Virginia Turfgrass Journal - January/February 2019

Happy New Year fellow VTC Members,

The theme of this newsletter will be all about research. Without it, where would we, as an organization, be today? Regardless of what business you are in, what comes to mind is how we can do this to accomplish the goals we have set for ourselves. I decided to do some “research” on my own about research and found some things below that could help us all:

Build the right research team —

Put together a team who you can brainstorm with. Float ideas about what areas the team is interested in working on, set tasks and goals and make sure the team is accountable for tasks which they are responsible for. Having a team in place makes this journey very comfortable and easy.

Don’t be shy, ask! —

No question is a stupid question, so don’t be afraid to ask. Some people are more assertive than others, so appoint someone on your team to be the one to go out and ask the questions. The team can collectively decide what questions to ask, but having that one person seeking the answers will help you stay organized.

Select the right topics —

Your topics will determine your research path. If it has to do with funding, you may need to reach out to folks to ask for money or information on a product. This will allow you to stay focused on and interested in your research.

Keep your plan realistic —

Your topic could be the best in the field, but do you have enough resources to finish the project? Suppose your research project involves traveling halfway around the world to conduct a field investigation. The question you must ask yourself is: can I afford that much time and money? If not, then no matter how brilliant your idea is, you need to think of something else. Save this one for when you receive a healthy research grant.

Prepare a research project timeline —

Having a timeline is everything. It keeps you on track all the time. You should have a timeline set out in the first week, stating targets that you must achieve throughout the duration of the project. Things could go wrong here and there, and you can always adjust dates, but it is very important to have a schedule, ideally broken down further into weekly targets. Ask your supervisor about what kind of targets you should set and try to achieve these on a weekly basis. Doing this should help you avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Communicate and Execute —

Once you have made progress, always communicate to interested parties what progress you have made and when decision points have been reached. This builds trust and confidence in those parties.

These are some general rules that apply to every research project. You will definitely have to alter a few things here and there depending on your area of interest and your topic. Remember that persistence is the key. You may feel like giving up when things go off track, but stick with it and you’ll not only emerge with a completed project, you’ll also gain lots of invaluable skills along the way.

While all the above does seem simple, we as Turf Managers find it difficult to do. The reason we have the VTF and the VTC in place is so that we can review our needs to determine if a valid resource project is needed and make a decision on whether or not we can fund it. This is a reminder that The Virginia Tech Team is available to take on research projects should we agree one is needed and fundable.

Let’s work together to make 2019 a huge success for all of us!

Sincerely,

Scott H. Woodward

President, VTC

Did you know —

You can make a donation directly to the Virginia Turfgrass Foundation at www.virginiaturf.org/ turfgrass_foundation.html

Scott Woodward, President