Robert E. Lyons

College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences, September 3, 2008

Robert E. Lyons earned a master's degree (1979) and the Ph.D. (1981) in Horticulture Science from the University of Minnesota. Since 2005, he has served as Professor and Program Director at the University of Delaware and Longwood Gardens Graduate Program in Public Horticulture, where he oversees the professional development of ten graduate students. His is one of only three such programs in the United States and the only one connected to and sponsored by a public garden. He is considered to be one of the top public horticulturists in the world and an authority on herbaceous landscape plants. His work is published in a wide variety of professional journals and he has given more than 300 talks for professional and non-professional horticulture-related organizations. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as the 2004 Award of Merit Perennial Plant Association of America, the 2001 Chadwick Outstanding Educator Award, the 1993 Outstanding Publications Award, and the 1993 Kenneth Post Award for Outstanding research in Floriculture. He is one of only two people in the history of the American Society of Horticulture Science (ASHS) to receive both the education and research award.