October 28, 2025 • 29 mins
We sit down with our podcast teammate Lena Wilson—fresh off a first-place PhD Graduate Student Poster Competition win—to unpack what it takes to thrive at a major scientific conference, from crafting a clear two-minute story to turning a poster row into a collaboration engine.
Lena takes us inside a week in New Orleans at her first ASHS Annual Conference. We trade practical tactics for session planning, using the conference app without becoming a prisoner to it, and scheduling specific meetups before everyone’s calendar fills up. You’ll also hear quick voice clips from students, postdocs, faculty, and industry partners sharing what they do while listening to podcasts—tissue grinding, figure polishing, micropropagation - plus why they keep returning to ASHS: community, mentorship, and science that feeds people.
We also look ahead to ASHS 2026 in Dallas, August 3-7, 2026. If you’re a graduate student aiming for your first big presentation, an early-career scientist ready to widen your circle, or a faculty member scouting new collaborations, you’ll leave with a clearer plan and renewed energy.
Subscribe for more conversations with researchers, educators, and industry leaders across horticultural science. Share this episode with a colleague who needs a nudge to submit that abstract, and leave a review to help others discover the show.
Find more information about the ASHS Annual Conference at https://ashs.org/page/ASHSAnnualConference.
Learn more about the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) at https://ashs.org/.
HortTechnology, HortScience and the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science are all open-access and peer-reviewed journals, published by the American Society of Horticultural Science (ASHS). Find them at journals.ashs.org.
Consider becoming an ASHS member at https://ashs.org/page/Becomeamember!
You can also find the official webpage for Plants, People, Science at ashs.org/plantspeoplesciencepodcast, and we encourage you to send us feedback or suggestions at https://ashs.org/webinarpodcastsuggestion.
Podcast transcripts are available at https://plantspeoplescience.buzzsprout.com.
On LinkedIn find Sam Humphrey at linkedin.com/in/samson-humphrey. Curt Rom is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/curt-rom-611085134/. Lena Wilson is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-wilson-2531a5141/.
Thank you for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Curt Rom (00:05):
Welcome to Plants People Science, a podcast of the
American Society forHorticulture Science, where we
like to talk about all thingshorticulture.
I'm your co-host, Kurt Rome, auniversity professor of
horticulture from the Universityof Arkansas, along with my
friend and co-host, SamsonHumphrey, a PhD student from
(00:27):
University of Tennessee,Knoxville.
Welcome, Sam.
Sam Humph (00:32):
Welcome, Curt. Thanks for that introduction.
How are you doing?
Curt Rom (00:35):
I'm doing really well.
It's always good when we get totalk to each other and and do
another podcast.
Sam Humphrey (00:41):
That's true.
Man, this beginning of theschool year.
I guess we're on week three.
It's it's gone real real fastfor me, Curt.
What about you?
Curt Rom (00:50):
It's going really fast.
I'm teaching uh uh two newcourses, and so that's always
really engaging for me when Iget to to prepare new courses
because it is a as an instructorand a scientist, you know, it
makes me learn new things.
And it was once said the bestway to understand something is
to teach it.
And I'm I'm living proof thatthat's true.
Sam Humphrey (01:15):
Yeah, well, I'm a little bit envious of you, Curt.
I'm not teaching this semester.
I did teach last spring, and itwas fantastic.
Um so what I'm getting my joyout of nowadays is planning
extension events.
I have a couple like Ag Day, Ihave a couple things like that
in the next few weeks that I'mlike preparing materials for and
(01:38):
figuring out what to hand outto people.
And so that's what I've beenenjoying.
Curt Rom (01:43):
Well, that's a wonderful professional
development opportunity.
I'm glad that your majorprofessor and your department
are engaging you in that.
So good for you.
Thank you, Curt.
Sam, I missed seeing you at theASHS meeting this year.
Sam Humphrey (01:57):
Oh, I know.
All my friends were texting me,telling me things that were
going on.
I heard that you gave amazingtalks.
Curt Rom (02:05):
Well, thanks.
You know, it was a really goodconference.
I saw, you know, lots of oldfriends and colleagues made some
new friends, but uh it was areally good conference.
Sam Humphrey (02:15):
I bet.
Have you ever been to NewOrleans before?
Curt Rom (02:18):
I've been to New Orleans uh a number of times.
I think this was the second orthird time we've had the uh ASHS
annual conference there.
So it's always always fun togo, and I want to tell you it
was plenty warm, so it was goodto be in the conference and go
to the meetings.
Sam Humphrey (02:37):
I bet, Curt, I'm excited to hear what your
experience was, but we have aspecial guest today.
Uh this guest also went to theconference, you saw her there,
and I'm especially excited aboutthis episode because this is
Lena Wilson, who is a member ofour podcast team.
So for our listeners, if youdidn't already know this,
(03:01):
there's Curt and I on the team.
But it takes several people inthe background to come up with
the ideas and do the editing.
And our head researcher for newpodcast episode ideas is Lena
Wilson.
She is a PhD candidate, and sheactually won the PhD poster
presentation at this year's ASHSconference.
(03:23):
So we have lots of questionsfor her.
Lena, thank you so much forbeing here.
Lena Wilson (03:28):
I'm so excited to be here today, Sam and Kirk.
Curt Rom (03:32):
Lena, it was great to see you at the conference, and
congratulations on how well youdid.
Uh, look forward to you knowreliving the conference with you
uh and and sharing w with Samthe kind of fun things that we
did and and what all we learned.
Let's tell everyone how itwent.
Sam Humphrey (03:49):
So, okay, Lena, to paint a picture for the
audience.
Um, did you end up going to theconference with your lab or
with a PI?
Like what was your group like?
Lena Wilson (04:00):
You know, I was the only one from my lab going this
year, which is kind of funbecause that really pushes you
outside of your comfort zone andmakes you talk to everyone
around you.
Curt Rom (04:12):
You know, being the only one there, yeah, and having
to make new friends, make meetsome new colleagues, built your
network.
Uh how many other conferenceshave you been to?
And you know what what kind ofsurprised you about this
conference?
Lena Wilson (04:25):
I've been to a handful of other academic
conferences in the past, butthis one was probably the
largest conference I've everbeen to.
And so that surprised me howmany people there were and how
broad it was, because I was ableto learn about research from
all sorts of different fields inhorticulture.
Sam Humphrey (04:47):
That's amazing.
Yeah, I want to mention we dohave the numbers on this.
There were about 950 attendees,about 60 of those were
undergrads, and 315 weregraduate students.
Or, you know, there's 314 andLena, uh the standout graduate
student.
What was it like presenting atyour at your poster
(05:09):
presentation?
Lena Wilson (05:10):
Well, it was a bit nerve-wracking, I'll admit.
