News
Dr. Amanda Solliday Receives ASHS Kenneth Post Distinguished Achievement Award
August 12, 2026
The American Floral Endowment (AFE) is proud to congratulate Dr. Amanda Solliday, Senior Manager of Sustainabloom, on receiving the Floriculture Kenneth Post Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS).
Presented annually by the ASHS Floriculture Interest Group, the Kenneth Post Award recognizes an outstanding publication in the field of floriculture authored by a graduate student and their advisor(s). The award honors excellence in research and scholarship that contributes valuable knowledge to the floriculture industry.
Solliday received the award for her research paper, “Carbon Emissions in Production and Distribution Pathways of North Carolina’s Local Cut Flower Supply Chains,” published in HortScience, with coauthors Dr. Minliang Yang and Dr. Melinda Knuth of North Carolina State University.
The research examines greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and distribution of locally grown cut flowers, addressing an area that remains largely understudied. The findings highlight transportation and supply-chain logistics as key opportunities for reducing emissions and provide practical, data-driven insights to help advance sustainability throughout the floral industry. The study also translates those emissions into economic terms using the social cost of carbon, an approach that journal reviewers noted as a novel and meaningful contribution that helps illustrate the broader impacts of carbon emissions for growers and consumers.
“One of our main goals with this paper was to take the carbon footprint, something that feels quite abstract, and turn it into recommendations that flower growers and other floral businesses can run with and make the best choices for their communities and the environment,” said Solliday.
Receiving the Kenneth Post Award recognizes both the quality of Solliday’s research and its relevance to the floriculture community. Selected from a competitive pool of nominations by her academic peers within the ASHS Floriculture Professional Interest Group, the honor highlights both the technical excellence of the paper and the importance of its contributions to today’s floral industry.
Having received her PhD in May 2026, Solliday now brings that research background and commitment to industry advancement to her work as Senior Manager of Sustainabloom, an industry-wide sustainability initiative supported by AFE. Sustainabloom provides floral businesses with research-driven resources and educational tools to help them understand and implement more sustainable practices.
“We are incredibly proud to see Amanda’s research and dedication recognized by her peers,” said Debi Chedester, CAE, Executive Director of AFE. “Her ability to connect rigorous research with the practical needs of the floral industry is a tremendous asset not only to AFE and Sustainabloom, but for the floral industry. This award is a well-deserved recognition of her contributions to our field.”
AFE congratulates Solliday, Yang, and Knuth on this distinguished recognition and their contribution to advancing floriculture research.
