January 22, 2024 • 15 mins
We usher in a new era of the Plants People Science podcast with Curt Rom of the University of Arkansas joining Sam Humphrey as a Co-Host for Season 2. Rom's wealth of knowledge, from his roots as an undergraduate research assistant to his career in teaching and research, is set to invigorate our discussions with fresh insights. This episode introduces Curt with a discussion of his academic journey and explores his work and his contributions to the American Society for Horticultural Science.
Learn more about the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) at https://ashs.org/.
HortTechnology, HortScience and the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science are all open-access and peer-reviewed journals, published by the American Society of Horticultural Science (ASHS). Find them at journals.ashs.org.
Consider becoming an ASHS member at https://ashs.org/page/Becomeamember!
You can also find the official webpage for Plants, People, Science at ashs.org/plantspeoplesciencepodcast, and we encourage you to send us feedback or suggestions at https://ashs.org/webinarpodcastsuggestion.
Podcast transcripts are available at https://plantspeoplescience.buzzsprout.com.
On LinkedIn find Sam Humphrey at linkedin.com/in/samson-humphrey. Curt Rom is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/curt-rom-611085134/. Lena Wilson is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-wilson-2531a5141/.
Thank you for listening!
...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sam Humphrey (00:12):
Hello, welcome to Plants People Science, a podcast
by the American Society forHorticultural Science where we
talk about all thingshorticulture.
Today is a very special shortepisode because I'll be
introducing someone who's beenon the podcast team for a while
now behind the scenes and who'snow stepping into the role of
being my co-host, kurt Roem.
(00:32):
Welcome to the podcast.
Curt Rom (00:34):
Good morning Sam.
It's nice to be here.
Sam Humphrey (00:38):
Could you take a minute to introduce yourself?
Curt Rom (00:40):
Sure, it's a delight to introduce myself.
As you said, I'm Curt Rom.
I'm a professor of horticultureat the University of Arkansas
and the Department ofHorticulture.
I've been here a faculty memberfor 35 years and I've been a
teaching and researchhorticulturist for about 40 plus
years 41 years.
Sam Humphrey (01:02):
What has your career been like?
You've done teaching andresearch, but you've also done
administration right.
Curt Rom (01:08):
Well, I have.
My horticulture career startedas an undergraduate student.
I was hired by the horticulturedepartment to be an
undergraduate research assistantand that stimulated my interest
in research.
I went to graduate school atOhio State University and
actually I was hired as aninstructor there to teach
freshman introduction tohorticulture and introduction to
(01:29):
fruit production classes.
My first career job uponcompleting my PhD at the Ohio
State University was atWashington State University.
That's where my first tenurewas worked on.
Then, after five years, I wasoffered a position back at my
alma mater at the University ofArkansas, where I received my
(01:50):
bachelor's degree.
I came back and I've been heresince 1989.
It's been.
Originally it was largely aresearch appointment and then it
became largely a teachingappointment.
Currently my appointment isessentially 50-50 teaching and
research.
Sam Humphrey (02:09):
You do fruit research.
Curt Rom (02:10):
You say yes, I am a trained pomologist or fruit
scientist.
My training and background wasin fruit eco-physiology, so how
the environment affects plantperformance and how we can
manage that.
My sub-topics would have beenfruit genetics and breeding and
(02:31):
statistics.
When I was at Washington StateUniversity I was focused on
apple and cherry production,particularly environmental
physiology and how we can managecherry and apple trees.
When I came to Arkansas I hadan apple breeding program and an
apple and peach management andphysiology program.
(02:52):
The apple breeding program wasclosed administratively in 1997.
I switched into sustainable andorganic fruit production.
That led me to small farmsystems, integrated farm systems
, farm to school, farmer'smarket production.
I worked in that area.
(03:14):
Then I had a stint of about 13or 14 years in administration,
including being the director ofthe honors program for my
college, then interim dean ofthe university honors college.
Then I became associate deanfor international education.
At that time we moved allinternational education programs
(03:37):
into the graduate school.
I was the first dean forinternational education.
