 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2002
Contact: Linda McCandless, 315-787-2417, llm3@cornell.edu
Valencia Receives 2002 Perrine
Scholarship from Cornell
By John Zakour
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2002
Contact: Linda McCandless, 315-787-2417, llm3@cornell.edu
Valencia Receives 2002 Perrine
Scholarship from Cornell
By John Zakour
 |
|
(l-r) Hugh Price, Terence Robinson and (far right) Jim
Hunter presented the 2002 Perrine Award to Alejandro Valencia (2nd from
r) on March 8.
CREDIT: Hickey/NYSAES/Cornell |
GENEVA, NY: Alejandro Valencia, a Ph.D. candidate in horticultural sciences at Cornell University, received the 2002 Perrine Scholarship Award during a ceremony at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, in Geneva, NY, on March 8. The award is in acknowledgement of his work in pomology. Horticultural sciences chairman, Hugh Price, and Station director, James E. Hunter, presented the award to Valencia on behalf of the Perrine family.
The scholarship was established by David Perrine (Cornell '22) in 1993 to support pomology research at Geneva. The $2000 award supports Valencia's Ph.D. research program and educational expenses. Valencia is the seventh recipient of the award.
"Members of the Perrine family-the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren-have been very generous in making annual contributions to the endowment they established in memory of David B. and Fanny F. Perrine," Price said. "Monetary awards such as this are greatly appreciated by graduate students who are in the final stages of completing their degree."
Valencia, who is in his third year of study, was praised by his major professor, Terence Robinson. "Alejandro has developed into an independent thinker and researcher over the two and one-half years he has been at Cornell, and done very well in his course work and research," said Robinson. "His goal is to help fruit growers remain profitable through improved crop management strategies by replant practices that more quickly get apple trees into production so growers can respond to changing markets."
Valencia conducts research on the factors that affect the growth of young apple trees, attempting to relate basic physiological concepts with the growth of apple trees in the first and second year after transplanting. He alters the nitrogen available to the trees, studies the effect of the over- or under-growth this causes, and analyzes root/shoot ratios. Concurrently, he studies water uptake in relation to apple tree size to better understand the effect of water stress on young trees.
Valencia received his bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1996 from the Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, in Chile. After graduation, he worked for three years as the manager of the Andes Nursery Association to find new fruit varieties, bring them to Chile, evaluate them, and finally sub-license them to the nurseries involved in the association.
Upon receiving his Ph.D., Valencia plans to return to Chile to work, preferably in an applied research center. Eventually, he hopes to start his own business.
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