They had a standby our poster,and then the groups of judges
would come around, and youdidn't know exactly when they
would come because they weren'texactly coming in a certain
order.
You might see them approaching,but then they'd divert to
another row.
Um, but ultimately it was agreat experience to really make
(05:32):
sure that my research was ableto be keep communicated in a
concise way and to a more broadaudience because you didn't know
who was going to be your judge,if they would be somebody
exactly in your field or alittle bit outside of your
field.
So you had to make sure thatyou had those communication
skills to bridge um a gap to ascientist who might be used to
(05:58):
something a little different.
Curt Rom (06:00):
Yeah, I know your poster was a big deal.
And by the way, it was a reallybeautiful poster.
You did a fantastic job.
I enjoyed reading it.
And that kind of give us arundown.
What was your the day today?
So it started on Monday.
What was your Monday like?
Did you do what kind ofactivities?
What kind of meetings did yougo to?
And maybe run through some ofthe highlights of the week for
(06:21):
us.
Lena Wilson (06:22):
Right.
So it was a pretty longconference.
We were there for a whole week.
Uh, but the first day, youknow, you start with
registration, and then therewere some introductory
activities, some of them run byKurt here himself, to get people
acquainted with the conferenceand kind of the norms and uh get
people comfortable withconferences in general and how
(06:45):
ASHA's conferences are run.
And then Tuesday, I feel like,was when the science kicked off
real hard, and we were doing allsorts of sessions uh all day
long.
And you can pick and choosewhich ones you want to go to
because oftentimes there'smultiple sessions running at the
same time.
I'm not sure exactly what themax number of sessions running
(07:07):
at a time, but I feel like onthe schedule I saw at least some
time slots that maybe had fiveactivities or sessions that you
could attend.
Does that sound about right,Kurt?
Curt Rom (07:18):
Yeah, I think five to eight simultaneous kinds of uh
various discipline orscience-oriented sessions.
Sam Humphrey (07:27):
Wow.
So choosing between all thosemust have been hard.
Lena Wilson (07:31):
Definitely, yeah.
So you guys mentioned in yourprevious episode where you talk
about kind of techniques fornavigating the conference that
you can look up on the app thethings going on and you can kind
of select which things youmight be interested in.
But ultimately, you know,sometimes you think you're gonna
go to one session and thenyou're sitting in a different
session, and the thing that'scoming up next is so interesting
(07:54):
that you can't get up andleave.
So you kind of gotta uh play itby ear as well.
Curt Rom (07:58):
Yeah, flexibility is the name of the game.
You gotta you gotta be flexibleand resilient, ready to move
when you need to move.
But if you get sometimes youjust get sucked into the
science, you know, it's likethis vortex, you know.
I've gotta hear this.
Sam Humphrey (08:13):
All right.
So you went to all these allthese cool different workshops
and different talks.
Did you talk to anyone?
Lena Wilson (08:21):
Oh yes.
Actually, one of my favoritethings about the conference this
year, which I was told was umnot something that had happened
um in the previous year or theyear before that, which was that
ASHS brought back paperposters.
And I love going to visit otherpeople's posters because I
think they're an excellentconversation starter.
(08:43):
You get just a flash viewing ofwhat they are wanting to talk
to you about.
So if you go and see someonestanding by their poster, you
skim over it, and then theconversation just flows from
there.
So I feel like some of the bestconversations I had were from
people standing in front oftheir posters.
Curt Rom (09:03):
Yeah, there's several hundred posters, and that is a
really dynamic way to interactwith with the colleagues and and
scientists and students,because instead of the normal
12-minute presentation, two orthree minutes of of questions,
where most people run 14 and ahalf minutes and you have 30
seconds for a question, youcan't engage in the
(09:24):
conversation, but you really canaround posters.
It's it's really wonderful.
Lena, the first time I saw youwas on Monday night at an
activity that just had a realcool vibe around it.
It was the uh graduate schooland career fair.
Uh you had a table for ourpodcast there.
How did that go for you?
Lena Wilson (09:43):
Well, that was great.
So it was we had a table forthe podcast, and I was meeting
people who were listeners, whichwas great.
I was handing out stickers tolisteners.
I hope a few of you put them inexcellent locations.
Um, and then I also met peoplewho had never heard of our
podcast before and got to chatwith them, hear what they were
interested in, recommended a fewepisodes that I thought they
(10:07):
might be particularly enjoylistening to.
Um, and then we also solicitedsome suggestions from people at
the conference, things that theywanted to hear more about, or
even things that they might wantto talk about.
Sam Humphrey (10:21):
Yeah, that was awesome.
We, for the record, we havealways had like a link on the
ASHS website.
So if you look up our podcastname on any browser, um, you can
pretty easily find a link tosubmit ideas.
But Lena, thanks to you andKurt, that was the first time
that in person we've solicitedthese these ideas.
(10:44):
So that was really exciting.
Lena Wilson (10:45):
Absolutely.
And that was the only chancefor us to give candy directly to
our listeners.
Curt Rom (10:52):
Yeah, it's good to give our listeners a reward for
listening.
You know, I appreciate that.
It's fun to interact with uhthe people that listen to us and
get that kind of feedback.
You know, one of thedifficulties about a podcast is
it is kind of a one-way street.
I mean, we do solicit comments,but it was right really nice to
engage in those conversations.
Sam Humphrey (11:14):
Absolutely.
Lena, you also recorded somediscussions with people.
Do you want to tell us a littleabout that?
Lena Wilson (11:23):
Yeah, so I had fun not just listening to science
around ASHS conference, but Ialso took the opportunity to run
around with a recorder and getsome snippets about what people
uh were thinking at theconference.
(11:43):
So we'll hear those, I believe,later in this episode.
And I'm really excited for youall to kind of feel like you
were at the conference, whetheryou were there in person or not.
Curt Rom (11:55):
Lena, I appreciate you getting those.
It'll be interesting to hearwhat others had to say about the
conference.
So let maybe we should listento a few of them.
Amanda Lee Walters (12:03):
Hello, my name is Amanda Lee Walters.
I'm a PhD candidate at theUniversity of Arkansas in the
horticulture department, with myadvisor being Dr.
Amanda McWort.
Uh generally, when I'mlistening to podcasts, I'm
either doing data entry, dataanalysis, or I'm in the lab for
my N15 project.
Christopher Vincent (12:21):
Uh my name is Christopher Vincent.
I am an environmentalphysiologist working on citrus
at the University of Florida.
So, what scientific things do Ido related while I listen to
podcasts?
My favorite thing to do is tois to work on figures.
So that's something thatdoesn't quite acquire require
(12:43):
quite so much mental energy so Ican still listen to what's
being said uh while get gettingsome stuff done so I can refine
my figures and stuff while I'mlistening to a podcast.