For a couple of years I was theinterim dean of the graduate
school.
Now, june 1st, I've returned to100% horticulture.
I like to say my horticulturalroots.
Sam Humphrey (03:58):
Congratulations on that change.
Curt Rom (04:01):
Well, thanks, I'm really excited about it.
It's good to be back among myhorticultural colleagues and
among students.
Sam Humphrey (04:09):
I am really delighted to know you, because
our work is so different and ourperspectives are so different.
You've had this wonderful longcareer and I'm still, you know,
in my master's, I'm still in thefirst few years of working in
horticulture and it strikes methat I wouldn't know you if it
weren't for the American Societyfor Horticultural Science.
(04:30):
But I've only been a member for, I think, three years, three
and a half years now.
What's your history with ASHSbeen like?
Curt Rom (04:39):
Well, I joined the ASHS, like you, when I became a
master's student, so that was in1980.
And so I have attended 44annual conferences.
So it is my career society andmy discipline society.
I'm very excited about it andyou know, and that's one of the
great things about the AmericanSociety for Horticultural
(05:00):
Science it brings us alltogether.
Horticulture is so broad, in somany vast disciplines, that we
tend to work in silos,discipline silos and the annual
conference and our publicationscreate new networks for us and
gives us a chance to meet.
So I'm delighted to meet youand Sam.
(05:22):
Sometimes I don't feel muchdifferent than you.
Having been in administrationfor 14 years and now returning
to start up a research andteaching program, I feel like a
beginning master's student too,and it's kind of exciting, but I
also understand maybe a littlebit intimidating.
Sam Humphrey (05:40):
See, my PI tells me that this is the fun part,
that I can step back and I canreally, you know, read about
sensors and read about plants ina way that maybe he doesn't get
to do now that he's a PI.
How does it feel returning backto the nitty gritty of research
?
Curt Rom (05:59):
Well, you know, again I feel like a beginning master's
student.
So I came back on June 1st andI spent much of the summer
catching up on the literature,getting back to understand the
cutting edge of issues relatedto fruit production and fruit
physiology and eco-physiology,and also then looking at new
(06:22):
alternative crops.
So that's been quite a bit offun.
Sam Humphrey (06:27):
Yeah, I'm really appreciative too that you've
stayed working on and committedto this podcast even despite
this really big life change ofyours and all the exciting
things you have going on withyour career.
So I'm wondering what got youinterested in the plants people
science podcast?
Curt Rom (06:47):
Well, like many people have probably listened to this
podcast.
I'm a podcast listener and Ifind that I can listen to
podcasts when I'm doing otherthings.
Particularly, I'm a hobbygardener.
I spend most of my time in yardwork and gardening, both
ornamental gardening as well asvegetable gardening and so I
(07:07):
listened to podcasts and Ithought well, that's a very
interesting way for us tocommunicate our science.
So for the ASHS, you know wehave mostly communicated our
science through our threejournal publications.
I thought that the podcastwould be another way for us to
talk about science and reallythe people behind the
(07:29):
horticultural science.
So that's what stimulated myinterest.
I thought that there was aniche that plant people science
podcast could fill, and I thinkthat the podcast is filling that
niche.
It's very informative, it'svery fun and enjoyable as well
as knowledgeable.
Sam Humphrey (07:51):
Yeah, there's always room for more outreach.
There's always room to invitestudents into the world of
horticulture, even if there arejust listeners in general,
inviting listeners into theworld of horticulture even if
they're not already involved.
I did have one final questionfor you.
I'm curious about what you'rehopeful for.
Curt Rom (08:14):
Well, you know, I'm a hopeful, optimistic person.
Sometimes people call me thethe biggest optimist in the room
, but I'm a pragmatic optimist.
I think that there's a lot ofnew opportunity for us to
address issues, two big issuesand then their kind of
sustainability goals.
(08:35):
One would be improving people'slife, in lifestyle, with better
foods and food systems, morenutritious food and access to
food, and since I work in thefood crop sector, I think that
we have a lot of work to do tomake food nutritious, high
quality, affordable andaccessible to people.
