He earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from University of Science and Technology of China in 1991, and then a PhD in Physics from University of Miami in 1995. After working for 10 years, he went back to school and earned a PhD in Accounting from Florida State University in 2010. His research has been published in leading academic journals, including Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Financial Economics, The Accounting Review, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.