My name is Nathan Marn.
Nathan Maren (12:54):
I'm a woody plant reader and genomics specialist
at the Morton R Readham.
And uh when I'm listening topodcasts, I'm usually uh doing
tissue culture, uh usuallymicropropagation, uh, and uh
been doing a fair amount ofparonia propagation lately.
Nicole (13:12):
My name is Nicole.
I am a graduate researchassistant at Iowa State
University.
I like to listen to podcastswhile grinding my tissue samples
for tissue nutrient analysis.
Jacob Frederick (13:21):
I'm Jacob Frederick.
Uh I'm a graduate researchassistant at the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville.
And I like to listen topodcasts while I do my
phytonutrient extractions.
Oksana (13:32):
Hi, my name is Oksana.
Um I am a graduate student atCornell University doing uh
apple cider research.
And my favorite thing to dowhile listening to a podcast is
processing, weighing, andmeasuring all my apples.
Anne Gahagan (13:47):
This is Anne-Marika Hagen.
I'm a master student at theUniversity of Georgia, studying
under Dr.
Patrick Connor, and I came toAHHS because I wanted to see
what new things is going on inhorticulture and how people are
working together to findresearch to help feed the world.
Reece Brock (14:01):
My name is Reese Brock.
I'm a master student under Dr.
Margaret Worthington, workingin the fruit breeding and
genetics at the University ofArkansas.
And I came to this conferenceto see what everyone else is
working on around the country.
Patrick Friesen (14:13):
All right, my name is Patrick Friesen.
I'm the plant scientist ofBiochambers.
Uh what brought us to thisconference?
Well, we've been attending thisconference year after year for
a long time now.
Uh it's great for a number ofreasons.
So catching up with oldcustomers, uh, hearing their
concerns firsthand, um, keepingabreast of the latest science,
(14:33):
especially for me as a plantscientist.
Uh for example, this year Iattended an awesome session on
uh tree grafting from my ownpersonal yard, um and uh you
know found some cool stuff aboutuh kale and and white sage,
which I'm also into umpersonally and professionally.
It's a great conference.
Pedro Rojas Barros (14:54):
My name is Pedro Rojas Barros.
I'm a postdoctoral researcherat Washington State University.
And what brought me here tothis conference is the people,
it's a huge community ofscientists and peers that uh I
always have such a great timeand learn a lot of things from
different researchers.
Stephanie Wigman (15:13):
I'm Stephanie Wigman from Utah State
University.
I'm an undergraduate.
And for this conference, it wasreally cool to present my
poster and also learn more abouthorticulture in general.
I'm a biology student, so Idon't get to hear as much about
plants, which was super excitingto connect with this whole
community that was interested.
Christina Harms (15:34):
I'm Christina Harms with South Dakota State
University as a master's studentunder Dr.
Christine Lang.
I'm at the ASHS conference fornetworking, but also to
understand a bit more about thehorticultural world and
influence that it has across thenation throughout the USA as a
student with a design degree formy undergrad.
Getting into the horticulturalworld has been a bit of an
(15:56):
adventure, especially into theplant science, which my master's
degree is currently under.
So being here has brought moreof a light to the opportunities
from both a research perspectiveand scientific perspective, but
also what horticulture is doingboth within Louisiana but
throughout the United States asa whole.
Randy Beaudry (16:13):
My name is Randy Baudry.
I'm a post-harvest physiologistat Michigan State University.
I decided to become an ASHSmember because my major
professor expected it.
And that's something like 40years ago.
And it was just part of whateverybody did as a graduate
student.
Your major professor was ahorticulturist, the major
professor was an ASHS member,and you were expected to be an
ASH member.
And I remember before I evenpublished my first paper, I was
(16:35):
invited to join an ASHS meetingdown in McCallan, Texas.
You can look it up, and it's along while back.
But I'm still an ASHS memberbecause I believe in the ethos
of a community, if that makessense, a scientific community,
and especially one likehorticulture, which is dedicated
towards uh developing newtechniques, I guess, so that
people continue to be fed in thefuture, that farmers are
(16:58):
profitable, and that we continueto move science forward because
the biology that happens inhorticulture is the same as
biology that happens inmolecular biology, etc., and all
these other fields that areassociated with production of
food.
And I believe in it, and Ithink that the next generation
should too, and so I'd like tosupport it.
Chris Gunter (17:15):
So my name is Chris Gunter.
I'm the chair of horticulturalsciences at the University of
Florida.
I became an ASHS member tolearn more about research, meet
new people working inhorticulture, and present my
research data to a wideaudience.
Jimmy Larson (17:37):
And the reason that I'm an ASHS member is for
the discounts on conferences andpublishing.
John Ertle (17:44):
So I'm John Ertle.
I'm the plant physiologist atPP Systems.
So I became an ASH memberprobably about five years ago
when I was a grad student.
Um after my first time at theconference, actually the first
one was the virtual conference,and then Chicago is the next
time I was in person.
Um but it was such a greatcommunity.
Uh a lot of these people I'vegotten to know really well over
(18:06):
the last few years, and so Ilike to maintain my membership
and keep coming back year afteryear.
Um it's really just such agreat collection of scientists,
and I've made a lot of friendsthat now I keep up with outside
of just the conference uh fromall over uh the world now, which
is amazing.
And so it's been uh really,really cool uh to get involved
(18:26):
with these folks, stay up todate on research, uh, learn
about what people are workingon, find new ways to do science,
and uh explore a lot ofdifferent uh facets of plant
science that I never really knewabout before.
And so it's been just afantastic experience, and uh I
look forward to coming backevery year.
Curt Rom (18:44):
Well, that was interesting to hear those
experiences.
You know, uh that's part of thegood thing about a professional
society like the ASHS.
We get to interact with eachother, talk to each other, we
build our professional networkand our professional colleagues.
So, Lena, thanks for forgetting all of those.
(19:04):
You know, it's about time forus to be thinking about the next
conference.
I know that the last one wasjust two months ago, but it's
already time.
We'll be calling for uh programproposals and abstract
submissions, you know, withinthe next few months.
That's true.
Kurt, when where is the nextone going to be?
(19:26):
The next conference is gonna bein downtown Dallas, Texas.
So we get to go to DFW.
It'll be fun.
It's gonna be located right indowntown and real close to the
tram track, so you can be ableto go to some of the other
locations that are funentertainment districts around
town.
Uh it's a wonderful conferencehotel.
(19:48):
Uh and you know, it's a greatlocation horticulturally because
there is uh great horticulturein the area.
There are two botanic gardens.
There's the Dallas BotanicGarden, which is just a short
drive away.
And then if you take a littlelonger drive, about 15 or 20
miles, you can go over to FortWorth and go to the Fort Worth
Botanic Garden.
So there'll be a lot ofactivities.