(08:58):
So making food quality, makingquality food, nutritious food
accessible is, I think,something I'm very optimistic
that we can address through ourscience.
The other area, since I'm anenvironmental physiologist, I'm
very interested in climatechange and the impact that
climate change is making on ourproduction systems, and that
(09:20):
would be food production systems, as well as our ornamental
landscape systems and thesystems that we have that make
our world more livable and moreattractive.
What I'm hopeful about is thatscience, or horticultural
science, science for specialtycrops, will embrace these
challenges and move forward withnew discoveries, new
(09:43):
innovations, new technologies.
I'm particularly interested inthe application of biometrics
and physiometrics, plantbiometrics and the applications
and use of artificialintelligence to help us address
questions in real time and tomake better predictable use for
our production systems.
(10:04):
So that's really exciting stuffto me, and all of those are
going to be science questions,technology questions, and
science and technology does nothappen without people, and so
I'm really excited about yourgeneration, sam, and the young
scientists I see coming upbehind us, because I think they
(10:26):
understand the world in a way.
Sometimes maybe my generationdoesn't and you see things
differently and I'm optimisticabout that.
So I'm optimistic and I'mexcited about it.
Sam Humphrey (10:41):
That is one of the things I love when talking to
you is hearing the optimism inyour voice and in the way you do
research and the way you teach.
I am struck by how much thereis to be hopeful for even when
the world feels complicated andhopeless sometimes.
(11:01):
I think there's a lot to beexcited about in horticulture
and a lot to be hopeful for, sothank you for sharing that with
us and for our listeners.
There is a lot to be excitedabout in terms of episodes
coming up.
Kurt is working on a miniseries called Failure is Not
Final.
Kurt, do you want to tell us alittle bit about that?
Curt Rom (11:22):
Well, you know, one of the things that I've learned in
my years as a scientist is thatabout half my ideas are not
very good and of the half that Ican actually activate and
actuate, I've had failures.
Some of the failures have beenbeyond my control.
They've been environmentalfailures, hailstorms, late
(11:43):
frosts, electrical failures inthe greenhouse, power outages.
At one time I was starting someseedlings and I went in the
next day and obviously a mouseor a rat had eaten most of those
things.
You know we don't publishfailures, we only publish our
successes.
But I think behind all of thosesuccess stories there's some
(12:07):
interesting failure, because welearn along the way and it
revises how we think and how wedevelop our plans and as a
result, particularly in thehorticulture disciplines, I
think failure makes us moreresilient.
We have to think what are wegoing to do now to prevent that
from happening again?
(12:27):
Or I had a failed experimentand it turned out that I had
this hypothesis I had fourtreatments and nothing happened.
Everything was the same, and ofcourse you can't publish that.
But as horticulturists and partof being a horticulturist is
not only the statisticalknowledge that we gain from
things, but the observationalknowledge and so I believe that
(12:51):
we learn through failure, and sothat's where I kind of came up
with the idea that failure isnot final.
We learn from it, we move on,and that's demonstrated
resilience, and so I'd like totell some of those stories.
I'm excited about how peoplehave failed, especially who's
willing to admit it, because wedon't like to say, oh yeah, I
(13:14):
failed, but I think there's someinteresting stories there, so I
look forward to listeners thatmight have a story to tell about
failure resilience, followed bysuccess.
Sam Humphrey (13:28):
Yeah, that's a good call out, because I
actually hadn't remembered thisone preparing for this episode.
But we have a link on the ASHSwebsite where listeners can
submit their email and submit alittle note saying that they're
interested in being interviewedfor the podcast, especially for
(13:49):
those failure episodes.
Failure is not final.
We're really excited to hearfrom ASHS members about that.
Curt Rom (13:57):
Yeah, and again, that humanizes our science and I
think that that's an importantpart.
Part of my inspiration aboutour podcast and why I think it's
wonderful is we talk about itfrom a human level and that's
just different than reading itin the journals with tables and
graphs and statistics thatthere's actually a person or
(14:20):
teams of people that are doingthis kind of innovation and
discovery and entrepreneurship,and so I like to hear those
stories of the people behind thescience and the plants that we
talk about.
