On April 28, the 19th China Young Female Scientists Award Ceremony, co-sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the National Commission of The People's Republic of China for UNESCO, was held in Beijing. After evaluation by the review committee, Professor Duan Qiaohong from the College of Horticulture Science and Engineering on our campus won the 19th China Young Female Scientist Award. Only 20 outstanding scientists across the country have won this honor.

Professor Duan Qiaohong has been engaged in research on plant sexual reproduction for more than 20 years. In 2017, she returned to China from the University of Massachusetts and joined Shandong Agricultural University, where she established a research team specializing in vegetable reproductive mechanisms and breeding applications. Since 2020, the research team led by Duan Qiaohong has clarified "the molecular mechanism of plants maintaining 'monogamy'", analyzed "the regulatory mechanism of Brassicaceae plants to prevent 'inbreeding'" and "the regulatory mechanism of incompatibility for distant hybrid in Brassicaceae plants”. The team developed a breeding technique to break self-incompatibility and the reproductive isolation of distant hybrids, which is the common key technology in cruciferous vegetable breeding and it greatly improves the efficiency of parental breeding and promotes the development and use of vegetable germplasm resources.

In recent years, Professor Duan Qiaohong has presided over general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, major basic projects of the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (original category), key projects of the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, etc.  Professor Duan has also published 2 articles in the top international science and technology journal "Nature" (Nature), and multiple articles in international heavyweight academic journals such as Current Biology, Nature Communications, and PNAS. In addition, she is serving as an editorial board member concurrently in the international mainstream academic journals in this field such as Plant Physiology and Horticulture Research, and has authorized 2 national patents. Last but not least, Professor Duan Qiaohong has been awarded honorary titles such as the March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetter of Shandong Province, the Most Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker in Qilu, the Top 10 Scientific and Technological Innovation Stars of Qilu Women, and the Model of Female Employees in the Education System of Shandong Province.

The China Young Female Scientists Award was established in 2004 and is selected annually. It is an extension of the "World Outstanding Female Scientists Achievement Award" established by UNESCO and other organizations in China. It aims to recognize and reward young female scientists who have achieved major scientific and technological achievements in the field of science, and it has become an important award for female workers in science and technology to connect to international recognition platforms.