(20:09):
Not to mention, not to forgetto mention, Texas barbecue.
We'll be able to have Texasbarbecue right downtown in
Dallas.
Sam Humphrey (20:19):
That sounds awesome.
Yeah, just to reiterate, okay,so the dates are August 3rd, 3
to 7 in Dallas, Texas, andregistration opens in January.
There is a very useful page,ashs.org slash page slash
deadlines, and all the deadlinesare there.
So we'll keep reminding you infuture episodes.
(20:39):
Um, but now is the time.
There's plenty of time, andthat's that's how I like it.
I like writing these things inadvance and getting all excited
about future conferences.
Curt Rom (20:50):
Yeah, on our ASHS website, there is a button that
says conferences, so just hitthat conference button.
You'll be able to find outabout the our previous
conferences as well as all theinformation as it starts to
develop about the futureconference.
So ashs.org slash conferences.
Sam Humphrey (21:09):
Lena, do you plan to go to future ASHS
conferences?
Lena Wilson (21:13):
I sure hope I can.
You know, this was my firstASHS conference, but I have a
feeling it might not be my last.
Sam Humphrey (21:22):
Goodness, I hope not.
That'd be awesome to see you inperson.
Lena, if you ever go to futureASHS conferences, is there
anything that you think youwould do differently?
Lena Wilson (21:32):
You know, one thing that was a little tricky about
the ASHS conference was that itwas so long and there were
certain people who stay for thewhole thing, but sometimes
people don't quite stay for thewhole thing.
So I would get a littleorganized before the conference.
And if there are people that Iwanted to catch, I would
(21:56):
organize in advance to uh maybegrab lunch or dinner with them.
Um because that week passes byso fast, and uh you might just
might miss that person.
Sam Humphrey (22:09):
That's a great point.
I'm gonna have to reach out toyou, Lena.
I'll have to reach out extraearly so I can catch you before
you schedule with everyone else.
Lena Wilson (22:17):
Sounds good, Sam.
Curt Rom (22:18):
Yeah, and Sam, maybe we ought to have Lena as our
researcher.
She could do research on thebest place for us to meet and
eat.
Meet, greet, neat.
Lena, that sounds like a goodthat's a research question for
our team.
Lena Wilson (22:32):
Well, that sounds great.
You know, I love to researchabout science, but I also love
to research about newrestaurants.
So that sounds pretty fun.
Sam Humphrey (22:42):
Lena, thank you so much for coming on today.
You have been behind the sceneson this podcast team for like
three years now, uh, maybe evenmore than that.
And we're just so lucky to haveyou, and I'm I'm really happy
that our listeners get to hearyour voice today.
Thank you for coming.
Lena Wilson (23:00):
Yeah, it's been fun to be on here.
Thanks, Kurt, and thank you,Sam.
Curt Rom (23:04):
Yeah, and Lena, thanks for sharing your observations
and experiences.
You know, Sam wasn't there, butbut now he's got a taste for
what it was like, and I'm gladyou could share those
experiences.
Thanks a lot.
Sam Humphrey (23:18):
Thank you.
That was an awesome interview.
Curt Rom (23:23):
Yeah, I thought that was really fun.
I was really happy that we gotto bring Lena, part of our
production team, on to speak.
She's the brains behind the theoutfit, but it was really good
to hear her voice, and I reallyenjoyed her perspectives on the
conference as a first-timeattender and as a young
scientist.
Absolutely.
Sam Humphrey (23:44):
Yeah, and the fact that she has been to other
conferences before, but this washer first one that was so big.
Um, that was really cool tohear.
Curt Rom (23:55):
And she hit it out of the ballpark.
She uh placed first place inthe graduate student poster
competition.
So uh real evidence again, rocksolid researcher, and boy, I'm
glad she's on our podcast team.
Absolutely.
Sam Humphrey (24:12):
Yeah, I do wonder if she'll end up giving a
workshop next year.
Sometimes the winners of theseuh student awards are asked to
uh speak on what they did andyou know what they learned at
things like the ASHS workshops.
So um, or webinars, that's theword I'm looking for.
And so I do know there are afew of those um out there in the
(24:34):
ether.
Curt Rom (24:35):
Actually, they're on the ASHS uh uh webpage.
You can access them there forASHS members.
It's a real good benefit ofbeing a member of the ASHS.
And just like Lena, anotherreal important benefit of the
ASHS is our awards andrecognition programs.
So we recognize awards forvarious competitions for
(24:56):
undergraduate students, forscientific presentations for
graduate students, early careerprofessionals, as well as career
professionals.
So it really helps uh ASHSmembers and young horticultural
scientists and scholars developtheir skills, develop their
reputation, and help themadvance professionally.
Sam Humphrey (25:18):
But it was a great conference.
Oh, I bet it was, Curtin.
Do you have a favorite part?
I heard about you running.
Curt Rom (25:25):
Yeah, I ran the 5K and uh, you know, I I was I
finished it, which was reallygood.
Uh I I noticed that the winnerwho was less than half my age
was approximately one-third ofmy was one third of my age,
finished in about one-third ofmy time.
So I figured there was somemathematical symmetry in in all
(25:47):
of that.
But it was a very fun run.
I want to tell you, it was warmand humid.
It's 6 30 in the morning,running along the banks of the
Mississippi River in downtownNew Orleans.
It's something I will neverforget.
Sam Humphrey (26:03):
Oh, goodness.
I wonder if they'll dosomething like that next year.
I think this is the first timethey've done a run at an ASH
conference.
Curt Rom (26:10):
No, we've done it off and on for years.
I'm one of the proponents ofdoing it uh because it gets me
up and out, you know, in andit's a fun activity for us.
Uh the uh youngest person thatran was probably around 20 or 18
or 20, and the oldest personthat uh ran or walked was in
(26:33):
their 80s.
So it's a it's a good activityfor all of us that uh want to
get outside and move.
Uh so lots of fun.
But a great conference.
So what if if I'm interested inthe conference, what do I do?
Sam Humphrey (26:48):
Good question, Kurt.
If you're interested in theASHS conference this past year
or next year, go to the ASHS.orgwebsite and hit the conference
tab.
It's never too early to startplanning.
Um, and you can plan way aheadwith all the deadlines and
everything listed there.
We also have student travelgrants and all sorts of other
(27:09):
opportunities listed on thewebsite.
Notably, ASHS also holds anannual Graduate Student and
Careers Fair.
Uh they also have graduate andundergraduate student interest
groups and a series ofprofessional development and
social networking opportunities.
Curt Rom (27:27):
There are discount registration for ASHS members.
So I highly recommend yourenewing your membership or
joining the ASHS, the AmericanSociety for Horticulture
Science.
You can do that today with justa few clicks on the button on
the webpage.
