Rate My Professor Long Xiao

Long Xiao is a professor in the Department of Earth Surface System Science at China University of Geosciences Wuhan, where he has served since 2003. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology in 1987 and a master's degree in geology in 1990, both from China University of Geosciences Wuhan, followed by a doctoral degree in geology from the same institution in 1999. Earlier in his career, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2000 to 2003 and as a lecturer and associate professor at Guilin University of Technology from 1990 to 1997.

His research focuses on planetary geology and comparative planetology, including volcanism, impact structures, and surface processes on terrestrial bodies such as the Moon and Mars. He has led more than 30 research projects, including key projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Notable contributions include analysis of Chang'e-3 mission data to identify multi-phase volcanic activity and subsurface structures in the northern Mare Imbrium, studies establishing the Qaidam Basin as a Mars analog site, interpretations of the Chang'e-4 landing site in the Von Kármán crater, development of lunar soil simulants for engineering tests, and models for mantle plume-lithosphere interactions in the Emeishan basalts as well as high-potassium adakite formation in eastern China. His publications appear in journals including Science, Nature, Nature Geoscience, Nature Communications, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Geology, and Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, with over 6,600 citations according to Google Scholar. He founded the Planetary Geology and Comparative Planetology discipline direction in 2009 and the Planetary Science Institute at China University of Geosciences Wuhan in 2011, serving as its first director. He has held advisory and expert roles for China's lunar and Mars exploration programs, including as scientific advisor to the China National Space Administration Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center and member of expert groups for manned spaceflight, asteroid sampling, and Antarctic meteorites. He organizes the annual Summer School for Planetary Science and Exploration in East Asia and co-founded the International Symposium on Lunar and Planetary Science. He serves on editorial boards of journals such as Journal of Earth Science, Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Acta Geochimica. His honors include the second prize of the National Natural Science Award, first and second prizes of the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Award, first prize of the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Award, first prize of the Macao Science and Technology Award in Natural Science, and recognition as an outstanding young expert of Hubei Province and excellent doctoral supervisor.