Evelyn Hu received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University. She worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1975 through 1984, then became Associate Director at the Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics.

Hu was appointed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at U.C. Santa Barbara in 1984, and has also served as chair of the department. From 1994 through 2001, she was Director, Center for Quantized Electronic Structures, and in 2000, served as Director of the Institute for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology.

Hu was named an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar in 2005, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the I.E.E.E.