When you do that, you can thentake part of some interest
groups that Lena participatedin, like the Phomology Working
(27:50):
Group, interest group, the fruitbreeding interest group, and
the graduate student interestgroup.
If you would like moreinformation, go to the website
American Society of HorticultureScience ASHS dot org.
Do that today.
Okay, I think that wraps us up.
This is Kurt Rome and SamsonHumphrey.
(28:13):
Thank you for joining Plants,People, and Science.
The ASHS podcast, Plants,People in Science, is made
possible by member dues andvolunteerism.
Please go to ashs.org to learnmore.
If you're not already a memberof the ASHS, we invite you to
(28:35):
join.
ASHS is a not-for-profit, andyour donations are tax
deductible.
Sam Humphrey (28:42):
This episode is hosted by Samson Humphrey and
Kurt Rome.
Special thanks to our audioengineer, Andrew Sheldorf, our
research specialists, LenaWilson and Andrew Sheldorf, our
ASHS support team, Sarah Powelland Sally Murphy, and our
musician, John Clark.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Plants People Science, a podcast of the
American Society forHorticulture Science, where we
like to talk about all thingshorticulture.
I'm your co-host, Kurt Rome, auniversity professor of
horticulture from the Universityof Arkansas, along with my
friend and co-host, SamsonHumphrey, a PhD student from
(00:27):
University of Tennessee,Knoxville.
Welcome, Sam.
Sam Humph (00:32):
Welcome, Curt. Thanks for that introduction.
How are you doing?
Curt Rom (00:35):
I'm doing really well.
It's always good when we get totalk to each other and and do
another podcast.
Sam Humphrey (00:41):
That's true.
Man, this beginning of theschool year.
I guess we're on week three.
It's it's gone real real fastfor me, Curt.
What about you?
Curt Rom (00:50):
It's going really fast.
I'm teaching uh uh two newcourses, and so that's always
really engaging for me when Iget to to prepare new courses
because it is a as an instructorand a scientist, you know, it
makes me learn new things.
And it was once said the bestway to understand something is
to teach it.
And I'm I'm living proof thatthat's true.
Sam Humphrey (01:15):
Yeah, well, I'm a little bit envious of you, Curt.
I'm not teaching this semester.
I did teach last spring, and itwas fantastic.
Um so what I'm getting my joyout of nowadays is planning
extension events.
I have a couple like Ag Day, Ihave a couple things like that
in the next few weeks that I'mlike preparing materials for and
(01:38):
figuring out what to hand outto people.
And so that's what I've beenenjoying.
Curt Rom (01:43):
Well, that's a wonderful professional
development opportunity.
I'm glad that your majorprofessor and your department
are engaging you in that.
So good for you.
Thank you, Curt.
Sam, I missed seeing you at theASHS meeting this year.
Sam Humphrey (01:57):
Oh, I know.
All my friends were texting me,telling me things that were
going on.
I heard that you gave amazingtalks.
Curt Rom (02:05):
Well, thanks.
You know, it was a really goodconference.
I saw, you know, lots of oldfriends and colleagues made some
new friends, but uh it was areally good conference.
Sam Humphrey (02:15):
I bet.
Have you ever been to NewOrleans before?
Curt Rom (02:18):
I've been to New Orleans uh a number of times.
I think this was the second orthird time we've had the uh ASHS
annual conference there.
So it's always always fun togo, and I want to tell you it
was plenty warm, so it was goodto be in the conference and go
to the meetings.
Sam Humphrey (02:37):
I bet, Curt, I'm excited to hear what your
experience was, but we have aspecial guest today.
Uh this guest also went to theconference, you saw her there,
and I'm especially excited aboutthis episode because this is
Lena Wilson, who is a member ofour podcast team.
So for our listeners, if youdidn't already know this,
(03:01):
there's Curt and I on the team.
But it takes several people inthe background to come up with
the ideas and do the editing.
And our head researcher for newpodcast episode ideas is Lena
Wilson.
She is a PhD candidate, and sheactually won the PhD poster
presentation at this year's ASHSconference.
(03:23):
So we have lots of questionsfor her.
Lena, thank you so much forbeing here.
Lena Wilson (03:28):
I'm so excited to be here today, Sam and Kirk.
Curt Rom (03:32):
Lena, it was great to see you at the conference, and
congratulations on how well youdid.
Uh, look forward to you knowreliving the conference with you
uh and and sharing w with Samthe kind of fun things that we
did and and what all we learned.
Let's tell everyone how itwent.
Sam Humphrey (03:49):
So, okay, Lena, to paint a picture for the
audience.
Um, did you end up going to theconference with your lab or
with a PI?
Like what was your group like?
Lena Wilson (04:00):
You know, I was the only one from my lab going this
year, which is kind of funbecause that really pushes you
outside of your comfort zone andmakes you talk to everyone
around you.
Curt Rom (04:12):
You know, being the only one there, yeah, and having
to make new friends, make meetsome new colleagues, built your
network.
Uh how many other conferenceshave you been to?
And you know what what kind ofsurprised you about this
conference?
Lena Wilson (04:25):
I've been to a handful of other academic
conferences in the past, butthis one was probably the
largest conference I've everbeen to.
And so that surprised me howmany people there were and how
broad it was, because I was ableto learn about research from
all sorts of different fields inhorticulture.
Sam Humphrey (04:47):
That's amazing.
Yeah, I want to mention we dohave the numbers on this.
There were about 950 attendees,about 60 of those were
undergrads, and 315 weregraduate students.
Or, you know, there's 314 andLena, uh the standout graduate
student.
What was it like presenting atyour at your poster
(05:09):
presentation?
Lena Wilson (05:10):
Well, it was a bit nerve-wracking, I'll admit.
They had a standby our poster,and then the groups of judges
would come around, and youdidn't know exactly when they
would come because they weren'texactly coming in a certain
order.
You might see them approaching,but then they'd divert to
another row.
Um, but ultimately it was agreat experience to really make
(05:32):
sure that my research was ableto be keep communicated in a
concise way and to a more broadaudience because you didn't know
who was going to be your judge,if they would be somebody
exactly in your field or alittle bit outside of your
field.
So you had to make sure thatyou had those communication
skills to bridge um a gap to ascientist who might be used to
(05:58):
something a little different.
Curt Rom (06:00):
Yeah, I know your poster was a big deal.
And by the way, it was a reallybeautiful poster.
You did a fantastic job.
I enjoyed reading it.
And that kind of give us arundown.
What was your the day today?
So it started on Monday.
What was your Monday like?
Did you do what kind ofactivities?
What kind of meetings did yougo to?
And maybe run through some ofthe highlights of the week for
(06:21):
us.
Lena Wilson (06:22):
Right.
So it was a pretty longconference.
We were there for a whole week.
