Gloeckner Foundation Awards Grants

The Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation, Inc. recently awarded 14 grants totaling $137,000.00. Since the Foundation was established in 1960, their support of floriculture research has totaled $6.75 million.

Keeping Frederick Carl Gloeckner’s direction and vision in focus, the Foundation’s board of directors and officers met in June to review the proposal submissions from many highly qualified researchers from more than 20 colleges and universities in the United States.

Covering a very wide spectrum of research topics and initiatives considered by the board, the following grants were recently awarded:

• $13,000 — Purdue University (K. Nemali) – Smartphone-Based Rapid, Inexpensive, and Accurate Estimation of Plant Nitrogen Status in Floriculture Production 
• $10,000 — Kansas State University (C. Miller) – Understanding the Effects of Root Zone Temperature in Potted Dahlia Production 
• $8,000 — Kansas State University (K. Williams) – Updates to Graphical Tracking Guidelines for New Poinsettia Cultivars
• $10,000 — University of Florida (T. Colquhoun) – Augmenting Cut Flowers with LEDs
• $12,000 — North Carolina State University (Seed Your Future) (J. Dole) – Promoting Horticulture and Careers Working with Plants
• $9,000 — Cornell University (W. Miller) – Microbial Impacts on Water Uptake in Cut Lilies
• $9,000 — University of Florida (D. Clark) – Collegiate Plant Initiative: Connecting College Students to Horticulture
• $10,000 — U.C. Berkeley (M. Wildermuth) – Ascocounter: An Automated Quantification Software of Fungal Growth and Reproductive Output for use in Rapid Horticultural Phenotyping
• $10,000 — Michigan State University (W. Owen) –Characterizing Interveinal Chlorosis of Hellebores and Determining Nutritional Requirements.
• $9,000 — University of Washington (V. Di Stilio) – Flower Design: Understanding and Generating Remarkable Flowers in Herbaceous Perennials
• $11,000 — North Carolina State University (B. Jackson)– In Situ, Quantitative Analysis of Substrate Rooting Effects of Poinsettia by X-ray Microtomography

Gloeckner was a life member of the New York Florists’ Club, a Club that had very similar goals with respect to facilitating research and education in floriculture. After serving the industry for 106 years, in 1993 when the members of the New York Florists’ Club voted to suspend operations of the club, they transferred the balance of their funds to the Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation.

The following grants are designated in recognition of the New York Florists Club’s efforts.

• $10,000 — Cornell University (J. Sanderson) – Investigating Biological Control of Aphids on Calibrachoa
• $6,000.00 — Cornell University (W. Miller) – A Spectoradiometer to Facilitate LED-Related Research Projects
• $10,000 — Kansas State University (R. Cloyd) – Impact of Application Frequency and Spray Volume on the Efficacy of Insecticides Against Western Flower Thrips and Citrus Mealybug Under Greenhouse Conditions.

For more information on The Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation, or to learn how you can submit an application for a Foundation grant, please visit www.gloecknerfoundation.org, or contact Stephanie Collarile at 914.607.5425 or at scollarile@fredgloeckner.com.