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David Wm. Reed
Professor of Horticulture, and Instructor of HORT 201 Department of Horticultural Sciences Texas A&M
University Cell: (979) 777-2750 |
FAMILY
Dr. Reed has a fantastic wife, Lynn. Both
Dr. Reed and his wife Lynn were born and raised in small towns
in south Louisiana. Lynn is from Palmetto, LA. Dr. Reed was
raised on the banks of the Atchafalaya River in Krotz Springs,
LA. Dave and Lynn have a great family,
including a batch of grandkids. On
January 18, 2020 my Grandson
Ryan's wife Kayley brought Bryce David
Roderick into this world as my first Great Grandson!
They have two great kids Lori and David. Lori is the
oldest, is the most wonderful daughter a dad could have,
and is married to Brett Roderick (Brett's alright too). Lori and
Brett have blessed Grandpa Dave and Nana Lynn with three
fantastic grandchildren, Ryan David (he goes by Ryan), Katie,
and Jackson. Dr. Reed loves his daughter's philosophy that
it is the grandparent's job to spoil the grand kids, of which
Grandpa and Nana are doing a masterful job. Loy David (he goes
by David) is Dr. Reed's best buddy, and he is married to a
fantastic daughter-in-law Della. David and Della have a
son David Cole (he goes by David) and triplets Andrew, Emily and
Alyssa. Have you notice a little trend in the naming of
males in the family - the first born male always has the David
in their name (but no Juniors). This goes back to my
Grandfather and Father. In addition, almost off of my
Dad's siblings and their siblings named at least one male
David. At a family reunion, when one calls out "David come
give me a hand", then a dozen males head that way. For
fun, Dr. Reed likes outdoors, hunting,
fishing
, working in the shop, playing with his grand kids, and in
the spring Aggie
baseball. Dr. Reed also likes to cook cajun and camp
food, and if you like you can see some of Dave's
Cajun and Camp Cooking Recipes.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND FACULTY
POSITION
Dr. Reed received his B.S. in 1974 with a major in
Horticulture from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in
Lafayette, LA. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Floriculture
and Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
in 1977 and 1979, respectively. He joined the faculty of the
Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University
in the fall of 1978. He is also a member of the Intercollegiate
Faculty of Molecular and Environmental Plant Science. He also
serves as the Associate Head for Graduate Studies in the
Department, Chairs the Graduate Program Council of the College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and is a member of the
University Graduate Council.
COURSES TAUGHT
Over the years, Dr. Reed has taught the
undergraduate courses HORT 201 and 202 (General Horticulture and
its lab), HORT 320 (Foliage Plant Production), and the graduate
courses HORT 602 (Environmental Relations of Horticultural
Crops), HORT 604 (Applied Physiology of Horticultural Crops),
and FLOR 616 (Asexual Plant Propagation). He taught Applied
Physiology of Horticultural Crops at the University of
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka as part of a US-AID project.
Currently, he teaches HORT 201 every fall and spring semester,
and HORT 604 every other spring. His "favorite" course over the
years has been HORT 201 - General Horticulture. There have
been many memorable moments in HORT 201 over the years. If
you want to view a few, they can be seen at Classic
Videos from HORT 201.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:
To capitalize on both the good and bad experiences
with each student to improve my effectiveness as a
teacher. To set the student at ease and become their
friend and mentor, while still maintaining a strong authority
figure. To present the information in a manner that makes
the student "want to learn". To maintain very high
expectations of the students so their true ability is tested and
maximum potential is achieved. To help each student to
become "thinkers". Ultimately, to become the kind of
teacher like the precious few who truly inspire students past
their on dreams and expectations, just as those selected few
teachers have inspired me in my education and academic career.
Dr. Reed states "Learning and wanting to learn
is contagious. I must walk into the classroom with a solid
knowledge base and a level of excitement and interest in the
subject matter that it makes the students want to learn."
At the graduate level Dr. Reed states "My goal
in graduate education is to create an academic and research
environment that allows developing graduate students to reach
their maximum potential. This sometimes means' spoon feeding'
to get them started, but also at times removing highly
structured guidance to allow development of independence and
originality. In return, I expect graduate students to input
maximum effort and a high degree of enthusiasm and originality
into their graduate course work and research."
AREA OF RESEARCH
The research in Dr. Reed's laboratory centers on
the nutrition and physiology of ornamental crops, with special
emphasis on greenhouse crops. Research in Dr. Reed's lab has
involved iron nutrition and adaptation of plants to alkaline
soil and irrigation water. This entails both field screening
trials and laboratory characterization of the iron reductase
enzyme. Other research areas studied in Dr. Reed's lab include
salt stress and the effect of saline and alkaline irrigation
water on N-P-K nutrition of greenhouse crops; identifying
optimum N-P-K requirements in subirrigation systems; mechanism
of foliar/cuticular absorption and damage from foliar sprays;
and cultural practices of greenhouse crops, such as use of
growth retardants. Dr. Reed's most recent research effort has
been in developing systems that minimize water use and
fertilizer run-off from greenhouses. The current focus is on
water quality and characterizing toxicity limits of salts in
irrigation water.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
COMPLETE VITA: January
2021