Uh, but the first day, youknow, you start with
registration, and then therewere some introductory
activities, some of them run byKurt here himself, to get people
acquainted with the conferenceand kind of the norms and uh get
people comfortable withconferences in general and how
(06:45):
ASHA's conferences are run.
And then Tuesday, I feel like,was when the science kicked off
real hard, and we were doing allsorts of sessions uh all day
long.
And you can pick and choosewhich ones you want to go to
because oftentimes there'smultiple sessions running at the
same time.
I'm not sure exactly what themax number of sessions running
(07:07):
at a time, but I feel like onthe schedule I saw at least some
time slots that maybe had fiveactivities or sessions that you
could attend.
Does that sound about right,Kurt?
Curt Rom (07:18):
Yeah, I think five to eight simultaneous kinds of uh
various discipline orscience-oriented sessions.
Sam Humphrey (07:27):
Wow.
So choosing between all thosemust have been hard.
Lena Wilson (07:31):
Definitely, yeah.
So you guys mentioned in yourprevious episode where you talk
about kind of techniques fornavigating the conference that
you can look up on the app thethings going on and you can kind
of select which things youmight be interested in.
But ultimately, you know,sometimes you think you're gonna
go to one session and thenyou're sitting in a different
session, and the thing that'scoming up next is so interesting
(07:54):
that you can't get up andleave.
So you kind of gotta uh play itby ear as well.
Curt Rom (07:58):
Yeah, flexibility is the name of the game.
You gotta you gotta be flexibleand resilient, ready to move
when you need to move.
But if you get sometimes youjust get sucked into the
science, you know, it's likethis vortex, you know.
I've gotta hear this.
Sam Humphrey (08:13):
All right.
So you went to all these allthese cool different workshops
and different talks.
Did you talk to anyone?
Lena Wilson (08:21):
Oh yes.
Actually, one of my favoritethings about the conference this
year, which I was told was umnot something that had happened
um in the previous year or theyear before that, which was that
ASHS brought back paperposters.
And I love going to visit otherpeople's posters because I
think they're an excellentconversation starter.
(08:43):
You get just a flash viewing ofwhat they are wanting to talk
to you about.
So if you go and see someonestanding by their poster, you
skim over it, and then theconversation just flows from
there.
So I feel like some of the bestconversations I had were from
people standing in front oftheir posters.
Curt Rom (09:03):
Yeah, there's several hundred posters, and that is a
really dynamic way to interactwith with the colleagues and and
scientists and students,because instead of the normal
12-minute presentation, two orthree minutes of of questions,
where most people run 14 and ahalf minutes and you have 30
seconds for a question, youcan't engage in the
(09:24):
conversation, but you really canaround posters.
It's it's really wonderful.
Lena, the first time I saw youwas on Monday night at an
activity that just had a realcool vibe around it.
It was the uh graduate schooland career fair.
Uh you had a table for ourpodcast there.
How did that go for you?
Lena Wilson (09:43):
Well, that was great.
So it was we had a table forthe podcast, and I was meeting
people who were listeners, whichwas great.
I was handing out stickers tolisteners.
I hope a few of you put them inexcellent locations.
Um, and then I also met peoplewho had never heard of our
podcast before and got to chatwith them, hear what they were
interested in, recommended a fewepisodes that I thought they
(10:07):
might be particularly enjoylistening to.
Um, and then we also solicitedsome suggestions from people at
the conference, things that theywanted to hear more about, or
even things that they might wantto talk about.
Sam Humphrey (10:21):
Yeah, that was awesome.
We, for the record, we havealways had like a link on the
ASHS website.
So if you look up our podcastname on any browser, um, you can
pretty easily find a link tosubmit ideas.
But Lena, thanks to you andKurt, that was the first time
that in person we've solicitedthese these ideas.
(10:44):
So that was really exciting.
Lena Wilson (10:45):
Absolutely.
And that was the only chancefor us to give candy directly to
our listeners.
Curt Rom (10:52):
Yeah, it's good to give our listeners a reward for
listening.
You know, I appreciate that.
It's fun to interact with uhthe people that listen to us and
get that kind of feedback.
You know, one of thedifficulties about a podcast is
it is kind of a one-way street.
I mean, we do solicit comments,but it was right really nice to
engage in those conversations.
Sam Humphrey (11:14):
Absolutely.
Lena, you also recorded somediscussions with people.
Do you want to tell us a littleabout that?
Lena Wilson (11:23):
Yeah, so I had fun not just listening to science
around ASHS conference, but Ialso took the opportunity to run
around with a recorder and getsome snippets about what people
uh were thinking at theconference.
(11:43):
So we'll hear those, I believe,later in this episode.
And I'm really excited for youall to kind of feel like you
were at the conference, whetheryou were there in person or not.
Curt Rom (11:55):
Lena, I appreciate you getting those.
It'll be interesting to hearwhat others had to say about the
conference.
So let maybe we should listento a few of them.
Amanda Lee Walters (12:03):
Hello, my name is Amanda Lee Walters.
I'm a PhD candidate at theUniversity of Arkansas in the
horticulture department, with myadvisor being Dr.
Amanda McWort.
Uh generally, when I'mlistening to podcasts, I'm
either doing data entry, dataanalysis, or I'm in the lab for
my N15 project.
Christopher Vincent (12:21):
Uh my name is Christopher Vincent.
I am an environmentalphysiologist working on citrus
at the University of Florida.
So, what scientific things do Ido related while I listen to
podcasts?
My favorite thing to do is tois to work on figures.
So that's something thatdoesn't quite acquire require
(12:43):
quite so much mental energy so Ican still listen to what's
being said uh while get gettingsome stuff done so I can refine
my figures and stuff while I'mlistening to a podcast.
My name is Nathan Marn.
Nathan Maren (12:54):
I'm a woody plant reader and genomics specialist
at the Morton R Readham.
And uh when I'm listening topodcasts, I'm usually uh doing
tissue culture, uh usuallymicropropagation, uh, and uh
been doing a fair amount ofparonia propagation lately.
Nicole (13:12):
My name is Nicole.
I am a graduate researchassistant at Iowa State
University.
I like to listen to podcastswhile grinding my tissue samples
for tissue nutrient analysis.
Jacob Frederick (13:21):
I'm Jacob Frederick.
Uh I'm a graduate researchassistant at the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville.
And I like to listen topodcasts while I do my
phytonutrient extractions.
Oksana (13:32):
Hi, my name is Oksana.
Um I am a graduate student atCornell University doing uh
apple cider research.
And my favorite thing to dowhile listening to a podcast is
processing, weighing, andmeasuring all my apples.
Anne Gahagan (13:47):
This is Anne-Marika Hagen.
I'm a master student at theUniversity of Georgia, studying
under Dr.
