Professor Jianliang Xiao graduated from Northwest University in Xian and obtained his MSc degree from the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing in Beijing and his PhD from the University of Alberta under the direction of Marty Cowie. He was a postdoctoral research fellow with Dick Puddephatt (FRS/FRSC) at the University of Western Ontario and a research chemist at the ERATO Molecular Catalysis Project directed by Ryoji Noyori (Nobel Laureate 2001).