Speakers
Evan Alderman
Evan Alderman is a Co-Coordinator and Extension Specialist with the Iowa State University Pesticide Safety Education Program. Evan produces training and continuing instruction course materials for applicators throughout Iowa in many of the specialty crop categories. Evan has a background in turfgrass management, with a B.S. in Horticulture with an emphasis in Turfgrass Management from Iowa State University, and an M.S. in Horticulture with an emphasis in Turfgrass Science from Kansas State University.
Roger Becker
Roger Becker is a Weed Scientist/State Extension Specialist in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota. He grew up on a diversified farm in southwest Iowa. He first joined Extension as an Extension Associate at Iowa State University in 1978. He then worked in product development with Monsanto (now Bayer) from 1982 to 1987, finally ending up in Extension at the University of Minnesota in 1987. Currently he develops weed management strategies in annual and perennial plant systems in disturbed and undisturbed habitats. Examples include management of purple loosestrife in wetlands; garlic mustard and buckthorn in woodlands, leafy spurge and Canada thistle in native prairies and rights-of-way; and management of the invasive knotweed complex.
Kory Beidler
After growing up in Pennsylvania, Kory’s career began in San Diego, CA after completing a landscape contracting degree from Penn State University. After climbing the corporate ladder for a while, a new passion for training and development led Kory to Iowa State University where he earned both an MS in horticulture and an MBA. Kory then went on to hold multiple leadership positions with several landscape maintenance providers and for three years, served as Chair for NALP’s National Collegiate Landscape Competition. Today Kory works for Aspire, a software company that provides business management solutions.
Jen Bousselot
Jennifer Bousselot, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Horticulture in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University. Jen and her graduate students study green roof plant-pollinator interactions, green roof system stormwater capture, rooftop agriculture, and the integration of solar panels on green roofs, also known as rooftop agrivoltaics. See her TEDx talk on Rooftop Agrivoltaics at https://youtu.be/pobj34HuHO8. Jen is the Editor of the North American academic green roof and wall journal, the Journal of Living Architecture. She is the Research Chair on the Board of Directors for the North American green roof trade organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and on the Board of Directors for High Plains Environmental Center in Loveland, Colorado. Jen is an accredited Green Roof Professional and coordinates the Colorado Regional Center for Excellence in Living Architecture, both designated by the Green Infrastructure Foundation. Jen was on the 2018 City of Denver Green Roof Task Force and is on the Technical Advisory Committee for the city’s Green Building Ordinance. Due to her expertise in green roofing, Jen regularly consults on the design, installation, and maintenance of green roofs, primarily in the western US. Jen has co-authored over 25 peer reviewed publications since 2010 with most related to green roofs, local foods, and native plants. She is co-author of three books and working on the forth including the Colorado Native Plant Society published 3rd edition of Common Southwestern Native Plants, she updated the Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico 3rd edition, contributed to two chapters in the book Ecoregional Green Roofs, and is currently working on updating a new edition of Trees and Shrubs of Colorado.
Scott Carlson
Scott Carlson lives in Eldridge, Iowa. He is the lead instructor and lead consultant for Iowa Arborist Consulting. He teaches on tree topics at tree care companies, municipalities, arboretums and colleges. He has assisted dozens to become ISA Certified Arborists. He also provides consultations, tree risk assessments, tree appraisal, inventories, and legal expert witness services.
Linda Chalker-Scott
Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. She is currently the editor for WCISA’s Western Arborist magazine.
Linda also is the award-winning author of five books and is featured in The Science of Gardening, produced by The Great Courses. Linda’s educational contributions to science-based information have been recognized by such groups as Garden Communicators International, the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, and ISA.
Scott Clark
Scott Clark worked as nursery extension specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension for 19 years. During that time he was responsible for developing a research program to provide solutions to problems facing the nursery/landscape industry on Long Island, organize educational programs, and serve as liaison with local professional horticultural organizations. In 2006, Scott left Extension to become a partner in a 17-acre nursery specializing in container-grown herbaceous perennials, ferns, grasses, and woody plants. Scott earned his MS degree in Horticulture from Penn State University and in his spare time enjoys hanging out with bats…the flying kind.
Andy Dahl
Andy Dahl has been involved in Arboriculture for over 30 years and has been the University of Iowa’s Campus Arborist for 23 years, he and the three man forestry crew are responsible for the care and upkeep of over 8,000 trees in maintained areas of campus. Andy is an International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist and municipal specialist. He has been awarded True Professional of the Year by the ISA, Award of Merit by the Midwest ISA, and Professional of the year by the Iowa Urban and Community Forestry Council.
