Former IRRI Scientist receives alumni award from UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Sciences

Dr. Kyu-Seong Lee, a former IRRI Scientist, was one of the recipients of the University of the Philippines Los Banos’ (UPLB) Distinguished Alumni award, given by the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences. This award recognizes university alumni for their exemplary achievements in their respective fields, and whose works have had a positive national and international impact.



Dr. Lee obtained his PhD from UPLB focusing on Plant Breeding and Crop Physiology. He worked at IRRI as a Project Scientist in the Plant Breeding and Genetic Biotechnology Division. Later, he was seconded by the Rural Development Administration (RDA), Republic of Korea, and was tasked to be the senior scientist supervising the Germplasm Utilization Value Added (GUVA) project from 2007 to 2008. Dr. Lee is highly esteemed for his efforts in rice breeding research, which includes specializations in biofortification, salinity tolerance and bacterial blight resistance. After working at IRRI, he went back to Korea, becoming RDA’s Director General and Vice Administrator for three departments where he handled projects with broader scopes tackling agricultural technology, strategic development, and project management.

The award was given on 9 October 2019 as part of the University of the Philippines’ Loyalty Day.

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