Horticulture Innovators

Krishna Bhattarai is an Assistant Professor of Controlled Environment Plant Breeding at Texas  A&M AgriLife Research and the Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University,  based in Dallas, Texas. He leads the Breeding for Controlled Environments program, focused on developing CEA-optimized cultivars through genetic discovery, high-throughput phenotyping, and genome-informed b...

Dr. Ahmed Darwish is an Assistant Professor of plant secondary metabolism at the Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University. He also serves as a member of the TAMU Faculty Advisory Council (FAC). He received his Ph. D. degree in Biochemistry from Hiroshima University, Japan, in 2015. He has excellent experience in isolating, characterizing, and testing phytochemicals from natur...

Dr. Lorenzo Rossi joined Texas A&M University in January 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Horticultural Plant Physiology, with 60% research, 30% teaching, and 10% service appointment. Before joining Texas A&M, he served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor at a University of Florida off-campus research center, where he began in 2018 and earned tenure in 2024. Motivated by a desire...

Dr. Teresa Capell is a Principal Investigator within the Agricultural Biotechnology Group at the UdL, since 2004. She became a full professor in 2011. Dr Capell is also an associate researcher of the CERCA Center, AGROTECNIO. She has been the PI of 5 different national projects since 2004. She discovered and developed a novel approach to engineer complex multistep metabolic pathways in plants exem...

Dr. Heath Mills (Co-I): Dr. Heath J. Mills is an extreme environment microbial ecologist with academic degrees from Duke University and the Georgia Institute of Technology and has held two faculty positions at Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. As the current Chief Scientific Officer for Rhodium Scientific, he leads initiatives to expand terrestrial and space research capaciti...

Dr. Masabni earned his PhD in 1998 at Michigan State University. He joined the University of Kentucky in 2002 as the fruit and vegetable specialist. In 2008, he joined the department of Horticultural Sciences as the Extension Vegetable Specialist. His service appointment extends to homeowners, beginning farmers, County Extension Agents, and Master Gardeners. He conducts research and demonstration...

Aidan Souder is currently a Senior majoring in Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University. Throughout his undergraduate studies, he has set out to explore a wide range of topics in horticulture. Some of his favorites include research in genetic engineering, courses in controlled environments, work in horticultural therapy, and internships related to the ornamental horticulture sector. Addi...

Undergraduate Education: B.S., Oenology, University of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences, Iasi, Romania Graduate Education: Ph. D., Oenology, Brock University, St. Catherine's, Canada M.S., Agricultural Management, University of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences, Iasi, Romania Areas of Expertise: Enology Sensory Science Professional Summary: Dr. Botezatu received her honors bachelor’s degree in...

A native of Orofino, Idaho, Shane had an early interest in wine and agriculture which led him to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Enology and Viticulture from Washington State University. Throughout his college years Shane worked in various winery cellars and upon graduation he decided to take his passion abroad. Shane spent three years gaining international winemaking experience in Canada, Western...

A graduate of Southwest Texas State University with a B.S. in Industrial Arts (1982), Troy Swift began his professional career in composite canoe and kayak manufacturing and repair, as well as aluminum and steel welding, instruction, and guiding. He later joined CFAN, a manufacturer of composite jet engine parts for GE engines, where he served from 1990 to 2016, ultimately holding the position of...

Stephan von Rundstedt is the co-founder of RoBo®Tec PTC GmbH and brings over 25 years of experience across the production and services industries. His expertise lies in business strategy and the development of innovative deep-tech solutions to sustainably transform agricultural production. With RoBo®Cut, a robot for fully autonomous in-vitro plant propagation, he and his wife and business partner,...

Jim Antwerp is a 1990 graduate of Texas A& M University with a B.S. in Horticulture with a study emphasis in horticulture of Wholesale Nursery Management and Production and a study emphasis outside horticulture in Business. Having a horticulture career that began with home gardening in youth, working later as nursery labor and subsequently rising in Nursery Management, he has served as Vice Pr...

Brad Abrameit is a 1994 and 1996 graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.S. and M.S. in Horticulture. He is the President at Magnolia Gardens Nursery. Brad leads all functions of the container(165 acres) and tissue culture division (20 acres), both strategically and tactically. He is charged with stabilizing, professionalizing, and preparing the business for growth. He is an executive leader...

Ockert Greyvenstein joined Ball Horticultural Company, in 2014 as plant breeder with PanAmerican Seed. A transplant from South Africa, he came to the US for graduate school, first earning his master's at Cornell, followed by a Ph. D. in plant breeding from Texas A&M University in 2013. Currently, he is the Regional Breeding Director based in Elburn, IL, overseeing breeding operations in I...

Anna Caroline Ball is Chairman and CEO of the 119-year-old Ball Horticultural Company, which specializes in all aspects of horticulture, including breeding, biotechnology, production, and marketing of hybrid flower seeds and other floriculture crops. Privately-held and now in its fourth generation of family management, Ball Horticultural Company has 4,000 employees and operates in over 20 countrie...

Dr. Haven Baker co-founded Pairwise and served as Chief Business Officer from 2017 to 2024. Under his leadership, Pairwise secured $ 110 M+ of funding, completed multiple crop development deals, and launched the first CRISPR product in North America. Haven is the former Senior Vice President / General Manager of Simplot Plant Sciences, where he led the team that launched the innovative, non-browni...

Prof. Arun Sharma received his Ph. D. in Life Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, in 1987 after carrying out work on the regulation of nitrate assimilation by phytochrome in the laboratory of Prof. Sudhir Sopory. He performed post-doctoral work with Dr. G. Kumar at the School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, in 1998 and at Wayne State University, Detroit, fro...

Ph. D. student Mason Marshall and undergraduate student Trishia Nguyen discuss what influenced their decision to pursue Horticulture as well as what they wish to accomplish in the future in the field of horticulture. Mason Marshall is a PhD student in the department of horticulture. He is from Odessa, Texas and ventured to Texas A&M in 2017 for his bachelor's degree in horticulture. Curre...

Kait Thornton, 4th generation apple and pear grower from Tonasket, Washington. Along with college classes, fruit sales, and work on the farm, Kait spends her time educating her over 450,000 followers across social media on farming and what it’s like to be a farmer!

Dr. Steve George is a Professor and Extension Horticulturist, and Landscape Horticulture Specialist since 1988 for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and is headquartered at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center in north Dallas.  Dr. George created the Earth-Kind® Environmental Landscape Management System and serves as the National Coordinator of the Earth-Kind® Rose Program.

Lisa Whittlesey is an employee of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and received her bachelor and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University in horticulture with an emphasis in education/curriculum development. Lisa serves as the program director for the JMG’s International Junior Master Gardener program which currently operates in all 50 states and has expanded internationally through...