Xiao Qiang is the Tang Teaching Fellow and the Director of Berkeley China Internet Studies Program at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley. A physicist by training, Xiao Qiang received a B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China and studied as a PhD candidate (1986-1989) in astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame. He became a full time human rights activist after the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. Xiao was the Executive Director of Human Rights in China (HRIC) from 1991 to 2002. Xiao is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, and is profiled in the book "Soul Purpose: 40 People Who Are Changing the World for the Better," (Melcher Media, 2003). He is also a weekly commentator for Radio Free Asia.