He received his doctorate in computer science from Utah State University (USU), and his master’s in computer science and bachelor’s in information security from Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in 2011 and 2008, respectively. He has broad research interests in biomedical big data analysis, machine learning, computer version, image analysis and data topology modeling. Currently, his research focuses on building the theory and algorithms of robust data analysis for solving challenges in cross-disciplinary applications. Xian received the Excellent Ph.D. Dissertation Award, Best Student Paper Award, Excellent Graduate Student Award, and Best Academic Presentation Award of the CS department at USU. He is also a recipient of the Graduate Research and Collaborative Opportunities (GRCO) Grant.