By Kara Armstrong
The Nancy Jean Stump Seiger ’54 Botanical Research Center opened in June 2023 following more than a year of construction. Located adjacent to the Boehm Greenhouse, the two facilities operate in conjunction to support student and faculty research and instruction.
The center is named for Nancy Jean Stump Seiger, a KU graduate who taught fifth grade in the Reading School District for 32 years. In 2021, Seiger was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university.
Photo Credit: Kara Armstrong
“A number of people spearheaded and made this facility a reality,” Dr. Christopher Sacchi, Chair of the Biology Department, said. “[Nancy Jean Stump Seiger] provided a substantial foundation for building this facility. The president, Dr. Hawkinson, was very supportive. There was a dean, Dr. Beougher, who was also very supportive of making this a laboratory space so it could be a real, genuine research space.”
The research center offers climate-controlled greenhouse space, which is currently being used by classes such as Plant Physiology, Environmental Biology, and Botany. Projects include starting milkweed seedlings and propagating black willow plants, the latter of which will be used in habitat restoration along Saucony Creek
The research center also features equipment such as growth chambers and a laminar flow hood. The growth chambers can be used to regulate temperature, daylight and light intensity while growing plants. The flow hood provides a sterile environment in which plants can be exposed to infectious diseases.
“We have a faculty member, Dr. Kaoutar El Mounadi, who is a plant pathologist,” Sacchi said. “If she wants to infect plants, that provides a sterile environment in which she can deliberately infect some plants and then have them to compare to plants that are uninfected.”
Photo Credit: Kara Armstrong
Sacchi refers to the research center as the “research greenhouse” and the original greenhouse as the “teaching greenhouse.” The teaching greenhouse is home to a number of plants including succulents, ferns and banana plants. Plants cultivated in the teaching greenhouse may be used in lab courses or Plant Club activities.Learn more about Nancy Jean Stump Seiger’s philanthropy here.