Arthur Xiao '15
Relentless Curiosity: A Scholar in Search of Answers to Big Questions
From Millbrook School to earning a bachelor’s degree at Amherst College and pursuing a PhD at the University of Michigan, Arthur Xiao has always been deeply inquisitive.
At Millbrook, teachers recognized and nurtured his love of learning in ways that left a lasting impression. Whether accelerating through calculus, discovering the power of statistics, or reflecting on Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Arthur recalls his classes as intellectually formative and his teachers—from Mr. Zeiser and Ms. Clizbe to Mr. Powers and Mr. Clizbe—as supportive of inquiry for its own sake. Outside the classroom, he found meaning in small moments: getting lost on the cross-country course (more than once), winning Most Improved Runner, and standing on the Flagler Quad on quiet mornings, appreciating the beauty around him. As a head waiter, dorm leader, Latin student, and mathematician-in-the-making, Arthur left Millbrook prepared to ask the big questions that have shaped his journey ever since.
Arthur traces the journey of his current research back to a pivotal moment at Amherst College, where reading Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything made him realize the depth of the climate change problem and the need to address it. This awakening prompted a shift from his original academic interests—a major in physics as an undergrad—to a focused pursuit of renewable energy technologies, including early work at Michigan on photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production.
In March 2025, Arthur successfully defended his doctoral thesis. Most recently, he has been immersed in cutting-edge research on semiconductor materials—specifically, group III-nitrides like gallium nitride, indium nitride, and aluminum nitride, managing stress on these materials to further stabilize them. His work contributes to improving the efficiency of micro-LED technologies, particularly in the elusive red spectrum, a challenge in the field due to the complexity of alloying materials like indium with gallium nitride. Arthur and his team successfully produced the most efficient sub-micrometer red LED to date, a breakthrough with potential applications in cell phone and virtual and augmented reality displays.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE ABOUT ARTHUR PUBLISHED IN THE SUMMER 2025 MILLBROOK MAGAZINE
CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE ABOUT ARTHUR PUBLISHED IN THE SUMMER 2025 MILLBROOK MAGAZINE
