Archived news (before 2012)
Oct. 2011: Propose to host Session SS12. "East Asian vegetational responses in the critical climate change events of the Cenozoic" for the XIII International Palynological Congress/IX International Organization of Palaeobotany Conference in Tokyo, Japan (August 23-30, 2012).
Aug. 1, 2011: Diana Ochoa (MSc student) graduated and submitted her thesis on Neogene palynological study of the Gray Fossil Site to Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. It's been published! (March 2012)
Spring 2011: Recipient of the 2011 College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Research Award.
Spring 2011: Recipient of the 2011 College of Arts and Sciences Jewell Friend Lecture Award.
November 21, 2010: Mr. Wenlong He from Lanzhou University, one of China's most prestigious research universities, started his two-year pre-doctoral research (2010-2012) on Neogene plants.
November 17-19, 2010: NSF panelist for the Fall 2010 Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology (SGP) Panel, NSF, Arlington, VA.
November 1, 2010: Study Abroad in China (Fossil Field Trip to Southwest China), Summer 2011 (click here for detail)
Aug. 30, 2010: Dr. Cheng Quan from Jilin University, one of China's most prestigious research universities, started his one-year postdoc research (2010-2011) on Tertiary Ginkgo and early Tertiary climate reconstructions in East Asia.
Aug. 15, 2010: Granted tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.
July 31-Aug. 4, 2010: Attended the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America in Providence, Rhode Island and gave 1 talk (check my Publication page for the titles)
July 6-10, 2010: Attended the 8th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference in Budapest, Hungary and gave 2 presentations (including chaired one session on the Cenozoic conifers (check my Publication page for the titles)
June 7-25, 2010: Offered Summer Study Abroad course (Fossil Field Trip to China).
May 4, 2010: Monthly featured article in PALAIOS:
A recent publication, ‘Leaf margin analysis: A new equation from humid to mesic forests in China,’ co-authored by Dr. Chris Liu in PALAIOS, one of the main journals in the field of Geology and Paleontology, has been nominated by both editors, Drs. Stephen T. Hasiotis and Edith L. Taylor from the University of Kansas, as the monthly featured article to open access in BioOne website for maximum exposure. The article can be found at http://www.bioone.org/action/showDois.
April 28-31, 2010: NSF panelist for the Spring 2010 Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology (SGP) Panel, NSF, Arlington, VA.
March 25 - 31, 2010: NSF collaborator, Dr. D.K. Ferguson, visited the Gray site and Paleobotany lab at ETSU.
Jan. 11, 2010: Study Abroad in China, Summer 2010 (click here for detail)
Nov. 20, 2009: proposed to convene a symposium on "Cenozoic conifers - taxonomy, evolution, and paleobiogeography" in the 8th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference in Budapest, Hungary, July 6-10, 2010. The proposal has been approved (click the link here)
Nov. 4-6, 2009: NSF panelist for the Fall 2009 Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology (SGP) Panel, NSF, Arlington, VA.
Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2009: attended the 9th NECLIME (Neogene Climate Evolution in Eurasia) meeting in Izmir, Turkey.
Sept. 11-14, 2009: attended the Chaoyang International Symposium in Paleontology (Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, NE China) and gave a talk on the Paleogene climate evolution on the basis of fossil plants from Fushun Coalmine, NE China.
July 14-Aug. 3, 2009: organized the summer fossil field trip course to China. For more information on the syllabus, click here.
March 13-15, 2009: organized the 26th Midcontinental Paleobotany Colloquium in Johnson City, Tennessee.