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syliang@gmail.com
Education
B.S., Cell & Molecular Biology, University of Washington, WA
Graduate Assistant, IDP Program, University of Florida, FL
Research summary
While in China, I took part in a plant biodiversity field-study near a small minority village called Yangjuan. The goal of our project was to create both a comprehensive taxonomic plant list as well as herbarium specimens. We collected fresh plant samples, pressed and dried them. After we were done in the field, we brought them back to Chengdu, where we then attempted to identify each plant to genus and species with the guidance of Sichuan University's professor Xu Jiemei. The plant samples were brought back to Yangjuan to serve as a learning tool for the elementary students there.
During my senior year at UW, I mentored an exchange student who came from China as part of the UW-SU program. We jointly performed genetic research on the phylogeny of various Rhododendron species under the guidance of Professor Benjamin Hall. Continuing to work at the Hall Lab after my graduation, I served as a TA to high school students for one summer, and performed further duties as a laboratory technician to new incoming undergraduates from the China side of our exchange. Based on the data from our research, I was able to create an interactive digital ArcGIS map describing the regional phylogeography of Rhododendron macrophyllum along the west coast of the U.S. and Canada.
Publications
Xi, Z, A. Denton, S. Liang, L. Sugden, M. Hodson, B. Hall. "Regional DNA Variation within Rhododendron macrophyllum." (2006) J. Am. Rhod. Soc. 60(1):37-41.
Presentations
February 27, 2004 - Yangjuan Ecological Research Symposium - "The Biodiversity in and Around Yangjuan (Sichuan Province, Yanyuan County, Liangshan Autonomous Region)" (Seattle, WA)
Posters
May 14, 2004 - 7th Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium - "Using DNA Polymorphisms to Ascertain Species Boundaries in Rhododendron Subsection Moupinensia" (Seattle, WA)
April 28, 2005 - May 1, 2005 - American Rhododendron Society 2005 Annual Conference - "The Regional Phylogeography of Rhododendron macrophyllum" (Victoria, BC, Canada)
Awards
UF Alumni Fellowship, 2005-09 (University of Florida)
