ODU's Motley Gets Member Recruitment Award from Botanical Society of America

Timothy Motley, Old Dominion University's J. Robert Stiffler Professor of Botany, received an award from the Botanical Society of America at its recent meeting in Snowbird, Utah, for recruiting the most members to the society over the past year.

"While this is a minor award, I think it shows major growth at Old Dominion in the field of botanical sciences," he said. "We are being recognized as one of the universities in the United States that has a strong botanical sciences program."

Motley, who joined ODU in 2006, is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and also affiliated as a researcher with the Norfolk Botanical Garden. He is an expert in molecular systematics, which involves the use of molecular techniques such as DNA analysis to learn evolutionary information about plants.

A globetrotting scientist, Motley has done extensive work on Pacific islands and is currently a member of a team of scientists investigating plants and their traditional uses in an area of southwest China that is sometimes cited as the inspiration for the fictitious Shangri-La.