Student Employment

The OPGC frequently hires students for work during the academic year and in the summer. Working at the OPGC provides students with an opportunity to learn about many horticultural procedures, but also learn about the process of research and scholarship. Students assist in all aspects of the OPGC operations: watering plants in the greenhouse and nursery, taking cuttings for propagation, processing seed, assessing seed germination, preparing media for plant tissue culture, making transfers for micropropagated plants, monitoring greenhouse pests, transplanting plants in the field, photographing plants, taking x-ray pictures of seeds, making pollinations between different plants, preparing herbarium specimens, entering data into computer databases, assisting in various other experiments, etc.

Students can work up to 30 hours per week during the academic year, but most of our student employees work no more than 20 hours per week. We accommodate students' variable class schedules, but we prefer workers who have at least some days with blocks of 3 or more hours for work as some duties are best done in a single uninterrupted period.

We offer a flexible, comfortable, and friendly work environment, but we expect our students to work as developing professionals by focusing on tasks when at work and working as efficiently as possible. We expect students to adhere to their work schedule and to communicate with the staff should last-minute changes occur. We are particularly interested in students who want to learn and grow as future professionas in land-based industries (crops science, horticulture, turfgrass science, natural resources, etc). We also offer an excellent environment for those students who may be considering graduate school as we have numerous research projects that can prepare a student for further education.

We sometimes accept student volunteers and often have internship and undergraduate research opportunities available.

Students interested in employment, an internship, undergraduate research or just volunteering are encouraged to contact the Director, Yu Ma (ma.2578@osu.edu) to arrange a meeting and discuss interests and plans.