STANFORD, Calif. – Senior midfielder Michelle Xiao is the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as announced Thursday.
Xiao, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, carries a 4.03 grade-point average and is on track to graduate with a bachelor's degree in biomechanical engineering with the ambition of attending medical school. A member of the Pac-12 All-Academic first team in 2016 and 2017, Xiao earned the 2017 Elite 90 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average at the College Cup, as well as 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America first team honors.
"Michelle embodies what it means to be a Stanford student-athlete," said the Knowles Family Director of Women's Soccer. "Her commitment to excellence both on the soccer field and in the classroom makes her exceptional, and she is a tremendous role model for her teammates as well as any aspiring student-athletes."
A post shared by Stanford Women's Soccer (@stanfordwsoc) on Oct 4, 2017 at 2:11pm PDT
In 77 career appearances, Xiao has 21 goals and 10 assists to her name, including career highs in goals (8) and assists (6) in 2017 on her way to All-Pac-12 second team honors. She has one goal in 11 appearances in 2018, helping the Cardinal (18-0-2) claim its fourth consecutive Pac-12 championship.
A frequent volunteer at the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring program (EPATT) and Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and, Xiao currently conducts research on campus under the guidance of Dr. Geoff Abrams, studying the effects of microRNA's on tendinopathy. As part of Stanford's Bio-X USRP program, Xiao spent time in Stanford's Soft Tissue Biomechanics Lab (STBL) analyzing MRI of knee cartilage to detect early osteoarthritic changes.
DYK? When Stanford midfielder Michelle Xiao isn't on the pitch, she's working in Dr. Geoff Abrams' lab studying the effects of microRNA's play in the development of tendinopathy. pic.twitter.com/EK3MIOHlJH
— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) November 9, 2018
During the summer of 2016, Xiao 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 has a paper published in the Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters Journal titled "Design and synthesis of new piperidone grafted acetylcholinesterase."
To be eligible, student-athletes must be seniors in eligibility, on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Both athletic and academic accomplishments are taken into consideration in voting for the award. A Scholar-Athlete of the Year is named in each of the Pac-12's 24 sponsored sports.
Top-seeded Stanford continues the NCAA championship tournament on Friday when it plays host to Ole Miss at 7 p.m. with live streaming available at GoStanford.com.