability, and seamless integration through custom research tools.

 

Beyond PZ

At the HGSE, Max serves as the inaugural AI Teaching Fellow, collaborating with senior leadership to integrate AI across the institution. He has provided consultations to hundreds of students, led dozens of AI literacy workshops, curated the AI & Education Roundtable series, and managed the AI Initiative Fund. As the sole student representative on the HGSE AI Steering Committee, Max played a key role in shaping the school’s AI strategy. He also co-developed the GenAI for Business Leaders course at Harvard Business School alongside Professor Suraj Srinivasan.

 

Fun Facts

The first course Max ever took in education was when he began his Ph.D. at HGSE. Before that, he trained in engineering and had avoided social science classes because he was afraid of writing essays.

 

Where to Find Max 

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