CTAHR was well represented at the American Society of Horticultural Science (ASHS) meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite late-July temperatures that exceeded 100 degrees on four of the five days they were at the conference, an impressive array of students, faculty, and Extension agents shared and increased their knowledge with like-minded scholars and professionals from all over the country.
TPSS was amply represented by Tessie Amore, Orville Baldos, Todd Anderson, Alyssa Cho, Rosemary Gutierrez, Colin Hart, Andrea Kawabata, James Keach, Kent Kobayashi, Susan Miyasaka, Kauahi Perez, Joshua Silva, Kylie Tavares, Emily Teng, Peter Toves, Jaclyn Uy, Jensen Uyeda, and Sharon Motomura Wages. Lindsey Okumura and Aimee Taniguchi ably offered the PEPS perspective. The CTAHR attendees presented posters or oral talks, served as session moderators, and served in leadership positions on various ASHS committees or interest groups.
The diverse array of topics they discussed included tropical crops such as anthuriums, cacao, coffee, ginger, macadamia nuts, mamaki, plumeria, sweetpotato, taro, and turmeric; management practices, including Integrated Pest Management, automated irrigation, or micropropagation; and tropical soils.
Best of all, Alyssa Cho from the Komohana Research Station won the ASHS Early Career Competition! This competition provides a platform for new faculty and horticultural professionals to communicate the impact of their teaching, outreach, and scholarly activities by helping facilitate peer-reviewed publication of their Extension, teaching, and/or research works. Congratulations, Alyssa!
With all this CTAHR star power, Las Vegas must indeed be the 9th Hawaiian island!