Penn State University gets endowment for turfgrass programs

Pennsylvania Turfgrass Research Inc. recently donated $300,000 to the university’s College of Agricultural Sciences to create an endowment benefiting the university’s turfgrass research and educational programs.

Dubbed “the Pennsylvania Turf Research Innovation Fund”, the endowment will primarily support new graduate student research opportunities, said Peter Landschoot, Penn State turfgrass science professor and director of the university’s Center for Turfgrass Science. “They’re the ones that typically do the best quality research under the supervision of professors. They’re trying to make a career of this and they’re highly motivated. You’re taking the cream of the crop.”

Landschoot estimated the endowment will yield about 5 percent in interest annually—about $15,000 a year. That interest would offset costs associated with student training.

“We are extremely grateful for all the work that Pennsylvania Turfgrass Research Inc. did,” he said. “People opened up their wallets and gave a lot…. We have to live up to that. We have to carry this through and do good work for them.”

To learn more about Penn State’s turfgrass programs, visit the Center for Turfgrass Science website.