Valerie Eitreim
MS student, Plant Breeding and Genetics
Department of Horticultural Sciences
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843
E-mail: valerie.eitreim@tamu.edu
I grew up in South Dakota and got my undergraduate degree at North Dakota State University in 2007 with a major in Horticultural Science and a minor in Botany. My Woody Landscape Plants instructor there says he will never cover roses in class, because you can't cover them briefly - it could be a whole separate course, indeed a whole area of specialization because they're so complicated. Rather than take his word for it, I decided to find that out for myself! I am currently a Master's student at Texas A&M studying plant breeding and genetics with Dr. David Byrne. My project is with the Bayse Rose Breeding and Genetics Program and focuses on genetic diversity in the group of roses known as China Roses.
Some of my other interests include figure skating, snow and waterskiing, wakeboarding, sailing Hobie 14 Turbo, swimming, reading science fiction and fantasy, nature/science photography, and growing orchids under artificial lighting in my apartment. I'm concentrating on the orchid genus Paphiopedilum, commonly called Lady Slippers. I am still in the process of acquiring and evaluating plants, but hope to be actively breeding soon, and using my background in horticulture and tissue culture to run a small laboratory and greenhouse.
