Research Professor Presents Seminars at University in China

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Stephenson and his wife, Barbara, on the campus of Jilin Agricultural University.

Steve Stephenson, a research professor in the Department of Biological Sciences of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, recently returned from a week-long visit to Jilin Agricultural University in China. The university is located in Changchun, a city of approximately 7 million people in northern China. The purpose of his visit was to present two seminars to graduate students and faculty in the Engineering Research Center of the Chinese Ministry of Education for Edible and Medicinal Fungi, and also to discuss future collaborative research projects.

Jilin Agricultural University is the major center for studies of fungi and slime molds in all of Asia. Stephenson's first seminar was titled "High-Latitude Ecosystems of the Southern Hemisphere," and the second was titled "Distribution and Ecology of Myxomycetes in Terrestrial Ecosystems." The primary host for Stephenson on his visit to Jilin Agricultural University was Pu Liu, a mycologist who spent most of the 2015-2016 academic year at the University of Arkansas as a result of receiving a fellowship from the government of China. Stephenson was accompanied to China by his wife, Barbara, who is an instructor in the department of mathematical sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Stephenson is an expert on myxomycetes, a group of fungus-like organisms commonly referred to as slime molds. Myxomycetes are neither plants nor animals, but they share the characteristics of both. They feed on microorganisms associated with dead plant material and play an important role in vital ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. Stephenson has traveled to all seven continents and every major terrestrial ecosystem to study them. He is the author or coauthor of 11 books and almost 400 book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals. Many of these publications deal with various aspects of the biology, distribution, ecology, and taxonomy of the myxomycetes. 

While in China, Stephenson and his wife had an opportunity to visit Changbai Mountain National Park, which is located near the border between China and North Korea.