Meet Jennifer Bousselot | Assistant Professor of Horticulture

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Bousselot and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up on a small family farm in eastern Iowa. My twin sister and I are the youngest of 8 children. When the last of the older 6 left home for college and careers, we were only 9 years old. Therefore, we became the last available free labor for my dad, the farmer, and my mom, the gardener. Needless to say, we learned how to do all of the tasks on the farm – from bailing hay, to driving tractors, pulling weeds, and especially mucking out the livestock pens. Now, decades later, my twin and I are both professionals in agriculture.

As a professor of horticulture, I use the knowledge and skills I developed as a child every day in my job. Not only the plant knowledge, but the hard work ethic and problem solving I learned in real time as a child. To this day, I still grow many of the same crops and think about how our research results will be useful to farmers. I just do that research elevated – literally on rooftops.

What should our readers know about your business?
My ‘business’ is to teach about the ways that plants can improve our lives. Even though I am hired as an educator at Colorado State University, I don’t just limit my teachings to students at our university. I am so proud of the research that my team and I have published, presented, and spoken about in the public realm. Our topics of green roofs, native plants, urban agriculture, green infrastructure, and especially rooftop agrivoltaics (combining solar panels and rooftop agriculture) are charismatic and compelling to many audiences. In our work we aim to feed people or pollinators AND at the same time provide the ecosystem services that nature automatically provides. We aim to do these things in urban areas where ‘nature’ is mostly paved over.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Day 1: Visit to the Colorado State University Spur campus just north of downtown Denver! The three CSU buildings tell the story of agriculture in Colorado. It is free and open to the public as a living farm of the future.
Day 2: Visit the Denver Botanic Gardens main campus near downtown. Check out the 1 acre green roof that is part of the children’s garden. Wander through the most beautifully curated gardens in the area.
Day 3: Spend the day at the Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield farms. Get a taste of the pioneer ranch life! A working community supported agriculture farm and a newly installed agrivoltaics system are two of the hidden gems of this 700 acre property.
Day 4: Visit Cherry Creek State Park. Miles of trails and a surprising abundance of bird and plant species inhabit this well preserved space with a swimmable reservoir.
Day 5: Hike the trails and steps at Red Rocks Ampitheater. The views are unbeatable. And the native plant conservation is top notch.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mentors! I have had four very impactful mentors along the way. My first and most important mentor was my dad, Joe McGuire. He was the epitome of the farmer philosopher. He only had his high school diploma, but he is still one of the smartest people I have ever known. My second mentor was my advisor for my master’s degree, Dr. Deborah Muenchrath at Iowa State University. She was the one that took this rough farm kid and turned her into a scientist. Years later, my doctoral advisor, Dr. James Klett modeled the balance of teacher, researcher, and outreach scientist for me. My ‘newest’ (and yet the oldest) mentor was Dr. Jack Carter, an emeritus professor of botany from Colorado College. We were 50 years apart in age but totally resonated with each other as plant enthusiasts. Jack invited me to co-author new editions of his three renowned titles: Common Southwestern Native Plants, Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico, and Trees and Shrubs of Colorado. I am forever grateful to these mentors.

Website: https://agsci.colostate.edu/hortla/bousselot/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenbousselot/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-mcguire-bousselot-ph-d-0904569/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenbousselot

Image Credits
Kevin Samuelson at Colorado State University Spur.