Andy enjoys watching both of his daughter’s sporting and musical endeavors, he does not enjoy hearing their groans or seeing their eye rolling when he drags them to a new tree discovery they just have to see….
Michael Dosmann
Dr. Michael Dosmann is only the second Keeper of the Living Collections in the 150-year history of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the first being Ernest Henry Wilson. He directs all facets of curating the Arnold’s world-renowned collection of temperate woody plants, and has conducted collecting expeditions throughout East Asia and North America. He oversees Arnoldia, the Arboretum’s quarterly magazine, and frequently writes for it and other publications. His research spans the horticultural improvement to the conservation biology of woody plants, as well as the history of horticulture. He lectures about these and other topics frequently, including at past Shade Tree Short Courses. Among other honors, he is a graduate of Iowa State University’s horticulture program (MS in 1998), and the recipient of the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration.
Josh Galiley
Scott Clark worked as nursery extension specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension for 19 years. During that time he was responsible for developing a research program to provide solutions to problems facing the nursery/landscape industry on Long Island, organize educational programs, and serve as liaison with local professional horticultural organizations. In 2006, Scott left Extension to become a partner in a 17-acre nursery specializing in container-grown herbaceous perennials, ferns, grasses, and woody plants. Scott earned his MS degree in Horticulture from Penn State University and in his spare time enjoys hanging out with bats…the flying kind.
Justin Glisan
Dr. Glisan has an extensive background in atmospheric and climatological research, with expertise in the analysis of extreme temperature and precipitation events. He earned his B.S. (2005) and M.S. (2007) in meteorology at the University of Missouri, where he concentrated on droughts and heat waves. In 2012, he completed his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University with a research concentration on the dynamical causal mechanisms of precipitation and temperature extremes. While at Iowa State University, his research had a strong academic collaboration across a broad range of federally funded projects. His work experience includes advanced atmospheric research techniques, large data machine learning, and statistical analysis.
As State Climatologist of Iowa, his responsibilities include quality control of Iowa weather observations, weekly recommendations to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and weekly and monthly climate summaries for state stakeholders. Iowa weather and climate observations go back to 1872 and represent the history of weather across the state. These observations help tell the story of Iowa agriculture and how resilient and innovative the state’s farmers are and have been. Looking at how trends in precipitation and temperature are changing and applying this climatological analyses through the lens of agriculture is also a very important part of the position. Dr. Glisan advises the Secretary of Agriculture on climatological matters impacting the agricultural sector.
Graham Herbst
Graham Herbst is a native Nebraskan, graduate of the horticulture program at UNL, and holds a Master’s degree in urban studies from UNO. After working in the landscape and arboriculture industries, he moved to the Nebraska Forest Service to promote innovative urban forestry projects as the Community Forestry Specialist for eastern Nebraska. Graham loves growing trees and gardening, connecting people and information through social media, and exploring each corner of the state.
Kent Honl
Kent Honl performs research and technical training for Rainbow Treecare in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where he has worked since 1994. Kent also serves as Adjunct Faculty in Arboriculture at Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist residing in Minneapolis. Kent enjoys gardening, woodworking, and paddling canoe and kayak in his free time.
Laura Jesse Iles
Laura directs the North Central IPM Center. She earned her MS and Ph.D. degrees in entomology from Iowa State University. As part of the Iowa IPM Team, Laura provides training on identification and management of insects in the broad areas of commercial and consumer horticulture, biological control, and invasive insect management.
Andrew Koeser
In reviewing past research on the fate of urban trees during storms, two things become apparent; (1) most mature trees have multiple visual defects, and (2) most mature trees survive wind events (even Category 1 hurricanes) unscathed. This work draws on findings from Dr. Salisbury’s international literature review as well as a growing number of post-storm evaluations conducted by our lab (including last year’s hurricane Ian). Our goal was to determine which tree defects outlined in industry BMP’s actually predicted tree failure. In this webinar we will note which tree defects were most commonly associated with tree failure and which defects consistently failed to predict storm damage.
Andrew Koeser is an Associate Professor of Urban Tree and Landscape Management at a University of Florida research center in the Tampa Bay area. Andrew has an active research program in trees and storms, biomechanics, urban tree diversity, and trees and development. Andrew serves as Vice President for the Florida Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture and provides a range of educational programs for the state’s arborists and urban foresters. Andrew is a father of four and enjoys cycling, martial arts, photography, and his basset hound, Chewbarka.
