Xiaodong Xu was born in January 1979 in Jiangsu Province, China. He received a B.S. in materials chemistry from Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China, in 2000, and a Ph.D. in materials science from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fin Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, in 2005. He is currently working at Jiangsu Normal University. His current research interests include crystal growth, materials characterization, and crystal fiber.