The Cornell chapter of Pi Alpha Xi (PAX), the national honor society for horticulture and plant sciences, inducted 19 new members during an April 18, 2023, ceremony.
Only the best students in the plant sciences are invited to join Pi Alpha Xi, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
The chapter also inducted tree fruit expert Greg Peck, associate professor in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science, honoring his cutting-edge contributions to horticulture in general and cider apple research in particular.
PAX was founded in 1923 at Cornell University and Cornell is the Alpha Chapter. Originally, it was the national honor society for floriculture, landscape horticulture and ornamental horticulture. In recent years it has expanded and now honors excellence in all aspects of horticulture and plant science.
Since its founding, PAX has grown to 40 chapters at baccalaureate-granting institutions. Its mission is to promote scholarship, fellowship, professional leadership, and the enrichment of human life through plants.
PAX was very active at Cornell for many years, peaking in the 1970s. But the chapter went dormant for several years until its revival in 2013. The students hold activities such as offering sessions to build free mini-gardens during finals week, a cut flower sale during St. Valentine’s Day week, and field trips to the Philadelphia Flower Show, New York Botanical Garden, and other locations.
Chapter activities this spring included a Houseplant Study Break April 25 at the Big Red Barn in collaboration with Hortus Forum (Cornell’s undergraduate horticulture club) and SoHo (Graduate Field of Horticulture student organization).
The 2023 Cornell PAX Chapter inductees are Thomas Acri, Lauren Ahern, Lily Childs, Zhou Dong, Emileen Flores, Kirsten Gasko, Thomas Jacquot, Zoe Lockburner, Maya Mangala, Aleks Marcinkowski, Henry Marquez, Emily McFadden, Matthew Norman-Ariztía, Raymond Pan, Gregory Peck, Quintin Pezzino, Benjamin Skolnik, Shayndel Solomon, and Natalie-Rose Wilcox.