Lynn Kuhn
Lynn wears many hats; wife, mother of 3 teenage boys, brand manager, founder, entrepreneur, and soon-to-be author. As a landscape architect and certified nursery professional, she has spent the last 25 years creating outdoor spaces that are beautiful, functional, and intentionally designed to meet clients’ needs. Her specialty is creating outdoor environments where conversations can flow and relationships can grow.
Chris Luley
Dr. Luley has been providing urban forestry consulting services throughout his 40+ year career in urban forestry, pathology, and arboriculture. His degrees are from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry (BS-Botany) (MS-Forest Pathology) and Iowa State University. He managed the Plant Diagnostic Clinic for Iowa State for four years and was the State Forest Pathologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation before returning to New York.
Dr. Luley has over 70 technical research and popular press articles in publication and four books in press. He recently created treerot.com to help arborists identify the common wood decay fungi on living trees. He received the R. W. Harris Author’s Award from the International Society of Arboriculture in 2015, the Brian Skinner Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 from New York State Arborists, and the Author’s Award from Midwest Chapter of ISA in 2023.
Brandon Miller
Brandon Miller is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota and Curator of Plant Collections at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Brandon received both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in horticulture from Iowa State University. He received his PhD from Cornell University where he conducted research on hickories with the Urban Horticulture Institute. His research and extension programs aim to support the introduction of novel nursery crops and underutilized landscape selections for use in the Upper Midwest.
Robert Northrop
Robert Northrop is an extension forester for the University of Florida. The focus of his work involves teaching forest ecology and conservation science to natural resource and landscape design professionals; providing conservation planning assistance to local and state governments; and applied research into the changing character and ecological function of the urban and urbanizing forest within the Tampa Bay Watershed. Before moving to Florida in 2004, he was a watershed forester for the Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Restoration Program; an advisor on trees and forests for the Maryland Office of the Governor; and taught wildlife management at the University of Delaware.
Riley Rouse
Riley Rouse is an ISA Certified Arborist who works as a research technician in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University. She holds a B.S. in Natural Resources Management from Grand Valley State University and a M.S. in Horticulture from Michigan State University. Her thesis research, titled “Improving establishment of container-grown deciduous shade trees”, investigated survival, physiology, growth, and root response of container-grown trees to shaving and bare-rooting prior to planting. In her current position, she continues to explore responses of container-grown trees to root modification as well as managing a container research nursery and performing research and extension efforts for the Michigan Christmas tree industry.
Carrie Tauscher
Carrie is the arboretum director for Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work experiences include time at the Morton Arboretum and with Indiana DNR Forestry. She is an ISA certified arborist with Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. She earned bachelors degrees from Iowa State University in both horticulture and landscape architecture.
Chris Thompson
Chris is President and founder of Just Add Water, a water feature construction and maintenance company based in Ankeny, IA. Since 2004, his company has built over 500 water features and serviced countless more in central Iowa. Installations range from one-day entry level fountain-scapes to large residential and commercial multi-month interactive streams and pondscapes. Chris’s favorite part of the job is witnessing the impact a water feature has on the lives of his clients.
Adam Thoms
Adam is an Associate Professor in the Iowa State University Department of Horticulture specializing in commercial turfgrass management. Adam earned his B.S. degree from Iowa State University, and both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tennessee. His research interests include golf, athletic field performance and safety, residential, commercial, and municipal turf applications, and sustainable turfgrass management.
Mark Vitosh
Since 2000 Mark Vitosh has been the District Forester for the Iowa DNR/Wildlife Bureau in Eastern Iowa. He assists private landowners and communities in managing their forest resources in Johnson, Linn, Muscatine, Benton, Poweshiek, Jasper, and Iowa counties.
Edward Zaworski
Ed Zaworski received his master degree in plant pathology here at ISU in 2014. Since graduating, Ed has worked in the ISU plant and insect diagnostic clinic and is well versed in plant disease diagnostics. In recent years, Ed has also begun hosting a podcast title “I See Dead Plants”, where plant pest management topics of all types are discussed.
Weston Zimmerman
Weston Zimmerman grew up in the green industry, with boots-on-the-ground experience in working in a successful landscape business in central PA. He led the team to the Aquascape Artist of the Year award in 2017.
There was a long journey to overcome the challenges of knowing your numbers and being profitable as that business grew over the years. Weston was particularly passionate about evaluating kinks in workflows and looking for ways to make everyone’s life a bit easier. And so, in 2016 the hustle and grind started to build a software platform that automates knowing numbers and simplifying daily workflows. Through this, Weston is on a mission to help landscape and hardscape businesses realize their potential and enable their prosperity.