Kansas State University

Horticulture graduate students, faculty participate at the American Society for Horticultural Sciences Conference

Submitted by Chad Miller

Several graduate students and faculty from the horticulture, forestry, and recreation resources department recently attended the American Society for Horticultural Sciences annual conference July 28-31 in Orlando.

Joshua Craver, master's degree student, won third place in the Controlled Environment graduate student oral presentation competition for his presentation, "UVB Radiation Affects Intumescence Development in Ornamental Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas)."

Cheryl Boyer, associate professor of nursery crops, immediate past secretary of the society's economics working group, was elected as the group's chair for coming year.

May Elfar Altamimi, doctoral student, presented the poster "Tomato Yield, Plant, and Soil Nitrogen as Affected by High Tunnel and Field Production Systems Under Conventional or Organic Fertility Treatments."

Helena Pontes Chiebao, postdoctoral research associate, presented the poster "Shelf Life and Quality of High Tunnel and Open-field Tomatoes."

Joshua Craver, master's degree student, gave the presentation, "UVB Radiation Affects Intumescence Development in Ornamental Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas)." Craver also presented two posters, "Assessing Student Learning from an Experiential Hydroponics Production Module in a Greenhouse Management Course" and "Characterization and Comparison of Lesions from Physiological Disorders on Ornamental Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas), Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. hirsutum ‘Maxifort’), and Interspecific Geranium (Pelargonium x ‘Caliente Coral’). "

Molly Fusselman, master's degree student, shared a research poster on "Growing Growers in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area."

Jared Hoyle, assistant professor and extension specialist in turfgrass, and Boyer, presented the poster "Use of Nontraditional Data Management Tools for Extension Impact Reporting."

Rhonda Janke, professor and extension specialist in sustainable cropping systems, and May Elfar Altamimi presented the poster "A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Eight Types of Learning Activities When Teaching "Organic Farming Systems" to Horticulture and Non-horticulture Majors."

Janke also presented a poster on "Establishing a New Graduate Program in a Multidisciplinary Campus."

Lani Meyer, master's degree student, presented a poster about "Providing an Online Library and Grower Network to Support High Tunnel Production in the United States and Abroad (www.hightunnels.org)."

Chad Miller, assistant professor of ornamental horticulture, presented "Do High School Students Who Participate in State FFA Career Development Events Matriculate at the Host University? A Case Study with Horticulture CDEs at Kansas State University."