Yan Xu is a Senior Research Program Manager in External Research at Microsoft Research, Redmond WA, USA.

Yan joined Microsoft Research in March 2006. Her research has been focused on exploring technologies and pedagogical strategies that facilitate and enhance interdisciplinary computational research and education. She is responsible for the WorldWdie Telescope academic program, which enables collaborations with academic researchers and eudcators in computer science and astronomy; the Transform Science - Computational Education for Scientists initiative, which enables collaborations with academia for infusing computational thinking into science education to create tomorrow’s scientists; and the Phoenix Academic Program for applying Microsoft Phoenix technology to computer science research and education.

Yan has over ten years experience working in the software industry. Prior to joining Microsoft Research, she worked for several startup software companies as a senior software architect. She also served as a principle member of the W3C XML Protocol working group. Yan received her M.Sc. in Material Science from Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and her Ph.D. in Physics from McGill University, Canada.