Dr. Trigiano was appointed Assistant Professor of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design in 1987 at The University of Tennessee. His program in Ornamental Horticulture was initially devoted to biotechnology for woody ornamental plants, such as Cercis canadenesis and Cornus florida.For each of these species, he devised regeneration systems that were among the first reports for regeneration of ornamental trees via non-zygotic (somatic) embryogenesis. He expanded his efforts to herbaceous ornamentals and published regeneration and genetic transformation systems for chrysanthemum and cineraria. During his tenure in this department, Bob embraced emerging molecular technologies and adapted them to study the genetics of ornamental plants. Bob also has a strong background in plant pathology, and with the advent of two devastating fungal diseases of flowering dogwood, he directed his efforts to find solutions for growers. Bob and his team have released and/or patented five cultivars that are resistant to either dogwood anthracnose or powdery mildew and are now grown in the US, Europe and Japan. His team recently released three C. kousa varieties for nursery production in the US and Japan. Bob is probably best known for devising in vitro propagation protocols, developing molecular marker systems that genetically characterize ornamentals, discovering and releasing new plants, and investigating and solving disease problems of popular plants. Bob has been an active member of ASHS serving as an Associate Editor for HortScience and the Journal, Annual Meeting Program Co-Chair (1993), member of the Journal Editorial Board (8years), Fellows Selection Committee (twice), moderator of numerous oral sessions, judge for poster and oral competitions, and selection committee for outstanding researcher award.
He is the recipient of the ASHS publication awards for the most outstanding education(1998) and ornamental paper (2012),and the ASHS Southern Region L. M. Ware distinguished research award.In 2006, he was elected Fellow of ASHS. Bob was awarded the prestigious B. Otto and Kathleen Wheeley Award of Excellence in Technology Transfer by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation for his work developing and marketing dogwood cultivars for the nursery industry. He has received research grants for more than 110 refereed papers, many in ASHS and sister journals, two editions of Plant Propagation Concepts and Laboratory Exercises, over 50 book chapters, numerous popular press articles, patents and plant breeder’s rights for ornamental plants.