Patrick Connor, and I came toAHHS because I wanted to see
what new things is going on inhorticulture and how people are
working together to findresearch to help feed the world.
Reece Brock (14:01):
My name is Reese Brock.
I'm a master student under Dr.
Margaret Worthington, workingin the fruit breeding and
genetics at the University ofArkansas.
And I came to this conferenceto see what everyone else is
working on around the country.
Patrick Friesen (14:13):
All right, my name is Patrick Friesen.
I'm the plant scientist ofBiochambers.
Uh what brought us to thisconference?
Well, we've been attending thisconference year after year for
a long time now.
Uh it's great for a number ofreasons.
So catching up with oldcustomers, uh, hearing their
concerns firsthand, um, keepingabreast of the latest science,
(14:33):
especially for me as a plantscientist.
Uh for example, this year Iattended an awesome session on
uh tree grafting from my ownpersonal yard, um and uh you
know found some cool stuff aboutuh kale and and white sage,
which I'm also into umpersonally and professionally.
It's a great conference.
Pedro Rojas Barros (14:54):
My name is Pedro Rojas Barros.
I'm a postdoctoral researcherat Washington State University.
And what brought me here tothis conference is the people,
it's a huge community ofscientists and peers that uh I
always have such a great timeand learn a lot of things from
different researchers.
Stephanie Wigman (15:13):
I'm Stephanie Wigman from Utah State
University.
I'm an undergraduate.
And for this conference, it wasreally cool to present my
poster and also learn more abouthorticulture in general.
I'm a biology student, so Idon't get to hear as much about
plants, which was super excitingto connect with this whole
community that was interested.
Christina Harms (15:34):
I'm Christina Harms with South Dakota State
University as a master's studentunder Dr.
Christine Lang.
I'm at the ASHS conference fornetworking, but also to
understand a bit more about thehorticultural world and
influence that it has across thenation throughout the USA as a
student with a design degree formy undergrad.
Getting into the horticulturalworld has been a bit of an
(15:56):
adventure, especially into theplant science, which my master's
degree is currently under.
So being here has brought moreof a light to the opportunities
from both a research perspectiveand scientific perspective, but
also what horticulture is doingboth within Louisiana but
throughout the United States asa whole.
Randy Beaudry (16:13):
My name is Randy Baudry.
I'm a post-harvest physiologistat Michigan State University.
I decided to become an ASHSmember because my major
professor expected it.
And that's something like 40years ago.
And it was just part of whateverybody did as a graduate
student.
Your major professor was ahorticulturist, the major
professor was an ASHS member,and you were expected to be an
ASH member.
And I remember before I evenpublished my first paper, I was
(16:35):
invited to join an ASHS meetingdown in McCallan, Texas.
You can look it up, and it's along while back.
But I'm still an ASHS memberbecause I believe in the ethos
of a community, if that makessense, a scientific community,
and especially one likehorticulture, which is dedicated
towards uh developing newtechniques, I guess, so that
people continue to be fed in thefuture, that farmers are
(16:58):
profitable, and that we continueto move science forward because
the biology that happens inhorticulture is the same as
biology that happens inmolecular biology, etc., and all
these other fields that areassociated with production of
food.
And I believe in it, and Ithink that the next generation
should too, and so I'd like tosupport it.
Chris Gunter (17:15):
So my name is Chris Gunter.
I'm the chair of horticulturalsciences at the University of
Florida.
I became an ASHS member tolearn more about research, meet
new people working inhorticulture, and present my
research data to a wideaudience.
Jimmy Larson (17:37):
And the reason that I'm an ASHS member is for
the discounts on conferences andpublishing.
John Ertle (17:44):
So I'm John Ertle.
I'm the plant physiologist atPP Systems.
So I became an ASH memberprobably about five years ago
when I was a grad student.
Um after my first time at theconference, actually the first
one was the virtual conference,and then Chicago is the next
time I was in person.
Um but it was such a greatcommunity.
Uh a lot of these people I'vegotten to know really well over
(18:06):
the last few years, and so Ilike to maintain my membership
and keep coming back year afteryear.
Um it's really just such agreat collection of scientists,
and I've made a lot of friendsthat now I keep up with outside
of just the conference uh fromall over uh the world now, which
is amazing.
And so it's been uh really,really cool uh to get involved
(18:26):
with these folks, stay up todate on research, uh, learn
about what people are workingon, find new ways to do science,
and uh explore a lot ofdifferent uh facets of plant
science that I never really knewabout before.
And so it's been just afantastic experience, and uh I
look forward to coming backevery year.
Curt Rom (18:44):
Well, that was interesting to hear those
experiences.
You know, uh that's part of thegood thing about a professional
society like the ASHS.
We get to interact with eachother, talk to each other, we
build our professional networkand our professional colleagues.
So, Lena, thanks for forgetting all of those.
(19:04):
You know, it's about time forus to be thinking about the next
conference.
I know that the last one wasjust two months ago, but it's
already time.
We'll be calling for uh programproposals and abstract
submissions, you know, withinthe next few months.
That's true.
Kurt, when where is the nextone going to be?
(19:26):
The next conference is gonna bein downtown Dallas, Texas.
So we get to go to DFW.
It'll be fun.
It's gonna be located right indowntown and real close to the
tram track, so you can be ableto go to some of the other
locations that are funentertainment districts around
town.
Uh it's a wonderful conferencehotel.
(19:48):
Uh and you know, it's a greatlocation horticulturally because
there is uh great horticulturein the area.
There are two botanic gardens.
There's the Dallas BotanicGarden, which is just a short
drive away.
And then if you take a littlelonger drive, about 15 or 20
miles, you can go over to FortWorth and go to the Fort Worth
Botanic Garden.
So there'll be a lot ofactivities.
(20:09):
Not to mention, not to forgetto mention, Texas barbecue.
We'll be able to have Texasbarbecue right downtown in
Dallas.
Sam Humphrey (20:19):
That sounds awesome.
Yeah, just to reiterate, okay,so the dates are August 3rd, 3
to 7 in Dallas, Texas, andregistration opens in January.
There is a very useful page,ashs.org slash page slash
deadlines, and all the deadlinesare there.
So we'll keep reminding you infuture episodes.
(20:39):
Um, but now is the time.
There's plenty of time, andthat's that's how I like it.
I like writing these things inadvance and getting all excited
about future conferences.
Curt Rom (20:50):
Yeah, on our ASHS website, there is a button that
says conferences, so just hitthat conference button.
You'll be able to find outabout the our previous
conferences as well as all theinformation as it starts to
develop about the futureconference.
So ashs.org slash conferences.
Sam Humphrey (21:09):
Lena, do you plan to go to future ASHS
conferences?
Lena Wilson (21:13):
I sure hope I can.
