Li Xiangdong received his doctorate in science from the Department of Astronomy of Nanjing University in July 1995 and is now a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, director of the Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Chang Jiang Professor, chair of the Teaching Guidance Committee of College Astronomy under the Ministry of Education, and Zhao Shiliang Chair Professor of Nanjing University.

Since 1996, he has been engaged in joint research at the Institute for Astronomy at University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Institute of Science and Technology, University of Manchester, UK, and the Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, USA.

He was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2000 and served as project leaders for the research teams on the “formation and evolution of galaxies” and “research on black holes and other compact objects,” both as part of National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program). He has led research projects including key projects and general projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China, a project for Innovation Teams of Qinglan Project in Jiangsu Province, and a project supported by Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation.

He won the first prize (third on the awardee list) of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Education in 1998 and the third prize (third on the awardee list) for the National Natural Science Award in the following year. He also received a special government allowance in 2002 and Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award in 2004. In 2005, he was nominated by the Ministry of Education for the first prize (first on the awardee list) for the National Natural Science Award.

In 2006, General Astronomy, a course he offered, was selected into the National Excellent Courses, and he was nominated the national candidate for New Century Talents Program in 2007. In following year, he received the Award for Top Ten Young Talents of Science and Technology from Jiangsu Province. In 2010, he won the Award for National Excellent Science and Technology Workers.

General Astronomy, a core course for undergraduate astronomy majors;

X-ray Binaries, an elective for undergraduate and graduate students

His research focuses on high energy astrophysics including black holes, neutron stars, supernovae, and X-ray binaries.