Wow can’t believe it's already June - time sure flies when you're having fun! This spring semester (2023) was an absolute blast and packed to the brim with events, awards, teaching, researching & extension projects! The stellar undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty that make up the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science accomplished a wide array of feats.
We wanted to slow down for a second and share just a few highlights from our department this past spring:
Undergraduate Student Accomplishments
- Isabel Delamater, Cori Lee and Conner Johnson were selected for the CFAES Distinguished Senior Award
- OSU Turfgrass Students were able to compete & bring home another top ten finish at the 2023 GCSAA Collegiate Turf Bowl
- Olivia Marrero was awarded 1st place presentation at the CFAES Undergraduate Research Forum in the Environmental and Plant Sciences category. Her research was on Rubber Dandelion Performance on Contaminated Soils; Olivia was advised by Dr. Cornish and Dr. Barker.
Graduate Student Accomplishments
- David Zelaya received the 2023 TOP Fellowship
- Fabiano Colet received the 2023 Ohio Soybean Council Scholarship
- Tyler Vanlandingham received the Bill Rose Foundation Scholarship
- Sarah Francino won the Environmental Science Graduate Program (ESGP) Outreach Award
- The HCS Graduate Student Association (GSA) hosted the 16th Annual Graduate Research Symposium
- Proposal Winners: (1) Ty Rich, (2) Shashini Anuththara Neththasinghe, (3) Corinne Mira Marfori-Nazarea
- People's Choice Award (three-way tie): Tyler VanLandingham, Ty Rich, Alexandre Fameli Mammana
- Results Winners: (1) John Ertle, (2) Jack McCoy, (3) Cullen Dixon
- People's Choice Award: Kelly Mikhail
- Proposal Winners: (1) Ty Rich, (2) Shashini Anuththara Neththasinghe, (3) Corinne Mira Marfori-Nazarea
Staff Accomplishments
- Allison Robinson received the Outstanding Technical Service Award from the IR-4 Project
- Pamela Sherratt received the CFAES Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer Award
- Bri Schneider received the CFAES Key Values Award
- Matt Hankinson made the cover of Agronomy Journal
Faculty Accomplishments
- PENRA received the CFAES Distinguished Interdisciplinary Team Research Award
- The Agronomic Crops Team received the CFAES Distinguished Multi-disciplinary Team Extension Award
- Dr. Michelle Jones received the CFAES Distinguished Graduate Student Mentor Award
- Dr. David Barker received the CFAES Distinguished Teacher Award
- Dr. Alex Lindsey was named 2023 Ohio Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) of the Year
- Dr. Andrea Gschwend received her 4th year review reappointment from the college
- Dr. Jess Cooperstone was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure + selected for the competitive university wide 2023 Growing Research Opportunities Academy (GRO) Cohort
- Dr. Jonathan Fresnedo Ramirez was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure + selected as a 2023 CSP New Investigator Recipient with the Joint Genome Institute. His research will focus on “Biopolymer prediction in Taraxacum kok-saghyz to support inulin-derived biofuels”
- Dr. Laura Lindsey was promoted to Professor
- Dr. Darren Drewry received an USDA AFRI award to bring the power of high throughput phenotyping to perennial crops + he received the prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award
Grab Bag
- We debuted the new Controlled Environment Agriculture Minor!
- Dr. David Francis teamed up with OSU Plant Pathology and the CFAES Knowledge Exchange to create an interactive tomato field to learn about combatting bacterial spot disease in tomato
- As part of a Graduate Student Exchange (with the University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky, and Virginia Tech) Maureen Kahiu and Ethan Darby from the University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences came to visit us for a few days and presented research seminars. In exchange, HCS graduate students, John Ertle and Chelsie Rodriguez traveled to the University of Kentucky to do the same.
- Drs. Laura Lindsey and Osler Ortez have teamed up to launch the 'Battle for the Belt' project – they’re focused on determining which crop should be planted first; corn or soybean!
COSI Events
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The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) hosted the inaugural “We Grow Scientists” event at Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory. “We Grow Scientists” was a free event open to learners of all ages looking to learn more about STEM in their community as part of the COSI Science Festival (May 3-6, 2023). Many HCS individuals + labs volunteered to help with the event!
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We had so much fun at the first COSI event, we held a "Better Grow Hydro" booth at the COSI Big Science Celebration as well. This booth would not have been possible without the Kubota Lab!
New Faculty Hires
- Dr. Radin Sadre joined our faculty in March
- Dr. Garrett Owen joined our faculty in January
- Dr. Tyler Carr joined our faculty in January
- We have 5 additional faculty members slated to join us this August: Drs. Fernanda Krupek, Yu Ma, Alyssa Essman, Laura Deeter and Florence Sessoms.
We look forward to a great summer + keeping this positive momentum going!