The American Society for Horticultural Science is delighted to announce the following winners of the Professional Achievement Awards. These distinguished awardees will be honored at the Society’s 2026 Conference in Dallas, Texas.
The ASHS Esmaeil and Bahar Fallahi Award for Integrity and Professionalism
This award recognizes professional horticulturists of any discipline and form of employment (academic, research, teaching, consulting, outreach, and extension, administrative, and commercial/industrial) who have demonstrated the highest level of a horticulturist in service to others
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Shawn Mehlenbacher Oregon State |
ASHS Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor
The ASHS Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award recognizes and rewards excellence, innovation, and effectiveness in formal faculty mentoring/advising of undergraduate students. This award is meant to recognize work with a broader population of students and less self-selected than students enrolled in the nominee’s classes. Examples include but are not limited to service as undergraduate or experiential learning coordinator in a department; service as a club or student organization advisor; mentor for undergraduate research; or mentoring/coaching of an undergraduate team competing at the state, regional, or national level.
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Chad Miller Colorado State |
Outstanding Peer Reviewer Award
This award is given for exhibiting thorough, timely, and rigorous peer review for manuscripts published in the Journal of ASHS, HortScience, and HortTechnology during the prior year the award is presented. Established in 2020.
For Journal of ASHS
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Ryan Warner Michigan State University |
For HortScience
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James Altland USDA/ARS MWA ATRU Wooster, Ohio |
For HortTechnology
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Israel Joukhadar New Mexico State University |
Professional Early Career Awards
 | Jack McCoy Teaching and Educational Systems University of Illinois Urbana-Champion |
 | Melinda Knuth Research, Innovation and Creativity North Carolina State University |
 | Ping Yu Extension and Outreach University of Georgia |
 | Josh Henry Industry and Consulting Ball Seed Company |
ASHS Undergraduate Scholars Award
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Lauren Lassus Texas A&M | Claire Montavon Illinois State |
ASHS Graduate Scholars
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Alyssa Headly PhD level University of Minnesota | Harkirat Kaur Mashiana MS Level University of Delaware |
