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Mid-Florida Research & Education Center

Mid-Florida Research & Education Center

Dr. Roger Kjelgren

Professor & Center Director

CONTACT ROGER:

Email: rkjelgren@ufl.edu

Phone: 407-884-2035

Fax: 407-814-6186

Roger Kjelgren is the Director of the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center. Kjelgren is a tree physiologist with experience spanning urban horticulture and agriculture and forestry. He joined UF after nearly 25 years in the Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate at Utah State University (USU). While at USU, Kjelgren’s teaching and research appointment focused on plant water use, precision irrigation, low-water landscaping, urban capacity to conserve water, and dendrochronology. He also served as director of the Center for Water Efficient Landscaping – helping Utah residents be more effective with their irrigation practices, and to install sustainable landscapes.

Kjelgren was also a Jefferson Science Fellow – Intelligence Community Analyst with the Department of State in Washington, D.C., where he focused on smallholder agriculture in emerging Asian economies. Kjelgren’s professional experience includes time as an adjunct professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York, a visiting scholar at the University of Queensland at Gatton, and Fulbright Scholar at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand.

As an MREC faculty member, Kjelgren’s research focuses on water use in sustainable landscapes, urban food systems, and medicinal plant production. Kjelgren was also recently awarded the Leshner Fellowship by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Kjelgren was one of 15 experts selected as fellows to focus on connecting food and water, and effectively communicating and engaging science with a wide array of audiences.

  • Professional History

    Academia

    • Director | Mid-Florida Research and Extension Center | 2016 - Present 
    • International Program Development | College of Agriculture, Utah State University | 2007 - 2012
    • Professor | Horticulture, Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State Univesity  | 2006 - 
    • Associate Professor | Horticulture, Department of Plants, Soil and Biometerology, Utah State University | 1998 - 2006
    • Assistant Professor | Horticulture, Department of Plants, Soil and Biometerology, Utah State University | 1992 - 1998
    • Assistant Professor | Landscape Horticulture, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Southern Illinois University | 1988 - 1991

    Fellowships, Adjunct Professorships, and Awards

    • Leshner Fellowship | American Association for the Advancement of Science | 2017 - 2018
    • Jefferson Science Fellow | Intelligence Community Analyst, United States Department of State and National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine | 2012 - 2013
    • Adjunct Professor | Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York | 2009 - 
    • Visiting Scholar | University of Queensland at Gatton, Australia | 2007 - 2008
    • Fulbright Scholar | Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand | 2005 - 2006
  • Publications

    Publications

  • Education
    • Ph.D., Forestry, University of Washington, 1988
    • M.S., Soil Science, Oregon State University, 1983
    • B.S., Soil Science, Washington State University, 1978