Bao completed bachelor's (1982) and master's degrees (1985) in optics from
Nankai University in China. She earned a PhD from the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 1987. In 2000, she joined the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa. In 2003, she was named a Canada Research Chair in Fibre Optics and Physics. Bao's areas of research include the development of fiber sensors (e.g., for temperature, strain, pressure, refractive index, and vibration); and the use of nonlinear optical effects (
self-phase modulation,
cross-phase modulation,
four-wave mixing, and stimulated scattering) in fibers to design sensors, instrumentation, lasers, and devices. Sensor systems using Xiaoyi's methods are being used in countries around the world. In 2015, Bao was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
University of Lethbridge; the citation for the honour called her "a world-renowned scholar in her field." == Awards and honours ==