Above is a group photo of participants in the 2022 PSLA Winter Celebration held on December 13th.

The Spring 2023 semester has just begun and our newsletter is already brimming with upcoming events, notable achievements of faculty and students, opportunities for students in the department, and pictures from activities during the holiday and winter break. Our department is diverse, yet pulling together as a community seems to come naturally for us. Across multiple dimensions, we find opportunities to collaborate, co-create, and come together to take on grand challenges. One such example is the upcoming UConn Cannabis Symposium, which is a university-wide event that is being led by our department. The symposium will highlight the novel and emerging research on cannabis within the university, such as the novel re-tipping method that was highlighted in UConn Today and also in this issue of our newsletter. We also have an all-star line-up of seminars outlined in this issue, which are coordinated and being hosted by multiple faculty in our department. These activities enrich our department and the broader university community. With that, we welcome you to share your news of past or future events and opportunities with us. We also encourage you to brag about the accomplishments or success of your co-workers and students; we would be delighted to help you feature them. Scroll to the end of this newsletter to find out how to submit your news.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Annual PSLA Winter Celebration! We had a wonderful turnout with a wide variety of savory foods and sweet treats. Undergraduates, graduates, postdocs, staff, and professors were in attendance. Our gift exchange was coordinated by postdoc Roy Davis (pictured bottom right in yellow). Regrettably, we did not include a Christmas sweater contest as part of our celebration, as our adjunct faculty, Brendan Noons (pictured right), was a standout. We hope everyone who attended walked away with something they enjoy, whether it be a gift, food, or fond memories.

From the Yankee Swap, I received the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. When I opened it, there was an extra surprise of $20, which I considered that emceeing fee. Overall, the event went really well, and I look forward to future events." – Roy Davis

"It was a great way to bring all members of the department together, especially those who don't operate normally within the Young building. I was able to catch up with people who I had not seen since the end of summer. The Yankee swap landed me small glass dish featuring various species of beetles. I'm looking forward to next year!" – Evan Lentz

"I enjoy attending the department winter gathering because it is a nice way to connect with people at that time of year. The food is good and yankee swap is a lot of fun. This year I snagged a great gift from one of my colleagues 😊" – Jessica Lubell-Brand

While I did not participate in the gift exchange, I did truly enjoy the event.

It was great to see everyone from the department all in one place in a less professional capacity. I enjoyed talking with people in our festive sweaters while eating all the delicious food they brought in.

The University of Connecticut has been a leader nationally in developing the first series of courses offered at a U.S. academic institution on cannabis production. Join us on March 16-17 as expert speakers cover topics related to cannabis such as: plant production, biochemistry and genetics, clinical impacts, law and policy, and the future of the industry. The UConn Cannabis Symposium will be a premiere event for students, scientists, educators, and members of the cannabis industry to network and share information in the emerging cannabis field. This is an event that you will not want to miss!

Members of the steering committee for this event from PSLA include Gerald Berkowitz and Jessica Lubell-Brand.

The College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources at UConn is one of the leading institutions for cannabis research, education, and outreach. The Introduction to the Horticulture of Cannabis and Advanced Cannabis Horticulture course were the first cannabis horticulture courses offered through a US University. Taught by Matthew Debacco and Gerald Berkowitz, these classes cover the fundamentals of the production of Cannabis, as well as the business and industry operations.

The cannabis research program of Jessica Lubell-Brand (pictured at right) was recently featured in UConn Today in an article entitled "Less Space, More Plants: How Retipping Improves Efficiency in Cannabis Cultivation." The article was developed by our college to highlight novel research by the Lubell-Brand lab group, a paper with first author and PSLA graduate student, Lauren Kurtz, that was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Hort Science. Click to read the paper: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI16890-22

The new method known as “retipping” takes cuttings from strong, disease-free “mother” plants that were micropropagated in laboratory-controlled settings. “Retipping has the potential to produce nine-times as many plants in a similar amount of floor space as stem cuttings from traditional stock mother plants,” says Lubell-Brand, “This method could help cultivation facilities grow more in less space while maintaining the quality of their final product.”

By using recently micropropagated mothers for the new method, the researchers harvest cuttings from plants that have been acclimated to conditions outside of the lab. Retipping can enhance output from the micropropagation process by using the plants as mothers instead of and in addition to using them as production plants to grow flowers.

