Temperate Tree Fruits and Nuts

Dr. Minas is an Associate Professor of Pomology with the Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University since October 2015. Dr. Minas received his PhD in Pomology and Postharvest Physiology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. During his PhD studies was appointed as a Junior Specialist for 2 years at the Dept. Plant Sciences at University of California Davis, CA. His research program at CSU emphasizes on the characterization of the influence of genetic (cultivar, rootstock) and environmental factors (growing contitions, orchard factors, postharvest handling) on fruit tree physiology, resilience and productivity and understand how these factors affect fruit phenotype, metabolism, flavor and postharvest performance of peaches. His independent, but highly collaborative tree fruit research, integrates techniques from core fruit tree physiology, cold hardiness, flowering biology, fruit quality, non-destructive sensors, postharvest technology, ripening physiology, metabolomics, proteomics and genomics. During his time at CSU Dr. Minas has secured over $960,475 as the PI or the co-PI in competitive grants. He teaches the undergraduate level course (HORT 453) Principles of Fruit Crop Management that is being taught on-campus (face-to-face) and through CSU Online (online) and supervises graduate and undergraduate student employees. Dr. Minas has developed and maintains close extension/outreach relationships with the tree fruit industry to perform relevant applied research and communicate research findings through grower educational activities. Dr. Minas is senior or co-author in more than 30 peer reviewed publications in the field of pomology and postharvest physiology and serves as coordinator of peach rootstock trials within the frame of the USDA’s multi-state project North Central (NC)-140.

George Manganaris is founder and Director of CUT Fruit Sciences & Posharvest Group (www.fruitsciences.eu) at Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). His main scientific interests include the quality evaluation/phytochemical profile of horticultural products (fleshy fruits and grapes) with the employment of physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches, the elucidation of fruit ripening syndrome with emphasis in the development of physiological disorders and overall the postharvest maintenance of fresh produce. Additionally, he is involved in projects and/or synergies dealing with the application of preharvest treatments and/or novel technologies for maintaining quality of horticultural crops and their responsiveness to abiotic conditions. To date, Dr. Manganaris is the author of 60 scientific papers in referred journals (3600 citations, h-index=31). Data from his work have also been presented in review papers (4), book chapters (16) and full texts in Conference proceedings (11). He is Council Member and elected Vice Chair at the Division Temperate Tree Fruits at ISHS. In the past he has organized three ISHS symposiums and has acted as editor of the Proceedings of the X ISHS Peach Symposium (Acta Horticulturae 1352), V International Postharvest Unlimited Symposium (Acta Horticulturae 1079) and the III International Horticulture in Europe Symposium (Acta Horticulturae 1242). He has been appointed by the Hellenic Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education to participate in the External Evaluation and Accreditations process of several Departments in Greece. He has been assigned to evaluate competitive research proposals for EU (Horizon 2020, Eurostars, Innowide) and from different countries (Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, Chile, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Israel, Latvia). He is Council Member of the International Society for Horticultural Science and is board member of European Fruit Research Institute Network.