Processor Lizhong Xiong is currently the Dean in the College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, and the Director of the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, China. He obtained his PhD (Biochemistry Molecular Biology) in 1999 at the Huazhong Agricultural University, where he worked since 2002, when he returned to China after three years’ postdoctoral experience in University of Arkansas. Current research interests are focused on discovery novel genes for stress resistance of rice with focus on drought and heat tolerance by using integrated functional genomics approaches. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals such as Nature Plants, Nature Communications, Plant Cell, PNAS, Molecular Plant, etc. Major honors he has received include Excellent Young Scholar of National Science Foundation and Changjiang Scholarship Professor of China.