Duan Baoyan, male, Han nationality, is a native of Hebei province. He was born in 1955, graduated from Xidian University, and achieved the doctorate there in 1989.
He engaged in research as a postdoctoral fellow at Liverpool University in the U.K. and as a research fellow at Hokkaido University in Japan. He taught at Cornell University in U.S.A. as a guest professor in 2000.
Professor Duan has been awarded many prizes, including the first prize of the Shaanxi Provincial Award for Advancement in Science and Technology, and the first prize of the Ministry of Education Award for Advancement in Science and Technology. He was awarded as the Shaanxi Provincial Labor Hero in 2002, and the National Distinguished Returnee from Overseas in 2003. He became president of Xidian University in 2002.