On May 16th 2019,the Graduate School successfully held a doctoral thesis defense meeting for outstanding international students.The Thesis Defense Committee chaired by Professor Liu Daqun, Dean of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), consists of Professor Jie Chaojie, Professor Ni Zhongfu, Professor Hua Jinping from China Agricultural University, Professor Liu Zhiyong from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Zhang Xianlong from Huazhong Agricultural University, and Professor Zhang Rui, from the Institute of Biology, CAAS. Totally more than 70 teachers and students attended the defense.

　　Magwanga Richard Odongo, a Kenyan Ph.D. student from the Wild Cotton Research Group of Institute of Cotton Research, participated in the defense. Hesubmitteda thesisentitled “Drought Tolerant QTL Mapping, Genome Wide Identification and Functional Characterization of Drought and/or Salt Stress Responsive Gene Families in Cotton”. The study constructed a high-density genetic map using the high-throughput sequencing technology, and mapped 30 stable drought-tolerant QTLs, identified 6 cotton-tolerant drought-tolerant stress-related genesby genome-wide identification, and screened multiple cotton functional genes for stress resistance. In particular, under the guidance of ProfessorWang Kunbo, Richard published 14 SCI papers in the journals such as Genes, BMC Genetics, IJMS, G3, Frontiers in Plant Sciences and PLoSONE,with accumulated impact factor of 47.96.

　　In recent years, the Institute of Cotton Research of the CAAS has continuously deepened the reform of foreign students' education and improved the quality assurance system for international students.The successful holding of the doctoral thesis defense forinternational students is an important part of the training of doctoral students in theInstitute of Cotton Research of CAAS.It provides new methods and ways for the future development of international students, and also plays a good exemplary role and encouragement for other international students.

Scene of thesis defense

Group photo of Richard and the Thesis Defense Committee members