Sam Humphrey (14:34):
Yeah, speaking of the people, I'm just so thrilled
that you're a part of thispodcast, Kurt, and I'm excited
for our listeners to learn moreabout you and to hear your voice
again in future episodes To ourlisteners.
If you'd like more informationabout the American Society for
Horticultural Science in general, you can go to ashsorg.
(14:57):
Thank you for joining us andthank you, Kurt, for the
wonderful interview.
Curt Rom (15:02):
Thank you, sam, it was delightful.
I look forward to being yourco-host.
Have a good day you as well.
Thank you.
Hello, welcome to Plants People Science, a podcast
by the American Society forHorticultural Science where we
talk about all thingshorticulture.
Today is a very special shortepisode because I'll be
introducing someone who's beenon the podcast team for a while
now behind the scenes and who'snow stepping into the role of
being my co-host, kurt Roem.
(00:32):
Welcome to the podcast.
Curt Rom (00:34):
Good morning Sam.
It's nice to be here.
Sam Humphrey (00:38):
Could you take a minute to introduce yourself?
Curt Rom (00:40):
Sure, it's a delight to introduce myself.
As you said, I'm Curt Rom.
I'm a professor of horticultureat the University of Arkansas
and the Department ofHorticulture.
I've been here a faculty memberfor 35 years and I've been a
teaching and researchhorticulturist for about 40 plus
years 41 years.
Sam Humphrey (01:02):
What has your career been like?
You've done teaching andresearch, but you've also done
administration right.
Curt Rom (01:08):
Well, I have.
My horticulture career startedas an undergraduate student.
I was hired by the horticulturedepartment to be an
undergraduate research assistantand that stimulated my interest
in research.
I went to graduate school atOhio State University and
actually I was hired as aninstructor there to teach
freshman introduction tohorticulture and introduction to
(01:29):
fruit production classes.
My first career job uponcompleting my PhD at the Ohio
State University was atWashington State University.
That's where my first tenurewas worked on.
Then, after five years, I wasoffered a position back at my
alma mater at the University ofArkansas, where I received my
(01:50):
bachelor's degree.
I came back and I've been heresince 1989.
It's been.
Originally it was largely aresearch appointment and then it
became largely a teachingappointment.
Currently my appointment isessentially 50-50 teaching and
research.
Sam Humphrey (02:09):
You do fruit research.
Curt Rom (02:10):
You say yes, I am a trained pomologist or fruit
scientist.
My training and background wasin fruit eco-physiology, so how
the environment affects plantperformance and how we can
manage that.
My sub-topics would have beenfruit genetics and breeding and
(02:31):
statistics.
When I was at Washington StateUniversity I was focused on
apple and cherry production,particularly environmental
physiology and how we can managecherry and apple trees.
When I came to Arkansas I hadan apple breeding program and an
apple and peach management andphysiology program.
(02:52):
The apple breeding program wasclosed administratively in 1997.
I switched into sustainable andorganic fruit production.
That led me to small farmsystems, integrated farm systems
, farm to school, farmer'smarket production.
I worked in that area.
(03:14):
Then I had a stint of about 13or 14 years in administration,
including being the director ofthe honors program for my
college, then interim dean ofthe university honors college.
Then I became associate deanfor international education.
At that time we moved allinternational education programs
(03:37):
into the graduate school.
I was the first dean forinternational education.
For a couple of years I was theinterim dean of the graduate
school.
Now, june 1st, I've returned to100% horticulture.
I like to say my horticulturalroots.
Sam Humphrey (03:58):
Congratulations on that change.
Curt Rom (04:01):
Well, thanks, I'm really excited about it.
It's good to be back among myhorticultural colleagues and
among students.
Sam Humphrey (04:09):
I am really delighted to know you, because
our work is so different and ourperspectives are so different.
You've had this wonderful longcareer and I'm still, you know,
in my master's, I'm still in thefirst few years of working in
horticulture and it strikes methat I wouldn't know you if it
weren't for the American Societyfor Horticultural Science.
