Xingen Lei is internationally known for his contribution to improving the nexus of sustainable animal agriculture, food security, nutrition and health, and environmental protection. He joined the Cornell faculty as an assistant professor in 1995, and was promoted to associate professor in 2000, full professor in 2006, and associate dean in 2023.

Lei's most creative and impactful research is the development of a new generation of bacterial phytases that are used in ~50 countries by the feed industry. His breakthroughs have received >70 domestic and international patents, greatly facilitated the wide application of phytases to replace inorganic phosphorus supplementation in diets for swine, poultry and fish, and led to a global reduction of phosphorus excretion from food animals by 30-50%.

Lei has acquired a substantial amount of grant support from federal and private sponsors for his research and has authored 264 publications (h-index, 74; citations >19,000). He is placed #5 as the highly ranked scholar-lifetime of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase research (in the top 0.05% of all scholars in the world, ScholarGPS@ScholarGPS.com).

In 2021, he was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors for his breakthrough discoveries of phytase and impactful contribution to sustainable livestock.