Dr. Yan Ren-Butcher
Dr. Ren-Butcher is an experienced agbiotech scientist with expertise in agricultural product research, development, and marketing. She is currently a Horticultural Lighting Consultant and is working toward becoming a member of the Research Advisory Panel for IES (Illuminating Engineering Society).
Yan has demonstrated great success in research project management in the horticultural LED lighting environment. Her focus is on improving crop growth and development, both in vivo and in vitro.
Yan has many years of experience, with a focus on helping to bridge the knowledge gap between lighting and horticulture. The main goal is to ensure that her customers understand the value of lighting technology and find the right lighting solutions for their applications.
Yan is also very passionate about herbal medicine for holistic remedies. This interest stems back to her previous experience in herb research work in college and also with an influence from Chinese herbal medicine.
Experience
Yan began her professional career as a Plant Scientist at Philips Research in Shanghai, China back in 2011. She worked here until 2013 and managed four joint research projects with two universities. These studies explored the effects of LEDs on the improvement of growth, disease resistance, nutrition, and pigmentation in various horticultural crops to support the global research project.
In 2014, Yan worked in the Adjunct Faculty at the College of the Sequoias. Here she was responsible for teaching the undergraduate-level course, “Introduction to Plant Science,” to 30 students.
In 2015 and in an effort to be more engaged in growers’ needs and product innovation, Yan became a Product Manager & Horticulture Staff Scientist at Hubbell Lighting in South Carolina.
She shifted back to the scientific world in 2017 and became Director of Horticulture Science at Illumitex.
Education
Yan received her Ph.D. degree in Horticulture Science from Texas A&M University in 2011. Her focus was on Melon Molecular breeding, and she served as a Research Assistant of Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center. Her dissertation was completed on the Genetic Engineering of beta-Carotene Production in Honeydew Melons (Cucumis melo L. inodorus).
Prior to this, Yan completed a Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science and Horticulture at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her Undergraduate Honors Thesis is listed as: Study on Optimum Cultivation and Storage Method of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). The focus was on the following areas:
- Domestication of exotic herbs in the greenhouse
- Temperature, light condition, and postharvest study of sweet basil cultivation in the greenhouse
Yan also received an M.S degree in Tomato breeding from Zhejiang University. She served as an MS Research Assistant of Laboratory of Cell and Molecular. The thesis was entitled “Physiological Basis of the Heat Tolerance of Various Tomato Genotypes and Their Germplasm Improvement Technology.”
