Su is originally from
Zhenhai. She studied physics at the
University of Science and Technology of China, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1995, and then went to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology for doctoral study. She completed her Ph.D. in 2000, with the dissertation
Search for Supersymmetry: New Physics beyond the Standard Model supervised by
Lisa Randall. She was a postdoctoral researcher and John A. McCone Fellow at the
California Institute of Technology from 2000 until 2003, when she joined the University of Arizona as an assistant professor of physics. She was tenured there in 2009, and became department head in 2023. At the University of Arizona, she was the founding president of the Faculty of Chinese Heritage Association. She has served in leadership roles for the
American Physical Society (APS), including chairing its Four Corners Section and its Committee on Scientific Publications. ==Recognition==