Jason Griffin, PhD

Biography

Jason Griffin was born in Hannibal, New York where he grew-up on a golf course. From there, his interest in the outdoors was obvious as he was always mowing the grass and taking care of the plants on his parents’ golf course, Griffin’s Greens. Griffin started his collegiate experience with every intention of becoming a golf course superintendent, but after taking a landscape class at SUNY Cobleskill, he became very interested in that side of horticulture. Those interests in horticulture later lead Griffin to pursue a B.S at Cornell University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in horticulture at North Carolina State University.

Currently, Griffin serves as the Director of the John C. Pair Horticultural Center in Wichita, Kansas. The Pair Center is an applied research facility, which works with essentially all horticultural crops such as, trees, shrubs, fruits, vegetables and turfgrass. There are currently three full-time staff and two or three students during the summer who work at the Pair Center.

Griffin’s research is primarily focused around woody plants. At the Pair Center, he works on a variety of research projects including nursery production, landscape utilization and cultivar evaluations.

“The best part of the HNR Department is the people,” Griffin says. “The faculty, staff, students … everyone involved has been outstanding. Although I only see them once a month, they still treat me like family.”

Outside of his job, Griffin enjoys spending time outside and home-brewing his own beer and hard apple cider.

Education

• Ph.D. Horticulture, North Carolina State University (2002)
• M.S. Horticulture Science, North Carolina State University (1999)
• B.S. Plant Science, Cornell University (1996)

Research

Dr. Griffin’s current research includes:

• Environmental Stress Physiology – investigating landscape plant response to environmental stresses in Kansas and species/provenances with improved tolerance to such stresses
• Landscape establishment – investigating methods to improve transplant survival and growth of landscape plants
• Nursery Production – investigating alternative substrates for Kansas container nursery growers
• Plant propagation – investigating sexual and asexual plant propagation practices utilizing pre-germination treatments, stock plant manipulation, and root stimulating hormones
• Woody Plant Selection and Evaluation – identifying and evaluating species, provenances, and cultivars with improved landscape characteristics for use throughout the region