GCSAA grants supporting four new university research projects

Research grants from the GCSAA are supporting four new research projects at universities across the country beginning in 2023. The projects will be funded through the GCSAA Foundation research endowments and its Chapter Cooperative Grant Program. One Dr. Michael Hurdzan Endowment and Mark Kizziar Research Endowment project and one Robert A. Moore Endowment project will receive funding. 

The projects, which were selected by a committee that included two members of the GCSAA board of directors, superintendents, university researchers and other professional scientists, will receive a total of $170,064 from a GCSAA Foundation block grant with an additional $117,500 in matching funds from participating GCSAA chapters and the Oregon Turfgrass Foundation. GCSAA has an additional 11 research projects on-going through its program.

The following four research projects are funded for a period of two years:

• Comparing wetting agent application strategies for efficacy and longevity in sand-based putting greens; by Wendell Hutchens, Ph.D., University of Arkansas. Funded by a Chapter Cooperative Research Grant through the GCSAA Foundation’s Dr. Michael Hurdzan Endowment and Mark Kizziar Research Endowment with partial matching funds from the Mississippi Valley GCSA, the Ozark Turf Association, GCSA of Arkansas and North Texas GCSA.
• Suppressing dollar spot through adjustment of leaf surface pH; by Paul Koch, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin. Funded by a Chapter Cooperative Research Grant and matching funds from the Wisconsin GCSA.
• Effects of Moisture Management on Annual Bluegrass Weevil Movement, Oviposition, Larval Survival, and Turfgrass Damage; by Benjamin McGraw, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University. Funded through the GCSAA Foundation’s Aquatrols’ Robert A. Moore Research Endowment.
• Influence of Nitrogen Rate on Growing Degree-Day Models for Plant Growth Regulator Reapplication Interval on Annual Bluegrass Putting Greens; by Alec Kowalewski, Ph.D., Oregon State University. Funded by a Chapter Cooperative Research Grant with matching funds from the Oregon Turfgrass Foundation.

To learn more about the GCSAA Foundation’s research program and endowments, visit www.gcsaa.org/foundation/research.