Shude Mao is the Chair of the Division of Galaxy and Cosmology at the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academic of Sciences (NAOC). After obtaining a BSc degree from University of Science and Technology of China in 1988, he obtained his PhD from Princeton under the tutelage of the distinguished scholar Bohdan Paczynski. Following positions in the US and Europe, he became a lecturer and then professor at the University of Manchester, before returning to China in 2010. He is involved in many important projects in China, most notably in his role as the Thirty Meter Telescopeproject scientist for China.

The research of Prof. Shude Mao spans a diverse range from planet hunting tocosmology, with particular interests in galaxy formation, gravitational lensing and dynamics, near-field cosmology.

Prof. Shude Mao has made contributions to galaxy formation, gravitational lensing and exoplanet search with gravitational microlensing. He won the Bessel Research Award in 2007, which is in recognition of his outstanding research record, from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and has held visiting professor positions at Princeton, Cambridge and the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany. He has published over 140 papers, amassing more than 5,000 citations.

Anomalous Flux Ratios in Gravitational Lenses: For or against Cold Dark Matter? Mao, S., Jing, Y. P., Ostriker, J. P., Weller, J. 2004, ApJ, 604, L5 (arXiv:astro-ph/0402149)
The Formation of Galactic Disks  Mo, H.J., Mao, S., White, S.D.M. 1998, MNRAS, 295, 319 (arXiv:astro-ph/9707093)

The Evolution of Galactic Disks Mao, S., Mo, H.J., White, S.D.M. 1998, MNRAS, 297, 71

Evidence for substructure in lens galaxies? Mao, S., Schneider, P. 1998,  MNRAS, 295, 587

Gravitational microlensing by double stars and planetary systems Mao, S., Paczynski, B., 1991, ApJ, 374, 37