Stephen Shangxing Gao (Chinese: 高尚行)[1] is a Chinese seismologist.
Gao graduated from Ocean University of China in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in marine geology and geophysics, then pursued master's and doctoral study at the University of California, Los Angeles, specializing in geophysics and space physics.[2][3] Gao remained at UCLA as a postdoctoral researcher, then moved to the Carnegie Institution for Science as a postdoctoral research associate.[2][3] Arizona State University subsequently hired Gao as a visiting assistant professor, and in 1999, he joined the Kansas State University faculty.[3][4] Gao was promoted to associate professor in 2004,[4] and moved to the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2006.[2][3] In 2012, Gao was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America.[3][5] In December 2018, Gao was appointed to a Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professorship at S&T.[2] Between 2022 and August 2023, Gao served as interim chair of Missouri S&T's computer science department, when he was named interim chair of geosciences, geological and petroleum engineering. The following year, Gao became the full-time department chair.[3][6]