You know, this was my firstASHS conference, but I have a
feeling it might not be my last.
Sam Humphrey (21:22):
Goodness, I hope not.
That'd be awesome to see you inperson.
Lena, if you ever go to futureASHS conferences, is there
anything that you think youwould do differently?
Lena Wilson (21:32):
You know, one thing that was a little tricky about
the ASHS conference was that itwas so long and there were
certain people who stay for thewhole thing, but sometimes
people don't quite stay for thewhole thing.
So I would get a littleorganized before the conference.
And if there are people that Iwanted to catch, I would
(21:56):
organize in advance to uh maybegrab lunch or dinner with them.
Um because that week passes byso fast, and uh you might just
might miss that person.
Sam Humphrey (22:09):
That's a great point.
I'm gonna have to reach out toyou, Lena.
I'll have to reach out extraearly so I can catch you before
you schedule with everyone else.
Lena Wilson (22:17):
Sounds good, Sam.
Curt Rom (22:18):
Yeah, and Sam, maybe we ought to have Lena as our
researcher.
She could do research on thebest place for us to meet and
eat.
Meet, greet, neat.
Lena, that sounds like a goodthat's a research question for
our team.
Lena Wilson (22:32):
Well, that sounds great.
You know, I love to researchabout science, but I also love
to research about newrestaurants.
So that sounds pretty fun.
Sam Humphrey (22:42):
Lena, thank you so much for coming on today.
You have been behind the sceneson this podcast team for like
three years now, uh, maybe evenmore than that.
And we're just so lucky to haveyou, and I'm I'm really happy
that our listeners get to hearyour voice today.
Thank you for coming.
Lena Wilson (23:00):
Yeah, it's been fun to be on here.
Thanks, Kurt, and thank you,Sam.
Curt Rom (23:04):
Yeah, and Lena, thanks for sharing your observations
and experiences.
You know, Sam wasn't there, butbut now he's got a taste for
what it was like, and I'm gladyou could share those
experiences.
Thanks a lot.
Sam Humphrey (23:18):
Thank you.
That was an awesome interview.
Curt Rom (23:23):
Yeah, I thought that was really fun.
I was really happy that we gotto bring Lena, part of our
production team, on to speak.
She's the brains behind the theoutfit, but it was really good
to hear her voice, and I reallyenjoyed her perspectives on the
conference as a first-timeattender and as a young
scientist.
Absolutely.
Sam Humphrey (23:44):
Yeah, and the fact that she has been to other
conferences before, but this washer first one that was so big.
Um, that was really cool tohear.
Curt Rom (23:55):
And she hit it out of the ballpark.
She uh placed first place inthe graduate student poster
competition.
So uh real evidence again, rocksolid researcher, and boy, I'm
glad she's on our podcast team.
Absolutely.
Sam Humphrey (24:12):
Yeah, I do wonder if she'll end up giving a
workshop next year.
Sometimes the winners of theseuh student awards are asked to
uh speak on what they did andyou know what they learned at
things like the ASHS workshops.
So um, or webinars, that's theword I'm looking for.
And so I do know there are afew of those um out there in the
(24:34):
ether.
Curt Rom (24:35):
Actually, they're on the ASHS uh uh webpage.
You can access them there forASHS members.
It's a real good benefit ofbeing a member of the ASHS.
And just like Lena, anotherreal important benefit of the
ASHS is our awards andrecognition programs.
So we recognize awards forvarious competitions for
(24:56):
undergraduate students, forscientific presentations for
graduate students, early careerprofessionals, as well as career
professionals.
So it really helps uh ASHSmembers and young horticultural
scientists and scholars developtheir skills, develop their
reputation, and help themadvance professionally.
Sam Humphrey (25:18):
But it was a great conference.
Oh, I bet it was, Curtin.
Do you have a favorite part?
I heard about you running.
Curt Rom (25:25):
Yeah, I ran the 5K and uh, you know, I I was I
finished it, which was reallygood.
Uh I I noticed that the winnerwho was less than half my age
was approximately one-third ofmy was one third of my age,
finished in about one-third ofmy time.
So I figured there was somemathematical symmetry in in all
(25:47):
of that.
But it was a very fun run.
I want to tell you, it was warmand humid.
It's 6 30 in the morning,running along the banks of the
Mississippi River in downtownNew Orleans.
It's something I will neverforget.
Sam Humphrey (26:03):
Oh, goodness.
I wonder if they'll dosomething like that next year.
I think this is the first timethey've done a run at an ASH
conference.
Curt Rom (26:10):
No, we've done it off and on for years.
I'm one of the proponents ofdoing it uh because it gets me
up and out, you know, in andit's a fun activity for us.
Uh the uh youngest person thatran was probably around 20 or 18
or 20, and the oldest personthat uh ran or walked was in
(26:33):
their 80s.
So it's a it's a good activityfor all of us that uh want to
get outside and move.
Uh so lots of fun.
But a great conference.
So what if if I'm interested inthe conference, what do I do?
Sam Humphrey (26:48):
Good question, Kurt.
If you're interested in theASHS conference this past year
or next year, go to the ASHS.orgwebsite and hit the conference
tab.
It's never too early to startplanning.
Um, and you can plan way aheadwith all the deadlines and
everything listed there.
We also have student travelgrants and all sorts of other
(27:09):
opportunities listed on thewebsite.
Notably, ASHS also holds anannual Graduate Student and
Careers Fair.
Uh they also have graduate andundergraduate student interest
groups and a series ofprofessional development and
social networking opportunities.
Curt Rom (27:27):
There are discount registration for ASHS members.
So I highly recommend yourenewing your membership or
joining the ASHS, the AmericanSociety for Horticulture
Science.
You can do that today with justa few clicks on the button on
the webpage.
When you do that, you can thentake part of some interest
groups that Lena participatedin, like the Phomology Working
(27:50):
Group, interest group, the fruitbreeding interest group, and
the graduate student interestgroup.
If you would like moreinformation, go to the website
American Society of HorticultureScience ASHS dot org.
Do that today.
Okay, I think that wraps us up.
This is Kurt Rome and SamsonHumphrey.
(28:13):
Thank you for joining Plants,People, and Science.
The ASHS podcast, Plants,People in Science, is made
possible by member dues andvolunteerism.
Please go to ashs.org to learnmore.
If you're not already a memberof the ASHS, we invite you to
(28:35):
join.
ASHS is a not-for-profit, andyour donations are tax
deductible.
Sam Humphrey (28:42):
This episode is hosted by Samson Humphrey and
Kurt Rome.
Special thanks to our audioengineer, Andrew Sheldorf, our
research specialists, LenaWilson and Andrew Sheldorf, our
ASHS support team, Sarah Powelland Sally Murphy, and our
musician, John Clark.
Thanks for listening.
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