Xiao Zhou is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Municipal Engineering at Hefei University of Technology. His research primarily focuses on water distribution network (WDN) leakage control, real-time modeling, smart water systems, and intelligent scheduling. He has been recognized by prestigious talent programs, including the "Shuimu Scholar" at Tsinghua University and the "Huangshan Scholar (Academic Backbone)" at Hefei University of Technology. Dr. Zhou has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) for multiple high-level grants, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China (both Young Scientists Fund and General Program) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. Furthermore, he has led numerous industrial R&D projects commissioned by enterprises, covering intelligent scheduling, leakage control, and online hydraulic modeling. He has published several high-impact papers as the first or corresponding author in top-tier journals such as Water Research and Water Resources Research. His collaborative research efforts have been honored with the First Prize of the "Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award."