![]() |
David Wm. Reed
Professor of Horticulture, and Instructor of HORT 201 Department of
Horticultural Sciences Phone Work: (979) 845-0139 |
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 Atachafalaya River in Krotz Springs, LA. 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 all right too). Lori and Brett
have
blessed Grandpa Dave and Nana Lynn with three fantastic grandchildren,
Ryan, Katie, and most recently 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. David
is Dr. Reed's best buddy, and will be a senior at A&M this
fall.
The last member of the Reed family is Ace.
Ace supplies the security system around the house, and if you come over
she will definitely lick you into submission. 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: HTML
format (with some links to Power
Point presentations) or Adobe Acrobat
format
(in Adobe Acrobat format
)