Big boost to plant research

Palo Alto, CA--The four largest nonprofit plant science research institutions in the U.S. have joined forces to form the Association of Independent Plant Research Institutes (AIPI) in an effort to target plant science research to meet the profound challenges facing society in a more coordinated and rapid fashion.

Scientific leaders from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (Cornell University), The Carnegie Institution for Science, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (St. Louis, Mo.) and The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation (Ardmore, Okla.) formed the AIPI to facilitate scientific discovery through intellectual and technical collaborations. The group will also disseminate research outcomes and provide a forum for discussion of approaches to the challenges facing agriculture.

Collectively, AIPI member institutions operate nearly 60 laboratories with more than 400 personnel. Each organization offers different but complementary technical expertise that ranges from measuring individual chemicals and proteins within plants to the ability to obtain three-dimensional images of plant structures and proteins in living tissue. In addition, state-of-the-art greenhouse and field resources allow science to mature beyond the laboratory and into tangible outcomes to benefit consumers and provide for tomorrow.

"Each of these institutions possesses skilled and dedicated researchers," said David Stern, President of Boyce Thomson Institute. Researchers at each institution have had tremendous success. Together, we will be even better. AIPI is a tool to allow our collective resources to respond faster to opportunities in an organized and collaborative manner. We will achieve more. And humanity will be the beneficiary."

CALS Plans Overhaul of Plant Science Departments

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences announced Wednesday that it is entering the planning stages of a potential consolidation of the five departments related to the University’s Plant Sciences major — Horticulture, Crop and Soil Sciences, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Microbe-Biology and Plant Biology and Plant Pathology.

According to CALS administrators, combining academic resources into larger units would improve the presence and scope of the plant sciences at Cornell, as well as provide more flexibility in responding to future budget challenges.

Read full article: The Cornell Daily Sun

Trends in Horticulture - Cornell Seminar

Mike Williams, Ball Horticultural Co., discusses trends in horticulture with Cornell University students at a Feb. 21, 2011 special seminar.

A Willow Energy Crop Information Resource at Cornell University

The Willowpedia web site hosted by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University to support a community of knowledge surrounding the academic study and commercial use of shrub willow (Salix spp.) as a sustainable feedstock crop for bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts, as well as for environmental engineering and horticultural applications. While much of the information presented here is the result of work at Cornell, the intent of this site is to facilitate the global exchange of knowledge among the entire willow community and the public.

Link to Willowpedia: http://willow.cals.cornell.edu/index.html

Cornell University - Horticulture Events

Horticulture Events News Feed from Cornell University - Department of Horticulture.

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RSS Feed Link: http://events.cornell.edu/widget/view?schools=cornell&days=31&num=50&tags=horticulture&format=rss

News and views from the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University

15 best combinations from Cornell Flower Bulb Research Program

Cornell Flower Bulb Research Program - Site from Cornell University's Horticulture department provides suggestions on perennial bulb combinations and photos on through the growth season. Click on link to Cornell Flower Bulb site>

Cornell: Flower After Hours Wednesday

Flowers After Hours, an evening tour of the Cornell Plantations, will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday and again on Wednesday, Aug. 19 starting from the patio by the Plantations gift shop.

Enjoy a relaxing stroll through the botanical garden and the quiet serenity of the garden at day’s end. Learn which flowers are at their best after hours, and why their color, foliage or fragrance makes them desirable for the evening garden.

Tours last approximately one hour. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. For more information call 607-255-2400.

Cornell scientist to discuss drastic reduction of weed growth in Chautauqua Lake - ObserverToday.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - Dunkirk | The Observer

LAKEWOOD - The Chautauqua Lake Association is sponsoring a symposium entitled the "Chautauqua Lake Aquatic Plant Workshop" led by aquatic scientist Robert L. Johnson, manager of Cornell University's Research Pond Facility, on July 13 at 7 p.m. at the Chautauqua Suites in Mayville. A second workshop is scheduled for July 14 at 7 p.m. at The Casino in Bemus Point. The events are free to the public. The workshops will give the community an opportunity to see, identify and learn about the different plant and insect species residing in the lake. Topics include the dramatic reduction in weed growth in Chautauqua Lake this year and the methods Johnson and the CLA used to curb infestation. Read more:
Cornell scientist to discuss drastic reduction of weed growth in Chautauqua Lake - ObserverToday.com News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - Dunkirk The Observer Source: observertoday.com

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'Lab on a chip' to measure water stress in plants

Fifteen years ago, when Alan Lakso first sought to enlist Cornell's nanofabrication laboratory to develop a tiny sensor that would measure water stress in grapevines, the horticultural sciences professor ended up back at the drawing board.
'Lab on a chip' to measure water stress in plants Source: physorg.com

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Dr. Ken Mudge on cutting propagation

Profile - Lawrence Halprin

Lawrence Halprin (b. 1916) Landscape Architect and Theorist
By Elizabeth K. Meyer

Born on July 1, 1916, Lawrence Halprin was raised in Brooklyn, New York. After graduation from high school, he lived for several years in Israel on a kibbutz. In 1935, he began his studies in Plant Sciences at Cornell University where he also played varsity baseball with hopes of playing professionally. After graduation, Halprin pursued advanced studies at the University of Wisconsin receiving a Master of Science in horticulture in 1941. During this time, Halprin married Anna Schuman, a dance student whose work played a significant role in Halprin’s ideas about landscape movement as well as his developing new graphic techniques to represent landscape experience.

While living in Wisconsin, Halprin has recounted visiting Taliesin East, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home-studio and deciding to study architecture focusing on landscape. He entered the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1942, studying with landscape architect Christopher Tunnard whose book Gardens in the Modern Landscape (1938) Halprin credited with confirming his interest in landscape design. During his studies at Harvard, Halprin was also inspired by professors Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, and was “vitally influenced” by the writings of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, a Hungarian artist and Bauhaus educator who immigrated to the United States in 1937. This particular influence is readily discerned in Halprin’s articles and books about process, space-time, and motion from the early 1960s through the late 1990s.

Read more:

Wikipedia Link

Sea Ranch...Diary of an Idea, by Lawrence Halprin