Meet Katie Glenn from Clemson University

Long before Katie Glenn started her graduate research at Clemson University’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, she was destined for a career in plants. “I remember being about 7 years old,” she says. “Someone asked me if I wanted Hannah Montana stuff for my birthday. I said, ‘No, I want flower seeds.’”

Glenn likely inherited her passion for plants from her father, an agricultural engineer for the USDA, who raised her with an appreciation for gardening and cultivating healthy soil. By the time she entered high school, after completing an eighth-grade science fair project testing nitrate leachate levels of various grass fertilizers, Glenn decided to pursue a career in horticulture.

“It was very practical and applied, and it struck the balance of office and hands-on work that I was looking for,” Glenn says. “I’ve always enjoyed working with plants.”

Since her teenage years, nearly all of Glenn’s work experience has involved the production, research or marketing of specialty crops, from various vegetables to cut flowers. Now, as she pursues a master’s degree in plant and environmental sciences, Glenn’s graduate research is exposing her to a new aspect of the plant industry as she paves her way into horticulture.

Understanding post-harvest stress

While earning her bachelor’s degree in horticulture at Clemson, Glenn spent several years in the field doing hands-on production work. Her internships and seasonal jobs included seeding, transplanting and harvesting vegetables on an organic farm; picking and arranging flowers on a small cut flower farm; and conducting pesticide trials at large vegetable farms through Clemson’s Cooperative Extension Service.

While working in Clemson’s greenhouse as an undergrad, Glenn casually mentioned her interest in pursuing graduate-level physiology research. A few weeks later, professor Jim Faust, Ph.D., offered her a position as a graduate student researcher. With that, her focus shifted from cut flower production to unrooted cuttings.

Currently, Glenn is studying the physiological effects of postharvest conditions on unrooted cuttings, specifically working with nine ornamental species “that are poster children for poor shipping quality,” she says — including lantana, heliotrope, helichrysum, angelonia, poinsettia, crossandra, fuchsia, portulaca and mandevilla.

“Most unrooted cuttings stuck in the U.S. are shipped from Central America or Mexico and may experience stressful conditions, like high or low temperatures, increased carbon dioxide and/or ethylene levels,” she explains. “Certain species show symptoms of stress immediately after removal from the post-harvest environment. Other species may not show symptoms until up to three days later. The inconsistency in symptom occurrence between species makes it difficult for growers to decide when to stick and when to claim cuttings.”

To solve that dilemma, the main goal of her research is to predict cutting viability and vigor based on the post-harvest environment, making it easier for growers to manage cuttings.

Creating an attractive culture

Although Glenn’s family encouraged her to pursue plant science because of her lifelong passion for plants, many of her peers are stumped about what she actually studies.

“The general public doesn’t seem to know anything about horticulture, except that it concerns plants,” she says. “Horticulture is much more than being a professional gardener; I wish people understood that.”

With the goal of doing “applicable, industry-driven research,” Glenn hopes to leverage her plant science background and hands-on fieldwork to make meaningful contributions to the horticulture industry after she graduates in May 2026. Ideally, she’d love to find an opportunity to blend her experiences to help growers and retailers be equally successful and efficient at producing high-quality plants.

“Growers are held to high standards for plant quality and conservation efforts, and seemingly small mistakes can lead to loss of business,” she says. “However, the large stores selling plants apparently don’t have much stock in the quality or conservation of plant material they receive from growers, leading to both environmental and economic waste. If I could solve one problem, it would be to find a solution that promotes conservation, increases revenue and improves reputation for both growers and sellers.”

Whether she ends up doing research related to vegetables, cut flowers or ornamental plants, Glenn’s top priority is landing a horticulture job at an organization with a strong company culture. “The most-cited reason I hear from my peers leaving a job or deciding not to move from an internship to a full-time position is the company culture,” she says.

Realizing that the specific job description isn’t as important as the work environment that companies create, Glenn urges employers to “take the time to define your culture and align that with the company goals, and then hire or promote managers that best fit those standards,” she says. “Even the most highly educated or most experienced employees will fail if the goals, ideals and culture of the company are unclear or ignored by management.”

Brooke Bilyj owns and operates Bantamedia, a national award-winning content, PR and SEO firm based in Cleveland. She is a frequent contributor to GIE Media’s horticulture publications.