Ascending

Turfgrass research covers a lot of ground and is a vibrant field where every facet of turfgrass management from soil structure to plant protectant inputs to testing new cultivars is considered. Critical to the work are the superintendents who engage regularly with university researchers across the nation.

Researchers need to hear what is happening on the course and what problems need addressing. Superintendents need the academic expertise of the researchers to assist with practical problems. Businesses are the third circle in this turfgrass management Venn diagram, helping fund academe and developing products to counter challenges.

A few years ago, after decades of work in turfgrass research, Dr. Rick Latin and Dr. Bruce Martin retired from Purdue University and Clemson University, respectively. Dr. Nick Christians has retired, after obtaining his doctorate in 1979 from Ohio State and then writing several books and more than 1,100 articles. During his long tenure at Iowa State University, he worked with Dr. Adam Thoms.

“When Dr. Christians retired, he had been here for 43 years,” says Thoms, associate professor. “We are lucky because our administration supported us, we had viable candidates and we filled the position quickly. Several schools have eliminated positions when people retire.”

With fewer students enrolling in two- and four-year turf degree programs, it can be hard to justify the expense. Many schools are trying to recover their previous enrollment numbers. Some have closed their programs. At Iowa State, enrollment is trending up and is in the mid-30s, but in the early 2000s there were more than 150 students.

“It’s an interesting dynamic,” says Dr. Alec Kowalewski, associate professor at Oregon State University. “There is just as much turfgrass as there has always been, but there is less interest in it — less people working in it and less people becoming educated about it.” And yet, there is so much opportunity.

“We have had reduction in undergrad interest and enrollment and retraction in faculty but at the same time really high demands for employees,” Kowalewski adds. “This has led to many academic programs pivoting to establish certificate education. They serve people actively working at a golf course instead of undergraduate students with little interest in turf management.”

Many professors working with the students who are engaged are covering a wider range of work. Thoms is the state turfgrass extension specialist, with 70 percent extension, 20 percent research and 10 percent teaching responsibilities. He covers two classes: turfgrass irrigation and sports turf management. “That’s the way it is right now. Everyone at the university level has to do multiple things,” Thoms says.

Kowalewski agrees. “There are more people covering all three areas. I teach five classes, have extension responsibilities and run a research program.” How is it all being managed? “I rely heavily on technicians, post-docs and grad students to do the research,” Kowalewski says. “There are plenty of master’s and Ph.D. candidates. People are getting undergraduate degrees in other subjects in agriculture and shifting to turfgrass because they see the opportunity.

“We need to endow turfgrass positions at universities. An endowment makes sure that a job lasts forever. Dr. Bruce Clark and Dr. Joe Vargas are retiring and their schools are endowing those appointments to make sure they don’t disappear.”

Clark retired from Rutgers University in 2022 and was internationally recognized for his work in turf pathology, particularly his advancements in understanding and controlling summer patch, anthracnose, gray leaf spot and dollar spot. Vargas is in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame and is retiring after more than 50 years of service to the turfgrass industry while working at Michigan State University. His work also focused on turfgrass pathology.

Kowalewski studied art and landscape design at Michigan State. After working at the research center one summer, he changed his academic direction and went on to attain his master’s and a Ph.D. in crop and soil sciences. “At Oregon State, we are concentrating on managing diseases on annual bluegrass putting greens without fungicides because that’s one of the major economic inputs and environmental concerns in this region,” Kowalewski says.

In the Northwest, most courses are established as creeping bentgrass and perennial ryegrass. “Anything that is mowed at less than three-quarters of an inch turns into annual bluegrass because the environment is so conducive,” Kowalewski says. “The plant naturally invades.”

Every year they conduct research at about 15 courses performing nematode analysis, disease trials, insect monitoring and studying winterkill. They also host roundtable discussions with superintendents as everyone continues to be excited about and make progress with the winterkill research.

Thoms and the Iowa State team are looking at tall fescue as a fairway grass for lower-budget, lower-irrigated cool-season fairways. They’re evaluating NTEP trials and more sustainable turfgrass varieties. “We’re doing some fertility work and learning about humic acids,” Thoms says. “We’re also working with hybrid turf, which is the mixture of synthetic fibers in with natural grass to improve traffic tolerance.”

