Dr. Xiao is an Associate Professor in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University (PSU) and has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) since 2014. Her primary research focuses on the implementation of community resilience, exploring hands-on solutions for building resilience at the household and community levels. Prior to joining PSU, her work centered on understanding how local and regional economies adapt to shocks caused by disasters. She examined economic impact and recovery at both the regional and individual business levels, highlighting micro-level decision-making and the interdependence between households and businesses in post-disaster contexts. Since joining PSU, Dr. Xiao has collaborated with Chinese immigrant communities and low-income, disadvantaged minority groups in the Portland metropolitan area to develop practical, household and community-based resilience strategies. Her initiatives have included home-based organic gardening, water conservation, adaptive resource reuse, and fostering interdependent community networks for information and resource exchange.
Dr. Xiao is a Co-Principal Investigator on the PSU RECHARGE (Research and Education for Cascading Hazards And Resilient Group Engagement) NRT, a program sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation. This initiative addresses complex resilience challenges through a transdisciplinary Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) framework and active engagement with diverse community partners. Previously, Dr. Xiao received multiple research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to examine various aspects of post-disaster recovery. Her funded projects have included studying community recovery following Hurricane Ike (2008) in Galveston, Texas; analyzing intergovernmental management frameworks in the aftermath of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China; and investigating household and business interdependencies during recovery from Hurricane Sandy (2012) in New York City. She was a Co-Principal Investigator on the “Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning” project, funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In that role, she collaborated with researchers from various disciplines from over ten institutions to develop models that support data-informed, risk-based community resilience planning.
RESEARCH AREAS:
Community Resilience, Disaster Management, Post-Disaster Recovery
What Professor Xiao has to say...
APPROACH TO TEACHING: I believe that education should empower the human mind with abilities to think, reflect, explore, and create. A successful education not only imparts substantive knowledge but also fosters the ability to be self-directed in acquiring and generating new knowledge. This is especially important to the field of urban planning because planners are often called upon to assist decision-making that has long-run consequences and with uncertainties, and solve complicated problems that involve the interests of multiple stakeholders. There is no single formula for addressing the dynamic and multifaceted realities that planners face. Instead, an attentive, adaptive, and creative mind is essential. To prepare students for careers in planning, I emphasize the importance of reflection and adaptability in my teaching. Students learn best when they are motivated and can clearly see the practical relevance of what they’re studying. For this reason, I frequently incorporate real-life examples, draw from my own research, and engage students in applied, community-based projects. I am also a believer of active learning. I encourage students to interact with one another both inside and outside the classroom and use lectures as a foundation for open discussion and collaborative exploration.
FAVORITE URBAN PLACES: Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Chongqing (China); Suzhou (China); and Morelos (Mexico)
FAVORITE NON-URBAN PLACES: Mountains, oceans, and anywhere with natural beauty