Chemist Xiao Named LORD Distinguished Scholar

The College of Sciences has named Yi Xiao, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, as the Hugh C. Lord, LORD Corporation Distinguished Scholar at NC State. The distinguished professorship was made possible thanks to a gift from LORD Corporation.

Xiao joined the NC State faculty in 2021. Her research focuses on advancing biomaterials and  biosensors for a variety of biotechnological applications. She is internationally recognized for engineering intelligent aptamers, developing innovative sensor platforms with ultra-high sensitivity and specificity, and designing new SELEX technologies for isolating novel and functionalized aptamers for small-molecule targets. Xiao has been working toward creating portable, commercially available devices for applications such as medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, drug screening, food safety, and therapy.

In her two years at NC State, Xiao has secured more than $3.3 million in grants. She has earned seven external grants, including from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Justice, the USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the National Science Foundation and the private sector. Since 2021, Xiao has published eight papers, including some in top chemistry journals such as Angewandte Chemie, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Nucleic Acids Research, and Analytical Chemistry.

Xiao received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in analytical chemistry from Northwest University in China. She earned her doctorate in analytical chemistry from Nanjing University in China. 

The LORD Corporation endowments were established in the College of Sciences by LORD Corporation, a diversified technology and manufacturing company headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. The Hugh C. Lord endowment was named for the company’s founder to recognize outstanding scholarship and leadership in teaching and research. The company is now a subsidiary of Parker Hannifin.

This post was originally published in College of Sciences News.