Mr. Dave N. Baskin, Head Orchid Grower - dbaskin@silvervase.com

Silver Vase, Inc. - Website: http://www.silvervase.com

David Baskin is employed by Silver Vase Inc. in Homestead, Florida. Silver Vase, Inc. prides itself in their state of the art facilities and their usage of I.P.M pest management. Both the Homestead and Canadian locations are computer controlled greenhouses of Dutch design, giving the growing staff an excellent environment for research and pest control. “I conceder myself and authority on orchids not because I know everything about them, just that I have killed more orchids than any other human while learning to grow them.”`

Dr. Martin Motes, President and Owner - Motes Orchids, Inc.                              vandas@mindspring.com    

Martin Motes and his wife Mary Motes run Motes Orchids, Inc., a nursery specializing in Vandas and allied genera, species, hybrids, and intergenerics.  Motes Orchids is one of the seven nurseries, which make up the Redland Professional Orchid Growers. They all share the common goal of providing customers with accurately labeled, disease-free stock. The association was formed with the intent of promoting this rigid standard of quality control.

Dr. Robert (“Bob”) McMillan, Director of Research and Development - rmcmillan@kb-inc.com

Kerry’s Bromeliad Nursery, Inc. - Website: http://www.kb-inc.com

Dr. McMillan is a retired professor from TREC-UF, where he concentrated on conduct disease diagnostic services along with supporting research to develop necessary tools for enhancement of diagnosis. He has also conducted investigations on new plant diseases and causative organisms and on methods of control.  Dr. McMillan is currently working for Kerry’s Bromeliads on diagnosis and control of orchid diseases.

Dr. F. William (“Bill”) Zettler, Professor Emeritus - University of Florida           fwzettler@ifas.ufl.edu

My research involves the characterization, epidemiology, and control of viruses infecting ornamental plants (e.g., orchids, gladiolus, and dieffenbachia) and certain edible plants of the tropics (e.g., peanuts, taro, and cocoyam). I am especially interested in developing virus detection methods and control strategies that can be applied commercially. My studies include using tissue culture methods for large-scale production of pathogen-free stock and assessing the economic value of this technology for producing propagating material. I teach two courses in plant pathology: "General Plant Pathology" and "Plants, Plagues and People".

Mr. Scott Stewart, Ph.D. Graduate Student - University of Florida  - sstewart@ifas.ufl.edu

Scott was born and raised in a rural central Illinois town.  He earned his BS in biology and chemistry, as well as a BA in literature and writing in 2002 from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois.  As an undergraduate, Scott was heavily involved in undergraduate research with his advisor Larry Zettler, Ph.D.  Highlighting his undergraduate research career was work in support of the conservation and recovery of the federally threatened eastern prairie fringed orchid native to Illinois, and the reintroduction of the state endangered short-lipped ladies’-tresses here in Florida.  Currently, Scott is a doctoral candidate in the Environmental Horticulture Department at the University of Florida, as well as a founder and co-manager of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Native Orchid Propagation and Conservation Project.  His research interests include the growth and development of orchids, and the integrated conservation of native orchid species.

Dr. Yin-Tun Wang, Professor  - Texas A&M University - yt-wang@tamu.edu

Dr. Wang became a member of the graduate faculty at Texas A&M University in June 1986.  Dr. Wang's areas of research are production of horticultural and foliage plants and woody ornamentals; the effects of light level on growth, acclimatization, carbon physiology, photosynthesis and post harvest quality; fertilizer requirements; water demand and medium selection; soluble salt accumulation vs. plant growth; propagation; growth regulators and orchids.

Mark Whitten is a graduate of UF with a Ph.D. in botany and is now a Senior Biological Scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History.  His research interests include molecular phylogenetics and classification of orchids, orchid pollination, and the chemical ecology of orchids and euglossine bees.  His current research focuses on the evolution of floral rewards and pollination systems in tribe Maxillarieae, which contains about 10% of Orchidaceae.

Dr. Erik Runkle, Assistant Professor - Michigan State University -  runkleer@msu.edu

Dr. Runkle has a 50% Research, 50% Extension position in floriculture crop production in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University.  One of his major research thrusts is to improve our understanding of how environmental parameters (light and temperature) control growth and flowering of various orchid species. The overall goal is to develop commercial production schedules so that growers can predictably flower various orchids for sales at any time of the year.  He also works with growers to help implement some of his production research.  Erik and his graduate students and technicians perform research on other crops, including bedding plants, potted flowering crops, and herbaceous perennials, to improve production efficiency, understand environmental control of flowering, and regulate plant height.

Mr. Philip Kauth, Ph.D. Graduate Student - University of Florida - pkauth@ufl.edu

Philip Kauth grew up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, a small town on Lake Michigan.  He became interested in plants during his younger years, helping his parents in the vegetable and ornamental gardens.  As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he became interested in orchids during his plant taxonomy class. He also joined the Northeastern Wisconsin Orchid Society, and became involved with the Native Orchid Conservation Club within the society.  As a member of the society, Philip gained experience in growing native terrestrial orchids and also began to learn seed culture techniques.  Throughout college, Philip gained valuable research and field experience by researching potato genetics and breeding, as well as joining several native plant enthusiasts on plant hunting trips.  During his last year at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Philip decided to enroll in graduate school hoping to conduct native orchid research, which led him to Dr. Wagner Vendrame and Dr. Michael Kane at the University of Florida.  Philip recently finished his masters degree in horticultural sciences in the Environmental Horticulture Department at UF, concentrating on native orchid seed germination.  Philip is now in a PhD program and will continue to research native orchid seed germination and micropropagation.

Mr. Tim Johnson, Graduate Student - University of Florida -  timjohn@ifas.ufl.edu

Growing orchids was just a hobby of mine until I started applying for graduate schools. Then I realized that there were other orchid nerds in the world—a few of them gravitating towards Gainesville, Florida. There is still a lot of important research to be done with orchids, both in the commercial market and in restoration. Orchids are becoming commonplace in the home; they can be grown on the kitchen table, in the bathroom window or hanging from the back porch. The wholesale annual revenue of orchids in the U.S. is second only toPoinsettias, and the market is still growing.

Dr. Eric Christenson , Researcher - orchideric@juno.com

Dr. Christenson is a research taxonomist with strong interests in the Aeridinae (Sarcanthinae), neotropical floristics, and the conservation of horticultural plants. He authored a monograph of Phalaenopsis for the International Phalaenopsis Alliance (IPA) in 2001. He has done field work in both Guyana and French Guiana and authored the orchid treatment for the Vascular Flora of Central French Guiana. He is also actively assisting David Bennett of Lima, Peru, with a modern inventory of Peruvian orchids. To date they have published 800 illustrations as Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum, including more than 150 new distribution records and more than 100 new species from Peru. His bilingual florula Machu Picchu: Orchids was published in 2003. A prolific author of more than 300 publications, Dr. Christenson is known for his articles that attempt to bridge the gap between taxonomy and horticulture as well as his in-depth book reviews. He is a strong advocate for orchid conservation, particularly ex situ propagation, and actively works with commercial growers to that end.