Xin Tao received the bachelor's degree in Geographic Information System, double major in Economics, and the master's degree in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing from Peking University. He received the PhD from the University of Maryland. He is a senior lecturer with the department of geographical sciences, UMD. He has published in Remote Sensing of Environment, Science in China, and IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

Previously, he was a clinical assistant professor with University at Buffalo. His research interests include forest disturbance mapping, the estimation of biophysical variables from satellite data, data fusion, and scaling effect and scale transformation of biophysical variables.

He is a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and lifetime member of International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Science.