From December 30, 2019 to January 4, 2020, Associate Professor Xiao Xiao from Arizona State University was invited to give lessons of "Geographic Information System (GIS) Basic Experimental Course" for students majoring in Human Geography and Urban-Rural Planning in HNU-ASU Joint International Tourism College (HAITC), totaling 17 class hours.

During the five-day course, Associate Professor Xiao gave a comprehensive introduction to the basic application panels in ArcGIS software, the basic types and practical applications of geospatial data analysis tools, the association analysis of data attribute tables, and the basic data types of layers and how to perform rendering operations. In addition to theoretical study, Dr. Xiao also encouraged students to conduct a lot of practical software training.

Dr.Xiao conducts research in the areas of recreation, parks, tourism, and natural resources, more specifically in parks and recreation planning; tourism geography; and community engagement in rural and urban environments. Her expertise is transportation management in parks, social carrying capacity, social justice, climate change and adaptation for cultural resources and heritage, and sustainability planning and implementation.