Stanford University Athletics

STANFORD, Calif. – Junior forward Michelle Xiao was honored with the NCAA's Elite 90 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average at his or her championship site.

Xiao, a biomechanical engineering major who hails from Omaha, Nebraska, owns a cumulative 4.05 GPA and was recently named Pac-12 All-Academic first team. Along with redshirt junior goalkeeper Alison Jahansouz, Xiao was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 first team. A member of the All-Pac-12 second team, Xiao pitched in eight goals and six assists in 18 appearances before a season-ending injury against Florida State in the NCAA third round.

Xiao heavily involves herself in clinical research on Stanford's campus. As a part of the Stanford Bio-X USRP program, she worked in the Stanford Soft Tissue Biomechanics Lab (STBL) analyzing MRI of knee cartilage to detect early osteoarthritic changes. 

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During the summer of 2016, she spent time in the medicinal chemistry research lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center working on synthesizing small molecules that could treat Alzheimer's Disease. She also published a paper from this research in the Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters Journal titled "Design and Synthesis of New Piperidone Grafted Acetylcholinesterase". 

The Elite 90 award recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. Eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above who have participated in their sport for at least two years with their school.