Click to read full story in UConn Today: https://s.uconn.edu/retip

Right: Lead author and PSLA graduate student, Lauren Kurtz, checks on cannabis plants in the Floriculture Greenhouse that are part of her graduate research. When asked about the impact of her research, “The legal cannabis industry is forging ahead of the science,” says Kurtz. “Our lab is helping to bridge the gap and provide evidence-based strategies to improve cultivation.”

Above: The micropropagated mother plants used in this study were grown in a laboratory and produce identical plants that are disease free and vigorous. They are grown in small containers under sterile conditions, taking up less space than conventional growing.

Cornell - Summer Research Scholars Program

Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York offers a Summer Research Scholars Program where undergraduate students participate in exciting projects in agricultural research, food and beverage entrepreneurship, and business development. Deadline: January 20, 2023

Design Workshop is looking for passionate and motivated students of all backgrounds to join their 2023 Summer Internship. Participants will experience a dynamic, creative design environment in one of their eight studios. Deadline: February 3, 2023

Glengate is a family-owned and operated organization that specializes in pool and landscape construction and total property care. They are based out of Danbury, CT and are looking for a Landscape Architect to join them this Spring. Deadline: February 28, 2023

In 2022, a new contract between the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the University of Connecticut was enacted and tasked our faculty to develop a series of guidelines and policies that relate to the faculty evaluation and department governance. This was not a trivial assignment and required faculty to engage in stimulating and important discussions. The result of these efforts are a set of complementary governance documents that provide a strong foundation for operations. These guidelines, along with other related documents are now readily available on our department website. https://psla.uconn.edu/fac-resources

January 17 - Spring Semester Begins

January 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The day commemorates the life and work of Dr. King, who was a Baptist minister and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. People are encouraged to use the day to “reflect on the principles of racial equality and nonviolent social change espoused by Dr. King. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

January 22 - Chinese New Year

February 1 - UConn Internship & Co-op Fair 2023

Come engage with 50+ employers from CT and the surrounding states and learn more about internship and co-op opportunities available for you this Summer and coming Fall!

February 25 - National Needs Fellowship Program

We are rapidly approaching the NNF program application deadline. Visit our website for more information about the program for prospective students and how to apply. https://s.uconn.edu/nnf

March 12 - 18 - Spring Break

March 16 - 17 - UConn Cannabis Symposium

Time: 12:15-1:15 PM

Venue: YNG 002 (LA Presentation Room)

January 20 - Ecology of viruses infecting important crops

Speaker: Washington Luís da Silva; Dr. da Silva is a virologist with expertise in diagnoses, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and molecular biology. He uses state of the art technologies (e.g., high throughput sequencing) to study the biology and ecology of viruses infecting important crops. Host: Haiying Tao

January 27 - Agrowaste and renewable bio-based materials

Speaker: Mae-lin Lokko; Mae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist, designer and educator from Ghana and the Philippines who works with agrowaste and renewable biobased materials. Through her work, Lokko explores themes of “generative justice” through the development of new models of distributed production and collaboration. Host: Sohyun Park

February 3 - Pesticide, contaminant in food and environmental matrices

Speaker: Carlos Tamez; Carlos Tamez is an Assistant Agricultural Scientist at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Department of Analytical Chemistry. Host: Huanzhong Wang

February 10 - Phytoremediation

Speaker: Kate Kennen; Kate Kennen is an Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University's College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD). Kate’s current research and teaching concentrates on planting design and applied phytotechnologies that utilize plants to clean up contaminated sites.

Host: Julia Smachylo

February 17 - Bacterial diseases of plants, plant-microbe interactions and molecular genetics

Speaker: Quan Zeng; Dr. Zeng has expertise in bacterial diseases of plants, plant-microbe interactions and molecular genetics. He studied fire blight, a disease of apple and pears, soft rot, a potato and vegetable disease, as well as etiolation and decline, a turfgrass disease, from aspects of disease mechanisms, management, and detection.

February 24 - Valuation of ecosystem services from the demand side

Speaker: Cynnamon Dobbs Brown; Cynnamon Dobbs Brown is an Urban and Community Forestry Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at UConn.

Host: Sohyun Park

We are always searching for newsworthy items to feature in our department newsletter, whether it's a student club or activity, graduate student milestone achieved, grant or scholarship awarded, or alumni successes / new positions.

Few of us like to toot our own horn, so consider using this outlet as a way to brag about a colleague, student, or co-worker. Whatever the news, please send it our way and we will reach out to make it a great feature in our newsletter.