Ellen Paparozzi

Ellen Paparozzi, PhD is a retired professor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ellen became interested in horticulture tending her grandmother Congetta’s rose garden. During high school and college (Cook College, Rutgers University, NJ), Ellen worked at a florist with greenhouses. Upon graduation with her BS in Plant Science, Ellen attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY where she received her MS and PhD in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture. Her dissertation research was on acid rain and its impact on birch trees and bean plants. Upon graduation, Ellen moved to Nebraska as an Assistant Professor of Urban Horticulture with a teaching and research appointment. Throughout her 40+ year career at Nebraska, Ellen taught 11 different courses from Introduction to Plant Science to Floriculture and Nursery Production to Woody Plant Growth and Development to Cannabis Production. Her research spanned across plants with the most notable work on sulfur nutrition which resulted in a change in the composition of fertilizers. Her final research resulted in a free e-book entitled “From Seed-to-seed; A Pictorial Story on How a Bean Plant Grows “- https://passel2.unl.edu/view/lesson/bb92d6199625/8. Ellen has interacted with undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world and has travelled all 50 states and many countries including a sabbatical year at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In addition to being a volunteer advisor for America in Bloom, Ellen is a weekly volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and is on the Board of Directors for the American Reforestation Initiative, a group devoted to planting/replacing trees in urban and natural areas.