Polytechnic campus, School of Applied Arts and Sciences

Education Resources
Virtual Library of Phoenix Landscape Plants

Research Collaborations
CAP LTER

ASU National Center for Excellence on SMART Innovations for Urban Climate  + Energy














Chris A. Martin, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture

Contact Information
Department of Applied Biological Sciences
Arizona State University Polytechnic
7001 East Williams Field Road, Building 130
Mesa, Arizona 85212

Phone: 480-727-1247
Send email to: chris.martin@asu.edu

 

Biographical Sketch
Chris Martin came to Arizona State University in 1990 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He is a member of the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS), International Plant Propagators (IPPS), International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), the Metropolitan Tree Improvement Alliance (METRIA), and the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) . Dr. Martin is a Wakonse Teaching Fellow and maintains an active and externally funded research program in urban plant ecology and environmental horticulture. He is also an associated faculty member of the ASU School of Sustainability and is a member of the vegetation subcommittee for the national Sustainable Sites Initiative.


Teaching Overview
Chris Martin is coordinator of the undergraduate Urban Horticulture Concentration in Department of Applied Biological Sciences. He also coordinates students through the Urban Horticulture Senior Enterprise Project program. Courses that Dr. Martin regularly teaches include:
ABS 360 Southwest Home Gardening
ABS 362 Landscape Plants and Design
ABS 364 Urban Forestry
ABS 464 Greenhouse/Nursery Management
ABS 466 Desert Horticulture
ABS 498 Landscape Practices
ABS 498/598 Environmental Meteorology

Research Overview
Chris Martin's research program in horticulture involves both basic and applied studies of the physiology and ecology of urban and desert plants. The main focus of Dr. Martin's research interests are investigations into the effects of urban landscape habitat structure and management on landscape sustainability, functionality of urban ecosystem services, urban microclimates, and plant response to environmental stress. Researchers working with Dr. Martin use environmental monitoring and eco-physiological and biochemical techniques in the field, greenhouse, and laboratory to increase our understanding of plant response to urban conditions. Some of Dr. Martin's research projects are closely linked to the Central Arizona Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) initiative. Please contact Dr. Martin directly by email for more information about research opportunities, including current research projects, post doc, graduate and advanced undergraduate student research opportunities.

Link to a workshop presentation by Dr. Martin on landscape sustainability issues in Phoenix given at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Read here about some of Dr. Martin's landscape water use research findings. Also, read about our research recently featured in High Country News.

Read here a column Dr. Martin wrote for the Arizona Republic newspaper on October 19, 2007 about some of the complicated issues about summer and winter lawns in Phoenix.

Please read this letter to those interested in graduate study.


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