The focus of my research and woody ornamental laboratory is, “Better ornamental plants for our green industry”. To produce elite ornamental cultivars, our lab conducts plant exploration on native US flora and ornamental germplasms from other countries, especially from China, Japan, and Korea; selects unique plants from open pollination and artificial hybridization; evaluates superior clones for better adaptation of Georgian and eastern US environment; applies modern molecular technology and embryogenesis for establishing rapid woody plant breeding systems; and develops edible or other functional landscape plants. Please join our team and contribute your talent for bringing better ornamental plants to our landscapes.

“To teach our students how to teach themselves” is my philosophy of teaching. I am currently teaching plant propagation. I am also developing graduate level courses to deal with challenging problems from our ornamental plant field.

Appointments

• 62.5% Research
• 37.5% Teaching

Education

• Ph.D. Horticulture (Woody Ornamentals & Molecular Biology), University of Georgia, 1997
• M.S. Horticulture (Herbaceous Ornamentals & Floriculture), University of Georgia, 1994
• M.S. Forestry Botany (Plant Taxonomy & Geobotany), Central South Forestry University, Zhuzhou, Hunan, China, 1989
• B.S. Forestry (Plant Taxonomy & Dendrology), Central South Forestry University, Zhuzhou, Hunan, China, 1983