Both Thoms and Kowalewski work for land-grant institutions, which helps cover their salaries. They secure grants and donations from corporate, federal or private sources to support their work and the graduate students. For instance, Kowalewski’s summer responsibilities are covered by the N.B. & Jacqueline Giustina Professorship Endowment. Thoms has great support for his in-state extension travels from his state turfgrass association, which helps in part by hosting an annual golf fundraiser for Thoms.

Kowalewski enjoys some collaboration from international sources in Canada, Scandinavian countries and Denmark, and he says “federal funding has been pretty good. We also have great research support from state, regional and national associations.”

Due to the required fundraising and the diversity of responsibilities, there is an ongoing debate that working in corporate research is comparatively easier and more lucrative. What are the differences between the corporate and academic research worlds?

Research choices

“A lot of students see corporate jobs as ‘better jobs,’ whether it be chemical or seed companies. I don’t know why they feel that way,” Thoms says. “We have a lot of academic freedom to research what we want, within reason, where in industry the work is on a set product.”

“We have lost good faculty to industry,” Kowalewski adds. “I think the major advantages can be substantially greater pay and substantially less bureaucracy. Many university systems are complicated by the different management protocols, training, numerous tasks and numerous people to answer to. There might be more regular hours, but I don’t think so.”

Dr. Ben McGraw, associate professor of turfgrass science at Pennsylvania State University, moved from agricultural research and development into academics, an opposite direction than most people.

“I left industry to enter a graduate program around the same time the tech bubble burst in California,” McGraw says. “A lot of my co-workers were laid off. I witnessed very competent people lose their jobs because of sales-driven factors.”

McGraw’s appointment is 50 percent teaching, 25 percent research and 25 percent extension. He has been at Penn State since 2014. “The significant contrasts with corporate work are academic freedom, diversity in tasks, the short-term ability to make differences in research, and working with students,” McGraw says. “Ultimately, I appreciate that I have control over my own destiny.”

There is a concern working for a corporation that if the company is sold or the market changes it can be hard to find a job, especially if someone is older. In academics, the reverse is often true. The first few years are extremely hard because you are a graduate student and then working to be published and establish yourself. Being granted tenure at most universities takes less than 10 years.

Turf students are definitely thinking about job stability, and they are showing more interest in golf due to the jobs available. Several sports turf management students were affected by being unable to do their internships during the pandemic. They transitioned to golf course maintenance — and where more people are working, more research is happening.

“Parks and recreation is seeing increasing interest,” Kowalewski says. “Many students appreciate the opportunity for a stable job with moderate pay and good benefits but not the stress of a superintendent’s job. With research, the huge opportunity with turf is sustainability — reducing inputs and making turfgrass less impactful on the environment, as well as making maintenance less expensive.”

Working with students is a huge benefit. “I love watching students develop a growing passion for the science and finding their career,” Kowalewski says. “They invite me to their golf courses, parks and athletic fields that they are managing. They want interns and they become part of the associations. They become board members and approve funding for more research. It’s like a family and it perpetuates.”

Thoms also enjoys extension work and helping students be successful. “Even when it’s not a superintendent’s best day it’s an enjoyable visit,” Thoms says. “The superintendent might be focused on one tiny issue but the whole property is good. What makes me feel the best about my job is that I’m helping solve a problem. I love visiting with the superintendents. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

It’s hard to put a price on the fulfillment that Kowalewski and Thoms feel. “I have received industry offers and they have not approached my current level of compensation,” McGraw says. “I am absolutely shocked by how low some of these ‘higher-level’ industry offers are. The idea that corporate compensation is better has to be one of the biggest myths. There needs to be a detailed survey on this.”

Regarding tenure and job security, McGraw says: “I don’t think getting tenure, securing funds and the other responsibilities are that daunting for most people who get a tenure track job. The same people who seek tenure don’t change much after achieving it. They love the science and they think about work all the time. The demands on the job are increasing. Funding is always going to be a challenge. Universities are cumbersome bureaucratically speaking but so are large companies. Academic research is not for everyone, but I contend that on most days, I have the best job in turfgrass.”

Lee Carr is a northeast Ohio-based writer and senior Golf Course Industry contributor.