Station in Geneva, NY, when he presented Chris with the 1996 Perrine Scholarship Award on December 6, 1996.
Linda McCandless
Geneva, NY - Chris Owens' efforts in Cornell University's pomology program were recognized by Hugh Price, chairman of the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY, when he presented Chris with the 1996 Perrine Scholarship Award on December 6, 1996.
"Overall, I am really thrilled to receive the award, and very grateful to the Perrine family for endowing it," said Owens. "I think it is really wonderful that there are families out there supporting agricultural research at major research universities."
The 23-year-old Owens grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, and spent his college summers running his own residential landscaping business. At the time, he was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland majoring in horticulture. "I gained a lot of business experience," said Owens, "and I liked being an entrepreneur, but not enough to keep me from going to graduate school."
The graduate school Owens' chose was Cornell University, where his lifelong interest in plants and gardening has resulted in him pursuing a masters' degree in pomology. "Fruit is my main interest," said Owens. "And in New York State, studying fruit means studying apples."
Owens is working with horticultural scientist Ed Stover, at the Experiment Station's Hudson Valley Laboratory in Highland, NY. "We have two particular projects," said Owens. "Both of them involve the use of a plant growth regulator. In one project, we are trying to induce the early flowering of apple trees by using the growth regulator to inhibit a plant hormone. In the other project, we are using the same growth regulator to improve the vigor of apple nursery stock."
After getting his M.S. in August '97, Owens plans to continue studying for his doctorate. After that, he hopes to become the equivalent of a professor at a major land grant university practicing horticultural science - "preferably in pomology," said Owens.
The Perrine scholarship was established by David Perrine (Cornell '22), in 1993, in support of pomology research work at the Geneva Experiment Station. Perrine, a prominent orchardist from Centralia, Illinois, established the generous gift in memory of his wife, Fanny French Perrine, whom he met and fell in love with while at Cornell in the 1920s. At the time, Fanny was a student in bacteriology and David a student in pomology. Fanny, who was often called "Superwoman," by her husband, ran many of the farm's activities and was deeply involved in community activities.
David and his brother, Alden (Cornell '47), were partners in the Perrine Orchard, farming 600 acres of peaches, apples, and pears. Jim Cummins, professor emeritus of horticultural sciences at Geneva, who has known and admired the Perrine family for many years, said David, who died this past year, "was the best fruit grower in the Midwest." He was a leader in the fruit industry, with a long and distinguished record as an apple and peach grower, president of the National Peach Council, a member of the National Apple Institute, and president of the Illinois State Horticulture Society.
"Dave continued to be active in dwarf fruit tree experimentation even when he was in his 90s," said Cummins, who first met the Perrines after World War II. David and Fanny were instrumental in Cummins continuing his studies in pomology at Cornell after he finished his undergraduate course work at the University of Illinois.
The $2000 Perrine Scholarship award is credited to the research account of the student's thesis advisor with the stipulation that it be used to support the student's research program. In 1995, it was awarded to Thomas E. Clark, who is pursuing a master's degree at Cornell, and conducting a research project on chemical thinning with Terence Robinson. In 1994, it was awarded to Patrick Conner, a doctoral student in pomology whose research with Susan Brown focuses on the genetic mapping of apples and the identification of certain sequences in the apple genome that determine traits, such as size, flavor, and color.
(To access 300 dpi scan, click on above photograph.)
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