Dr. David Kopsell is an assistant professor of ornamental horticulture and crop science. A native of Hebron, IL, Dave grew up on a 200-acre ornamental production nursery and was involved in nursery, landscape, tree moving, and business management operations. He received an A.A.S. degree from McHenry County College (1989), a B.S. from Illinois State University in Agribusiness-Horticulture with a minor in Business Administration (1991), and both M.S. (1995) and Ph.D. (1999) degrees from the Horticulture Department at the University of Georgia. His graduate research focused on vegetable improvement and flavor biochemistry.

Since receiving his Ph.D., Dave has held positions as the state vegetable specialist with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, instructor and departmental chairman of horticulture at McHenry County College, and most recently as a crop consultant with National Onion Labs, Inc., working with sweet onion growers all over the world. Because of his passion for teaching, Dave decided to leave industry and join the UWP faculty in January of 2006.

Dave’s teaching responsibilities in the ornamental horticulture program include Landscape Design, Landscape Management, Turfgrass Management, Landscape Plant Identification, and Fruit & Vegetable Production. In the soil and crop science program he teaches Plant-Soil Environment, Weed Science, and Pest Identification & Management. His background in a family nursery & landscape business and his grower and crop consultation experience make these ideal courses for him to teach. Other responsibilities include student advisement, supervision of the Pioneer Gardens with Dr. Mike Compton, coordinating the SOA Exchange Program with the University of Life Sciences (UMB) in Aas, Norway, and co-advising the Agronomy, Soil, & Water Conservation Club with Dr. Chris Baxter.

Prior to coming to UWP, Dave was heavily involved in both research and outreach. In his career, Dave has over $970,000 in associated grant funding, 24 refereed journal publications, 2 book chapters, and 29 contributed papers and abstracts. Dave has given over 50 scientific, extension, and public presentations on topics ranging from vegetable gardening to landscape horticulture. He currently sits on the editorial boards of both the Journal of Plant Nutrition and the Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis journal and has peer reviewed over a dozen research manuscripts. He also writes a seasonal gardening article for Your Weekender in Platteville.

Dave is a member of the American Society for Horticulture Science, the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, and Alpha Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta, and Phi Alpha Xi horticultural and agricultural honor societies.