(04:30):
But I've only been a member for, I think, three years, three
and a half years now.
What's your history with ASHSbeen like?
Curt Rom (04:39):
Well, I joined the ASHS, like you, when I became a
master's student, so that was in1980.
And so I have attended 44annual conferences.
So it is my career society andmy discipline society.
I'm very excited about it andyou know, and that's one of the
great things about the AmericanSociety for Horticultural
(05:00):
Science it brings us alltogether.
Horticulture is so broad, in somany vast disciplines, that we
tend to work in silos,discipline silos and the annual
conference and our publicationscreate new networks for us and
gives us a chance to meet.
So I'm delighted to meet youand Sam.
(05:22):
Sometimes I don't feel muchdifferent than you.
Having been in administrationfor 14 years and now returning
to start up a research andteaching program, I feel like a
beginning master's student too,and it's kind of exciting, but I
also understand maybe a littlebit intimidating.
Sam Humphrey (05:40):
See, my PI tells me that this is the fun part,
that I can step back and I canreally, you know, read about
sensors and read about plants ina way that maybe he doesn't get
to do now that he's a PI.
How does it feel returning backto the nitty gritty of research
?
Curt Rom (05:59):
Well, you know, again I feel like a beginning master's
student.
So I came back on June 1st andI spent much of the summer
catching up on the literature,getting back to understand the
cutting edge of issues relatedto fruit production and fruit
physiology and eco-physiology,and also then looking at new
(06:22):
alternative crops.
So that's been quite a bit offun.
Sam Humphrey (06:27):
Yeah, I'm really appreciative too that you've
stayed working on and committedto this podcast even despite
this really big life change ofyours and all the exciting
things you have going on withyour career.
So I'm wondering what got youinterested in the plants people
science podcast?
Curt Rom (06:47):
Well, like many people have probably listened to this
podcast.
I'm a podcast listener and Ifind that I can listen to
podcasts when I'm doing otherthings.
Particularly, I'm a hobbygardener.
I spend most of my time in yardwork and gardening, both
ornamental gardening as well asvegetable gardening and so I
(07:07):
listened to podcasts and Ithought well, that's a very
interesting way for us tocommunicate our science.
So for the ASHS, you know wehave mostly communicated our
science through our threejournal publications.
I thought that the podcastwould be another way for us to
talk about science and reallythe people behind the
(07:29):
horticultural science.
So that's what stimulated myinterest.
I thought that there was aniche that plant people science
podcast could fill, and I thinkthat the podcast is filling that
niche.
It's very informative, it'svery fun and enjoyable as well
as knowledgeable.
Sam Humphrey (07:51):
Yeah, there's always room for more outreach.
There's always room to invitestudents into the world of
horticulture, even if there arejust listeners in general,
inviting listeners into theworld of horticulture even if
they're not already involved.
I did have one final questionfor you.
I'm curious about what you'rehopeful for.
Curt Rom (08:14):
Well, you know, I'm a hopeful, optimistic person.
Sometimes people call me thethe biggest optimist in the room
, but I'm a pragmatic optimist.
I think that there's a lot ofnew opportunity for us to
address issues, two big issuesand then their kind of
sustainability goals.
(08:35):
One would be improving people'slife, in lifestyle, with better
foods and food systems, morenutritious food and access to
food, and since I work in thefood crop sector, I think that
we have a lot of work to do tomake food nutritious, high
quality, affordable andaccessible to people.
(08:58):
So making food quality, makingquality food, nutritious food
accessible is, I think,something I'm very optimistic
that we can address through ourscience.
The other area, since I'm anenvironmental physiologist, I'm
very interested in climatechange and the impact that
climate change is making on ourproduction systems, and that
(09:20):
would be food production systems, as well as our ornamental
landscape systems and thesystems that we have that make
our world more livable and moreattractive.
What I'm hopeful about is thatscience, or horticultural
science, science for specialtycrops, will embrace these
challenges and move forward withnew discoveries, new
(09:43):
innovations, new technologies.
