Mar 22, 2016

Roberto Lopez Joins MSU Horticulture Department

Roberto Lopez has joined the faculty in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan as an assistant professor and controlled environment/floriculture Extension specialist. He will have a 45 percent research, 30 percent teaching, and 25 percent Extension appointment.

Lopez will add to MSU’s lighting expertise with his research background in traditional and LED supplemental and sole-source lighting and become part of the Floriculture Research Alliance. Lopez said he will continue investigating how light (quantity, quality, and duration), carbon dioxide, air and substrate temperature during the young and finished plant stages influence timing, rooting, quality, and subsequent performance of specialty crops.

His new area of research at MSU will include hydroponic greenhouse and indoor production of leafy greens and vegetables. Lopez will offer courses in greenhouse structures and management, floriculture production, and hydroponic food production. As part of his Extension appointment, he will become the newest member of the MSU Greenhouse/Floriculture Crop Production Team. The nine member team is composed of Extension educators and outreach specialists with responsibilities in commercial floriculture and controlled environment production, staff at Diagnostic Services, and faculty members in the departments of horticulture, entomology, and plant, soil, and microbial sciences.

Lopez will continue being a member of the Electronic Growers Resources Online (e-GRO) which he and Brian Whipker, Brian Krug, and Nora Catlin, began in 2012. Lopez comes to MSU after 8.5 years as an assistant and associate professor and floriculture Extension specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University.