Larry Smart
Professor, SIPS – Horticulture section
Larry’s University Profile Page
L. Smart is the Hemp Research Team project lead. He leads cultivar trials located on Cornell farm properties in both Ithaca and Geneva, oversees the hemp germplasm repository collection and genomic analyses, and directs hemp breeding efforts.
Virginia Moore
Assistant Professor, SIPS – Plant Breeding and Genetics section
Virginia’s University Profile Page
Moore is a plant breeder who focuses on improving the sustainability of hemp, including breeding for organic systems, pest resistance, and ecosystem services.
Christine Smart
Professor
Director, SIPS – Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe Biology section
Christine’s University Profile Page
C. Smart focuses on disease surveys for CBD hemp varieties, primarily related to powdery mildew and white mold. She also supervises the development of tissue culture and transformation methods and analysis of cannabinoid chemistry. Chris works closely with Denis Willet on the CBD/THC chemistry front and is also a lead on the development of the USDA hemp germplasm repository (seed bank) collection at Cornell AgriTech.
Alan Taylor
Professor, SIPS – Horticulture section
Alan’s University Profile Page
Taylor focuses on post-harvest aspects of certified hemp seeds, including seed quality investigations with seed testing for germination and purity. He leads an IR4 Integrated Solutions project on developing biological and chemical seed treatments for control of soil-borne pathogens that cause damping-off—the rotting of stem and root tissues at and below the soil surface. This IR4 effort is in cooperation with Gary Bergstrom’s plant pathology program and field studies conducted at Virginia Tech and North Dakota State University.
(Jocelyn) Joss Rose
Professor, SIPS – Plant Biology Section
Joss’s University Profile Page
Rose is a plant biologist in the School of Integrative Plant Science, who conducts hemp cannabinoid biochemical analysis. The lab is interested in measuring the levels of the various forms of cannabinoids in different hemp genotypes/cultivars in order to identify lines to promote in the hemp breeding program. One of their other goals is to identify new cannabinoid compounds that potentially have unique and valuable properties.
Lab Member
Glenn Philippe – Postdoctoral Researcher
Neil Mattson
Associate professor, SIPS – Horticulture Section
Neil’s University Profile Page
Mattson’s goal is to understand how environmental and cultural factors affect the growth and characteristics of greenhouse crops, including hemp. His research in plant nutrition, lighting and cultivation systems (controlled environmental agriculture, or CEA) will inform work about optimizing hemp production in the state of New York.
Lab Member
Nick Kaczmar – Research Support Specialist
Bill Miller
Professor, SIPS – Horticulture Section
Bill’s University Profile Page
Miller specializes in greenhouse production methods for horticultural crops. His work focuses on varying growing conditions and developing greenhouse and crop management technologies that can be used to optimize hemp production for greenhouse growers.
Lynn Sosnoskie
Assistant Professor, SIPS – Horticulture Section
Lynn’s University Profile Page
Sosnoskie’s research focuses on the management of weeds in multiple crops, including hemp. In addition to conducting herbicide safety screens, she is evaluating the performance and safety of novel weed control technology, such as electric weeders, precision sprayers, and autonomous robotic cultivators. She is also part of a multiregional research team that will be evaluating the critical period of weed control in hemp and developing integrated weed management strategies for the suppression of unwanted vegetation that can reduce hemp yield and yield quality.
Jian Hua
Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section
Jian’s University Profile Page
Jian investigates molecular genetic mechanisms of environmental responses in plants. Visit the Hua Lab websiite to learn more.
Yu Jiang
Assistant Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section, Cornell AgriTech
Yu’s University Profile Page
Yu’s research focuses on the system engineering and data analytics for specialty crops and involves interdisciplinary innovation among engineering, computer science, and plant science. His interests include agricultural robotics and artificial intelligence, image processing and high throughput plant phenotyping,
Chang Chen
Assistant Professor, Food Science Cornell AgriTech
Chang’s University Profile Page
Chang’s research focuses on developing novel postharvest technologies to improve food quality, safety and sustainability of specialty crops and other agricultural/horticultural products, and valorization of their byproducts/side products for value-added applications.
Alireza (Ali) Abbaspourrad
Assistant professor, Food Science
Ali’s University Profile Page
Abbaspourrad’s work intersects with hemp on several fronts: optimizing cost-effective essential oil extraction methods to yield the purest, non-toxic, food-grade quality natural products and improving the sensory properties of hemp plant proteins, to ensure no off-flavors and that they’re easily dispersed (homogenized) when mixed.
Cornell AgriTech Fruit and Vegetable Processing Pilot
Bruno Xavier – Process Authority
Roger Morse – Geneva Pilot Plant Manager
Olga Padilla-Zakour – Professor, Food Science
The pilot plant’s expertise in food processing allows for the creation of new types of food products made with hemp materials. New technologies such as high-pressure processing and homogenization, non-thermal concentration, pulsed electric field treatments, and new drying techniques enable this facility’s team to create food products with more nutritional value, fewer additives and stabilizers, and exciting new textures with consistently stable physical and chemical properties.
Current projects related to food processing include creating new innovative products like hemp milk and butter, hemp ice cream and a host of conventional products with newly formulated hemp-based ingredients. Existing food products can receive a boost from incorporating uniquely processed hemp materials in their base formulations by creating new flavors for existing products. The pilot plant team is also working to start new projects within the food packaging industry by creating sustainable packaging materials resulting from electro-spun hemp fibers.