I'm particularly interested inthe application of biometrics
and physiometrics, plantbiometrics and the applications
and use of artificialintelligence to help us address
questions in real time and tomake better predictable use for
our production systems.
(10:04):
So that's really exciting stuffto me, and all of those are
going to be science questions,technology questions, and
science and technology does nothappen without people, and so
I'm really excited about yourgeneration, sam, and the young
scientists I see coming upbehind us, because I think they
(10:26):
understand the world in a way.
Sometimes maybe my generationdoesn't and you see things
differently and I'm optimisticabout that.
So I'm optimistic and I'mexcited about it.
Sam Humphrey (10:41):
That is one of the things I love when talking to
you is hearing the optimism inyour voice and in the way you do
research and the way you teach.
I am struck by how much thereis to be hopeful for even when
the world feels complicated andhopeless sometimes.
(11:01):
I think there's a lot to beexcited about in horticulture
and a lot to be hopeful for, sothank you for sharing that with
us and for our listeners.
There is a lot to be excitedabout in terms of episodes
coming up.
Kurt is working on a miniseries called Failure is Not
Final.
Kurt, do you want to tell us alittle bit about that?
Curt Rom (11:22):
Well, you know, one of the things that I've learned in
my years as a scientist is thatabout half my ideas are not
very good and of the half that Ican actually activate and
actuate, I've had failures.
Some of the failures have beenbeyond my control.
They've been environmentalfailures, hailstorms, late
(11:43):
frosts, electrical failures inthe greenhouse, power outages.
At one time I was starting someseedlings and I went in the
next day and obviously a mouseor a rat had eaten most of those
things.
You know we don't publishfailures, we only publish our
successes.
But I think behind all of thosesuccess stories there's some
(12:07):
interesting failure, because welearn along the way and it
revises how we think and how wedevelop our plans and as a
result, particularly in thehorticulture disciplines, I
think failure makes us moreresilient.
We have to think what are wegoing to do now to prevent that
from happening again?
(12:27):
Or I had a failed experimentand it turned out that I had
this hypothesis I had fourtreatments and nothing happened.
Everything was the same, and ofcourse you can't publish that.
But as horticulturists and partof being a horticulturist is
not only the statisticalknowledge that we gain from
things, but the observationalknowledge and so I believe that
(12:51):
we learn through failure, and sothat's where I kind of came up
with the idea that failure isnot final.
We learn from it, we move on,and that's demonstrated
resilience, and so I'd like totell some of those stories.
I'm excited about how peoplehave failed, especially who's
willing to admit it, because wedon't like to say, oh yeah, I
(13:14):
failed, but I think there's someinteresting stories there, so I
look forward to listeners thatmight have a story to tell about
failure resilience, followed bysuccess.
Sam Humphrey (13:28):
Yeah, that's a good call out, because I
actually hadn't remembered thisone preparing for this episode.
But we have a link on the ASHSwebsite where listeners can
submit their email and submit alittle note saying that they're
interested in being interviewedfor the podcast, especially for
(13:49):
those failure episodes.
Failure is not final.
We're really excited to hearfrom ASHS members about that.
Curt Rom (13:57):
Yeah, and again, that humanizes our science and I
think that that's an importantpart.
Part of my inspiration aboutour podcast and why I think it's
wonderful is we talk about itfrom a human level and that's
just different than reading itin the journals with tables and
graphs and statistics thatthere's actually a person or
(14:20):
teams of people that are doingthis kind of innovation and
discovery and entrepreneurship,and so I like to hear those
stories of the people behind thescience and the plants that we
talk about.
Sam Humphrey (14:34):
Yeah, speaking of the people, I'm just so thrilled
that you're a part of thispodcast, Kurt, and I'm excited
for our listeners to learn moreabout you and to hear your voice
again in future episodes To ourlisteners.
If you'd like more informationabout the American Society for
Horticultural Science in general, you can go to ashsorg.
(14:57):
Thank you for joining us andthank you, Kurt, for the
wonderful interview.
Curt Rom (15:02):
Thank you, sam, it was delightful.
I look forward to being yourco-host.
Have a good day you as well.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.