Prof. Dai Xi obtained his PhD from the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1999. Then he continued his postdoctoral research in the Hong Kong Universit—y of Science and Technology (HKUST), Boston College and Rutgers University. After serving as a research assistant professor during 2004 - 2007 at the University of Hong Kong and a principal investigator at the CAS Institute of Physics during 2007 - 2017, Prof. Dai returned to HKUST and joined the faculty of the Department of Physics.

Prof. Dai’s research areas include topological materials, strongly correlated systems, and first principle calculations. He was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2018 and received several important awards during the past decade including the Tan Kah Kee Science Award (2024), the State Natural Science Award (First Class) (2024), the APS James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials (2019), the CPS Zhou Pei Yuan Prize for fundamental physics (2017), the K.C. Chou Foundation Fundamental Physics Prize (2014), the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers Achievements in Asia Award (2012), and the Qiushi Group Prize for Science and Technology (2011). Since 2014, Thomson Reuters has listed him as a highly cited researcher.