Martha Rowe, University of Nebraska–Lincoln research technologist, retired Aug. 31 after 33 years in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture.
Rowe grew up in the college town of Davidson, North Carolina, with a botany and entomology professor as a neighbor, grandparents who were gardeners, and many woodsy areas where she could roam.
“Both plants and animals interested me, but as a prospective graduate student interested in physiology, I decided I would rather not spend time killing little animals,” Rowe said. “So, plants it was, and they did not disappoint.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a doctorate from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Rowe did not grow up with a farming background, so agronomy was something new when she started her career at Nebraska as a research technologist.
“I spent my first month at UNL in the plant pathology department, wrangling some viruses, then switched to a position in weed science for several years, working on leafy spurge,” she said.
The rest of the time, Rowe worked mostly with Paul Staswick’s molecular biology lab, and eventually, that segued into working with Harkamal Walia’s stress physiology and genetics lab.
“All of the research was interesting, and I worked with so many bright, kind, interesting people from many places in the world,” Rowe said. “It was a great continuing education career.”
Now, she says, she will clean out her house, tame the yard, get to know some newer neighbors and visit her grandchildren.
“There will be more, but I plan to let other opportunities develop gradually,” Rowe said.
