Xiaoyi Bao received her Master’s degree from Nankai University, China, and PhD in optics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. She is currently the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Fiber Optics and Photonics at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, she was a Professor at the University of New Brunswick, Canada and a Research Fellow at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.

Bao's research focuses on optical fiber-based systems ranging from telecom testing protocols and instruments to distributed fiber sensors for infrastructure monitoring and non-destructive testing. Recently, the scope of her sensing research has been broadened to include nonlinear and quantum optics effects in optical fibers, developing micro-nano fiber devices for self-locked low-noise random lasers, and fabrication of micro- and nano- waveguide devices to be used as ultrasound transmitters and receivers for ultrasound treatment and imaging. 

She was on Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists List in 2020 and 2021. She received the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize, the Governor General’s Innovation Award celebrating outstanding Canadian innovations, and two Canadian Association of Physicists Medals for Outstanding Achievement in Industrial and Applied Physics and for Applied Photonics. Bao serves as Editor for Light: Science & Applications, and is Associate Editor for PhotoniX. She is a Fellow of Optica, SPIE and the Royal Society of Canada.