LAKE ALFRED, Florida.   Election as a Fellow of the American Society of Horticultural Science (ASHS), in recognition of truly outstanding contributions to horticulture and the Society, is the highest honor that ASHS can bestow on its members. More than 460 members including the top past and present horticulturists, have been accorded this honor in the years since the first Fellows were elected in 1965. This year during the ASHS annual conference held in St. Louis, Mo., Dr. Jacqueline (Jackie) K. Burns was elected as an ASHS Fellow of 2009.
           

The requirements for nomination to the Fellows Screening Committee are: 1) nominees must be active (10 years of membership) or emeritus members of the Society; 2) sponsors of Fellow nominations must be active or emeritus members of ASHS; and 3) the number of living and “active” Fellows (those who have not retired) cannot exceed 10 percent of the eligible membership.
           

Jacqueline K. Burns, professor at the University of Florida/IFAS, Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC), Lake Alfred, Fla., leads a large research team in the basic and applied research on citrus abscission, harvesting, and fruit postharvest biology with the twin goals of understanding the science of abscission and developing economically feasible mechanical harvesting of citrus.
           

Burns received her BS (1978) and MS (1981) in Horticulture from University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Pennsylvania State University (1986). In 1987, Burns was recruited to the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor, and became a Full Professor in 2000. She consistently provides research leadership in citrus abscission, harvesting, and postharvest physiology with the focus on identification of physiological and cultural determinants of citrus organ abscission and postharvest physiological disorders of fruit.

Within her research program, Burns has developed international research collaborations with Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA) and Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA) in Spain, the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and the Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland. Burns has also led the education and extension program, resulting in wider industry adoption of mechanical harvesting of citrus for juice in Florida.
           

In addition to ASHS, she is also an active participating member of the International Society of Horticultural Science, American Society of Plant Biologists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Society of Citriculture and past president of Florida State Horticultural Society (FSHS). She has also served on U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Research Initiative, and Small Business Innovation Research grant panels.
           

Since 2000, Burns has procured more than $11,000,000 in research support, supervised nine postdoctoral scientists, five graduate students, applied for five patents (two received thus far), and has published 36 refereed and 27 non referred papers, and 33 abstracts, and made 49 invited or contributed national and regional presentations. She received Best Paper Awards from both ASHS (2004) and FSHS (2004) and the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) Honorable Mention Paper Award (2001).
           

In 2008, Burns was appointed Associate Center Director of UF/IFAS CREC in Lake Alfred, Fla., and was invited to participate in LEAD21 training, a program that mentors leaders within the UF College of Agriculture. In April 2009, Burns accepted the position as Interim Center Director of UF/IFAS CREC.
(Source:  www.ashs.org; ASHS Program and Abstracts Annual Conference 2009).