Bassuk, Nina Lauren

Professor

I am a professor and program leader of the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University, and co-author of Trees in the Urban Landscape. A native New Yorker, my current work focuses on the physiological problems of plants growing in urban environments, including improved plant propagation and selections for difficult sites, soil modification including the development of CU-Structural Soil and improved transplanting technology. I teach an integrated course on woody plant identification and landscape management techniques called "Creating the Urban Eden." I also organize the Student Weekend Arborist Team (SWAT) every year to assist municipalities in managing their urban trees.

research

research and scholarship focus

I work on improving the quality of urban life by enhancing the functions of plants within the urban ecosystem. We integrate plant stress physiology, horticultural science, plant ecology and soil science and applies them to four broad areas of inquiry. They are:||1) The selection, evaluation and propagation of superior plants with improved tolerance of biotic and abiotic stresses, and enhanced functional uses in the disturbed landscape. ||2) Developing improved technologies for assessing and ameliorating site limitations to improve plant growth and development.||3) Developing improved transplant technologies to insure the successful establishment of plants in the urban environment.

primary investigator of

research areas

adult and extension education | collaborative research area (CALS)
compost | collaborative research area (CALS)
environmental sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
forest management | collaborative research area (CALS)
horticultural sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
integrated pest management | collaborative research area (CALS)
landscape architecture | collaborative research area (CALS)
landscape ecology | collaborative research area (CALS)
plant sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
soil health | collaborative research area (CALS)
urban environment | collaborative research area (CALS)

submitted impact statement

Quantifying the benefits of the urban forest in New York state | 2007 Impact statement
Evaluation and asexual propagation of oak hybrids for environmental stress tolerance | 2006 Impact statement
Student Weekend Arborist Team (SWAT):|A community forest inventory and management plan project| | 2006 Impact statement
Development of a Green Infrastructure Technology that Links Trees and Engineered Soil to Minimize Runoff from Pavement | 2005 Impact statement
Student Weekend Arborist Team (SWAT): a community forest inventory and management plan project | 2004 Impact statement
Development of a green infrastructure technology that links trees and engineered soil to minimize runoff from pavement | 2004 Impact statement

affiliations

faculty appointment in

Horticulture (HORT) | Cornell department

member of graduate field

Horticulture | graduate field
Landscape Architecture | graduate field

teaching

teaching focus

I teach courses on woody plant identification and landscape establishment techniques and strategies for disturbed urban sites. One unique approach we developed is the Student Weekend Arborist Team (SWAT) to help communities manage their urban trees and open spaces. The courses I teach include HORT/LA 491-492: Creating The Urban Eden: Woody Plant Selection, Design and Landscape Establishment, HORT 391/392: Woody Plant Identification and Use in the Landscape and HORT 496 SWAT: Student Weekend Arborist Team.

teaches

HORT 3910 - Woody Plant Identification and Use I (R 12:20:PM-01:10:PM) | fall 2009 class
HORT 4910 - Creating the Urban Eden: Woody Plant Selection, Design, and Landscape Establishment (also LA 491) (TR 12:20:PM-01:10:PM) | fall 2009 class
HORT 4960 - Internship in Horticulture (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
HORT 4970 - Undergraduate Individual Study in Horticulture (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
HORT 4990 - Undergraduate Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
HORT 6970 - Graduate Individual Study in Horticulture (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
HORT 7000 - Graduate Teaching Experience (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
HORT 8900 - Thesis Research, Master of Science (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
HORT 9900 - Thesis Research, Doctor of Philosophy (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
LA 4910 - Creating the Urban Eden: Woody Plant Selection, Design, and Landscape Establishment (also LA 491) (TR 12:20:PM-01:10:PM) | fall 2009 class
HORT 3920 - Woody Plant Identification and Use II (T 12:20:PM-01:10:PM) | spring 2009 class
HORT 4960 - Internship in Horticulture (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
HORT 4990 - Undergraduate Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
HORT 7000 - Graduate Teaching Experience (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
HORT 8900 - Thesis Research, Master of Science (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
HORT 9900 - Thesis Research, Doctor of Philosophy (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
HORT 4910 - Creating the Urban Eden: Woody Plant Selection, Design, and Landscape Establishment (also LA 491) (TR 12:20:PM-01:10:PM) | fall 2008 class
LA 4910 - Creating the Urban Eden: Woody Plant Selection, Design, and Landscape Establishment (also LA 491) (TR 12:20:PM-01:10:PM) | fall 2008 class

service

outreach focus

I work with municipalities to assess and manage their urban tree resources while applying appropriate technologies. Our outreach efforts use publications, websites, and face-to-face contact through meetings, conferences and field days.

background

featured in

Come spring, expect fewer blooms, due to mild early winter, say Cornell horticulturists | Cornell Chronicle feature
Mann Library rooftop terrace named for Dean Susan Henry | Cornell Chronicle feature
Meeting to consider tree planting as antidote to urban ills is uprooted by 'inconvenient conclusion' | Cornell Chronicle feature
Nurseries to give big-city test to Cornell-cloned trees and tree-growing technique | Cornell Chronicle feature

publications

linked articles

Severe cutbackofstock plantinfluencesizooting in shoot of Quercus bicolor and Quercus macrocarpa | journal article

Keywords: ecosystem services, environmental stress, horticultural physiology, landscape management, nursery crops, plant propagation, plant selection, propagation, site assessment, soil compaction, soil management, soil modification, structural soil, transplanting, transplanting., tree evbaluation, tree inventories, urban forestry, urban forestry management, urban horticulture, urban tree master planning, urban tree selection, woody landscape plants, woody plant propagation