Aren Phillips Greenhouse Systems Manager, Walters Gardens Thursday March 26th, at 3:30pm This presentation examines the practical implementation of digital technologies and AI in a commercial greenhouse operation. It will cover three case studies: automation systems for standardized production rates, vapor pressure deficit irrigation controls for precision environmental management, and 3D-printed plug tray design for…Read more about 2026 HLA Spring Seminar Series: Aren Phillips[Read More]
David Barbarash Associate Professor Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Purdue University Thursday February 26th, at 3:30pm or via Zoom. Decoding Human Behavior – AI and ML systems in the built environment This presentation will showcase and discuss research progress of a series of artificial intelligence and machine learning developments that can be used to observe, analyze,…Read more about 2026 HLA Spring Seminar Series: David Barbarash[Read More]
Olinger Lecture Mike Ciccarelli – Principal, Hoerr Schaudt Thursday, February 12, 5:30 PM – PFEN 241 Gardens are dynamic and change over time. They grow and mature, they go dormant and awaken, and they endure the wear and tear of people and the environment. At Hoerr Schaudt, we create living landscapes that stand the test…Read more about 2026 Olinger Lecture[Read More]
Phillip Ackerman-Leist Free Range Professor Foodshed Solutions, LLC (Principal) and UpTunket Farm (Co-Owner) Thursday February 5th, at 3:30pm This is a virtual only seminar via Zoom. Community Farms: Designing for Healthy Foods, Inclusivity, and Engagement While it’s not often that we have the opportunity to design a farm from scratch, diverse stakeholder collectives are increasingly…Read more about 2026 HLA Spring Seminar – Phillip Ackerman-Leist[Read More]
HLA Seminars Series will be in person with a Zoom option unless otherwise noted. Thursdays @ 3:30pm in HORT 117 Virtual and Hybrid Zoom January 29: Kadeem Gilbert – Michigan State University, Assistant Professor – Kellogg Biological Station February 5: Philip Ackerman-Leist –Foodshed Solutions LLC, Principal – UpTunket Farm ONLINE ONLY February 12: Olinger Lecture…Read more about HLA 2026 Spring Seminar Series[Read More]
Kadeem J. Gilbert PhD Assistant Professor Kellogg Biological Station, Department of Plant Biology Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior Program, Plant Resilience Institute, Michigan State University Thursday, January 29th, at 3:30pm, HORT 117 or via Zoom. Pigments and pH: Plant traits temper their interactions All plants must contend with numerous arthropod and microbial associates; thus, plants have…Read more about 2026 HLA Spring Seminar – Kadeem J. Gilbert, PhD[Read More]
Wenjing Guan Associate Professor Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University Thursday November 20th, at 3:30pm, HORT 117 or via Zoom Supporting Watermelon Industry in Indiana: Lessons from Ten Years of Research and Extension Indiana ranks among the leading watermelon-producing states in the United States, with production concentrated in a few counties in southern Indiana. In…Read more about 2025 HLA Fall Seminar – Wenjing Guan[Read More]
2025 HLA Fall Seminar Dennis Geoffrey Macedo Valdivia Professor and Co-director of the Arequipa Nexus Institute Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa, Peru Thursday November 6, at 3:30pm, HORT 117 or via Zoom. Soil Quality, Crop Safety, and Human Health: Organic Agriculture as a Model for the Colca Valley, Peru The Colca River Valley…Read more about HLA Fall 2025 Seminar – Dennis Geoffrey Macedo Valdivia[Read More]
Chad Evans Lecturer, Communications Department, Purdue University Thursday October 30th, at 3:30pm, HORT 117 or via Zoom Native American burning habits & further flora studies It is a frequent misnomer that southwestern Indiana was covered in dense forests in pre-European settlement times. Upon reviewing land survey records 1800-1805, I found there was more tallgrass prairie…Read more about HLA 2025 Fall Seminar – Chad Evans[Read More]
Laurie Leonelli Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Thursday October 16th, at 3:30pm, HORT 117 or via Zoom. Understories: Tales of Photosynthesis in the Shadows Enter, if you dare, into the shadowy underworld of crop plants—where sunlight is scarce, and photosynthesis fights to help…Read more about 2025 HLA Fall Seminar – Laurie Leonelli[Read More]