2018.9-present: Chair Professor, Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology

2014-2018.8: Choh-Ming Li Professor of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

2010-2015: Chairman, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

2002-2014: Professor, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

1995-2002: Associate Professor, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

1992-1995: Lecturer, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

1989-1992: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, Cornell University

1987-1989: Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ph.D. in Physics, University of Pittsburgh (1987)

M.Sc. in Physics, University of Pittsburgh (1982)

B.Sc. in Physics, Lanzhou University (1981)

2016-present: Associate Editor, Journal of Fluid Mechanics

2012-present: Associate Editor, European Physical Journal E

2011-2017: Editor, Journal of Turbulence

Fellow, American Physical Society (elected 2010)

State Natural Science Award of China, (2nd Class) (2009)

Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2005)

China Higher Education Science and Technology Award (2nd Class) (2001)

Chair Professor Xia has long been engaged in the study of fluid mechanics and fluid turbulence, and has achieved systematic and innovative results, including:

First, an original experimental method employed in measurement of the strong coupling boundary layer; the proposal of the boundary layer dynamic reconstruction method, extending the static Prand-Brassius theory to the dynamic form; thus providing a key basis for the establishment of the theoretical model.

Second, the relevation of the origin, the driving mechanism and the multi-scale turbulent structure interaction mechanism of large-scale turbulence structures.

Thirdly, the determination of the regulation mechanism of the spatial distribution of energy dissipation rate on the overall transport of turbulent systems, revealing the essence of the plume as the basic heat carrier, which provides an important scientific basis for improving heat transfer efficiency in industrial applications.

Based on the above results, Professor Xia received the second prize of the 2009 National Natural Science Award (the first person to complete). The above results were also evaluated by the American Physical Society as “a temendous contribution to the experimental research and understanding of thermal turbulence”, and he was thus elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2010. In 2005, he was awarded the Outstanding Scientific Researcher Award by the Croucher Foundation.