Requesting Input for Young Professionals Seeking Careers in Our Industry and Academia

 AFE’s Young Professionals Council (YPC) wants to hear from you!Feedback from experienced industry members is vital for AFE’s Young Professionals Council and other new graduates as they navigate their early careers and decide on a path for their futures. These surveys will provide critical insights that we will compile, summarize, and provide as a resource to young professionals interested in entering academic careers. These surveys are fully anonymous. Tell us about your career experience! Take ONE of the two 5-minute surveys below based on your current career and share with your network.  Do you have an industry career in floriculture or horticulture? Take Industry Career SurveyDo you have an academic career in floriculture or horticulture?Take Academic Career Survey About YPCAFE’s Young Professionals Council offers leadership and…

Young Professionals Experience at Cultivate’21

From left to right: Xuan(Jade) Wu – Texas A&M, Melinda Knuth – University of Florida, Yiyun Lin – The Ohio State University, Kaylee South – The Ohio State University, Erin Pfarr – Rutgers, Megan Bowman – Ball Horticultural Company and the AFE’s Board of Trustees YPC LiaisonCultivate, organized by AmericanHort, is one of the largest international horticulture industry events that attracts thousands of industry professionals and visitors from all 50 states and over 30 countries. This year, Cultivate’21 ran from Saturday, July 10 to Tuesday, July 13, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. The American Floral Endowment was pleased to support young professionals attending the event by hosting a Young Professionals Council meetup to further encourage growth within our industry.Yiyin Lin of…

AFE is Working for the Industry – Today and Tomorrow

In these unprecedented times, we hope that you are—and remain—safe and healthy. We know that the stress, anxiety and uncertainty is taking a toll on you, your family and floral businesses in ways we can’t even fathom. We want you to know that in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, the American Floral Endowment (AFE) is working for the industry.We’re still serving the industry. AFE remains deeply committed to you and everyone in the industry. The Board of Trustees and staff are working behind the scenes to make sure funding for research, grants, scholarships and internships are available to fulfill AFE’s mission, and provide the industry with necessary resources.For nearly 60 years, AFE has provided solutions to industry challenges through…

AFE Launches Career Center for the Floral Industry

The American Floral Endowment (AFE) has launched a new industry-wide Career Center to connect floral industry employers with job seekers, students, and other professionals pursuing careers in the floriculture and horticulture fields.Within the new AFE Career Center’s intuitive platform, powered by YM Careers, employers can easily post job opportunities, screen and manage applications, and access a resume database of targeted candidates.  Job seekers will find it equally easy to post their resume and search for jobs and/or internships that match their skills and interests. The platform is completely mobile-responsive ― users can access it anytime, anywhere.“Finding qualified, dedicated employees is one of the greatest challenges facing the floriculture industry. The Endowment maintains close connections with students, young professionals, floral businesses, and horticulture…

My SNA and MANTS Experiences

By YPC Member, Mary LewisOn occasion, graduate students are released from their offices and classrooms and allowed to attend events with people from our industry. For me, the first event of the year is the SNA/MANTS conference and trade show.SNA, or the Southern Nursery Association, is an intimate event that takes place two days before MANTS (Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show) starts. SNA’s purpose is to provide a space and time to provide training, presentation of research, predict economic forecasts for the new year, highlight the new and unusual plant material, and build community amongst nurserymen and related industry leaders.After those two days, things begin to get hectic. Fun little fact, MANTS celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, and crowds reflected…

Scholar Ignite Competition at ASHS 2019 Annual Conference

By Yiyun Lin, YPC Member This July, at the annual conference of American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS), 60 graduate students participated at the Scholar Ignite Competition. This competition was a great opportunity for graduate students to talk about their research to a general audience that shared an interest in horticulture. In the competition, the students were given three minutes to present with a single slide. The students were judged by five different judges based on their communication styles, the comprehension of their talks, their inspiration/engagement/outreach ability, the impact of their research, and the slide content. The competition presented us with a collection of current horticulture research and was hosted on a nice evening in Las Vegas. As much as…

My First Experience with the NFF

By YPC Member, Yiyun Lin My first time at NFF was a fantastic experience. The meeting began with a tour of the Chicago Botanic Garden, showing us its unique landscape, incredible design, newly renovated greenhouse space, as well as a first look at their seasonal orchid show that included around 50 different species. It was an educational experience to learn about the garden’s history, their ongoing research projects, and the breeding programs that contribute to both the garden and the industry. Following the tour, the meeting began with talks focusing on future and young faculty. Attendees from various backgrounds shared valuable advice and experiences, providing me with knowledge that will assist in my future career. As graduate students, we were…

Awaken: My AIFD 2019 Experience

By Martha Aaron, 2019 Recipient of AFE’s Arizona Retail Florist Education Travel Grant An experience of a lifetime, not only for myself but for three of my team members as well. While only two of the members actually attended conference classes with me, our shop wedding coordinator and designer. The third, our sales associate, became inspired so much so, that we are now working towards her becoming a designer as well! Held within the gorgeous backdrop of the Paris Hotel in sunny Las Vegas, the sophisticatedly styled ballrooms were lavishly adorned in Parisian flair, gold accents, and intricate crown molding was the perfect backdrop for this fabulous conference. Our journey began Sunday night, once settled we wandered the halls of the…

YPC Member Receives Second-Place at ASHS

Nathan NordstedtGraduate Research AssociateThe Ohio State UniversityCollege of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental SciencesDepartment of Horticulture and Crop SciencesReport by Nathan NordstedtYoung Professionals Council, AFEThanks to the generous support of the American Floral Endowment and the Gus Poesch Fund, I had the opportunity to present my research at the 2018 American Society of Horticultural Science Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities this meeting has provided to my developing professional career.I began my time at the meeting by attending the ASHS Strategic Career Planning seminar. This seminar provided beneficial insights from academic and industry leaders to my own professional development. Throughout the meeting, I was presented with a multitude of networking opportunities, engaged in conversations about research…

YPC Member Receives First Place at ASHS

Last month, during the 2018 American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) conference held in Washington, D.C., Sadikshya Sharma, received first place in the Graduate Student Poster competition at the master’s Level.Her poster illustrated the studies she has done on the “Effects of Narrow Bandwidth Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) on Petunia and Spathiphyllum.”“My research with LEDs helps in building a foundation for further combining different LEDs and optimizing light quality in commercial propagation and production industry. This would ultimately reduce the cost for the lights used in propagation and production of petunia and spathiphyllum,” says Sadikshya.She is a graduate student in the Department of Environmental Horticulture, at the University of Florida where her adviser is Dr. Thomas Colquhoun.We want to congratulate Sadikshya,…

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