Dr. Shao is a research scientist of the Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Hampton University, Hampton Virginia. He graduated with a B. A. degree in Atmospheric Science and a Masters degree in Environmental Science from Nanjing University, followed by a PhD in Earth Science and Remote Sensing from George Mason University.

His major researches are focused on the regional weather forecasting models and data assimilation. He is currently trying to improve local severe weather predictions (e.g. convective storms, hurricanes) using regional weather forecasting models and atmospheric retrievals obtained from the direct broadcast polar orbiting weather satellites that is available in near-real-time from the Direct Broadcast Antenna based at the Hampton University.