LEXINGTON, KY (May 5th, 2014) - Each year the department sets aside time in the spring semester to celebrate our graduate programs. Part of that celebration is the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Award for a graduate from our programs. On April 25, 2014, the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, recognized Dr. Qingshun Li, a former student and graduate of the Plant Physiology program as its 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Dr. Li was the honored guest speaker for the department's weekly seminar series. A dinner with current graduate students on Thursday evening and a reception immediately following the seminar were also held in conjunction with his visit.

Dr. Li received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Xiamen University, China, and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 1995. He was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Kentucky, 1995-1996. Dr. Li became a principal investigator for the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center at the University of Kentucky before joining Miami-OH University in Oxford in 2001 where he is currently a full professor in botany and the director of the graduate program in cell, molecular and structural biology (CSMB). He also holds the position of Dean at Xiamen University in China. Li’s research focuses on the molecular biology and biochemistry of plant mRNA polyadenylation, essential for gene expression. His work has important implications for basic research and applications in agriculture. Dr. Li has published 50 + peer-reviewed papers and many more in interdisciplinary journals outside of plant biology with high impact factors, including Nucleic Acids Research, BMC Genomics and BMC Bioinformatics.