Advisory Panel

Roger Buelow leads innovation and capabilities as CTO of AeroFarms, the large-scale commercial indoor vertical farming company. He is an LED innovator and engineering technologist with over 20 years of experience in government and the private sector. Roger previously served as CTO of Energy Focus (a publicly traded company) for ten years leading their R&D, Engineering, and Operations to refit the U.S. Navy with LEDs, develop lights that leverage blue light to help regulate sleep cycles, and to set the world’s record for most efficient solar cell. He has been the principal investigator on over a dozen federally funded research contracts spanning military and civilian technologies and holds over 20 patents covering a wide array of technologies, bringing over 50 products from concept, through R&D, into engineering, and then onto the open market. 

Brian Gold is the President CEO of Pineae Greenhouses, Inc. Pineae was started by the Gold family in 1952 and is a leader in wholesale nursery and greenhouse plant production. They provide retailers in the Rocky Mountain Region with annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs. When you look up information about Brian and the Gold family, you’ll find words being used such as forward-thinking, innovation, sustainability and quality. For more information you can go to www.pineae.com. 

Ken James started James Greenhouses with his wife, Leah, 22 years ago. What started as a a two person team with the goal of supplying quality perennial plugs and liners to southeastern growers has grown into a company with over 50 people. James Greenhouses ships perennial, rose, hosta and helleborus liners across North America. Currently, James Greenhouses produces about 650 varieties of perennials, tropical and specialty annuals.

Royal Heins is Professor Emeritus of Horticulture at Michigan State University, Adjunct Professor Utah State University, and the former owner and partner of Oro Farms. His research on crop production and plant physiology in greenhouse environments has had a significant and lasting impact on the industry. He has received numerous honors and awards, most recently Greenhouse Grower’s Medal of Excellence Industry Achievement Award. Dr. Heins continues to remain active as a consultant working with greenhouse growers. You can also read more about Dr. Heins in this University of Minnesota spotlight article. 

Michael Martin is the Science, Research, and Regulatory Director at AmericanHort and the Horticultural Research Institute. He obtained his Bachelors and Master’s degrees from Clemson University and his Doctoral degree in Horticulture from the University of Georgia. He has conducted research on cutting photosynthetic capacity and carbon allocation during adventitious root development as well as chlorophyll fluorescence-based biofeedback systems to control photosynthetic lighting. He has owned a native plant nursery and worked in horticultural lighting sales and consulting. Michael has led numerous seminars and workshops on topics related to native plants in the landscape, native plant production, and plant propagation. 

Nathan Jahnke is a Culture Research Manager for Ball Horticulture Company. He obtained his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from North Carolina State University studying postharvest handling of cut flowers and floriculture inputs. His research program at Ball develops young plant production solutions and culture information for the industry, Ball products, and Ball partners around the globe. He coordinates Ball Horticulture’s Technical Services team which leads the industry in timely and impactful education through Ball Tech On Demand. Learn more about Nathan’s research and Tech On Demand through the TECH ON DEMAND Newsletter, TECH ON DEMAND Podcast, and TECH ON DEMAND YouTube Channel. 

Terril Nell is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Florida. He is currently the Research Coordinator for the American Floral Endowment. Among many professional achievements, Terril developed the UF postharvest program in the early 80’s. His research program concentrated on the production and post-harvest handling of flowering potted plants and fresh cut flowers, the results of which have led to improved flower and plant longevity. Nell has served as an industry consultant for growers, wholesalers and retailers nationally and internationally for over 30 years.For the past 25 years, he has served as a domestic and international industry consultant for growers, wholesalers, and retailers. Upon his retirement from UF in 2011, Nell and his wife, Cathy, moved to Brevard, NC. 

Suzanne Stone received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Master’s degree in Science Education from the University of South Carolina. She received her PhD from the University of Georgia in Horticulture where she studied applied vegetable production and plant breeding. Her doctoral research focused on varietal selection and cultivation strategies for organic and reduced-pesticide growers. She identified barriers to sustainability in watermelon production, a major industry in our region, and initiated a breeding program to develop four new varieties of watermelon for improved weed management. Her weed management recommendations reduced grower costs by 62% while maintaining yield. Since graduating, Suzanne has worked for Urban Seed, Inc. and Indoor Farming Cooperative, both located in Nevada, focused on sustainable farming of high-quality fruits and vegetables. 

Jessica has been involved with the horticulture industry since a very young age, well before she entered college. She is a graduate of the University of Florida where she learned of her love for research and development in the horticultural industry. She has been with Pleasant View Gardens in Loudon, New Hampshire since 2008. She is responsible for determining crop cultures of new varieties, conducting grower trials, producing promotional material for trade shows and coordinates and designs PVG’s multi-acre display garden. 

Lloyd is the owner of Peace Tree Farms, a USDA Certified Organic wholesale greenhouse company in Pennsylvania. They are internationally recognized for their commitment to biocontrols and biological control agents (BCAs). Lloyd is a technology guru and advocate for small growers, among the first to successfully invest in sophisticated environmental control systems. He is active in horticultural organizations such as the Philadelphia Flower Show, Penn State Trial Gardens, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Lloyd is a graduate of Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture and attended graduate school in floriculture at Cornell University. In addition to serving on the LAMP Advisory Panel, Lloyd also serves on the Cornell Organic Advisory Committee. 

Melanie Yelton is a Plant Scientist with Plenty Farms, a San Francisco based vertical farm designed to increase yield of crops over 350x relative to traditional farming. Melanie translates fundamental plant research into production farming. She is the former head of LumiGrow’s research program and was a lecturer and research scientist at Standford University. She is known for her horticultural lighting industry experience, forwarding the use of LEDs in CEA crop production. Melanie received her PhD in Molecular Biology from UC Davis with work focused in plant pathology. The recipient of numerous academic awards and accolades, Melanie is a patent holder for her work involving filamentous fungus such as Aspergillus strains. Earlier in her career, she served as director of sequencing at the Stanford DNA Sequence and Technology Center, a division of the Human Genome Project.