In this Convo of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Dr. Jennifer Bousselot, Assistant Professor at Colorado State University (CSU) in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Jennifer is exploring new and innovative ways to improve the productivity and aesthetics of modern urban spaces by harnessing the twin powers of the sun and plantlife. She specializes and is a leading expert in green roof research on native species evaluations, plant drought tolerance, integration with solar panels, and rooftop agrivoltaics.

Jennifer shares a bit about her background, growing up on a 360-acre farm in Iowa, and was the youngest of 8 kids. She and her twin sister worked on the farm, and carried their deep farming roots into their careers. She earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Iowa State University, and after a stint as a horticulture agent for the CSU Extension office in Douglas County, she followed her passion and pursued a doctorate of science in horticulture at CSU.

Jennifer shares details on her green roofs project for her doctoral thesis, highlighting how she came upon rooftop agrovoltaics as a happy accident, finding there was a great synergy between the plants and solar panels; the plants grew better, and the solar performed better because of the plants’ cooling effect.

With a roster of graduate students and researchers, her team is pushing the boundaries of horticultural science with numerous pieces of published research and scientific discovery every year. She goes into the history of green roofs, and discusses her research on rooftop agrivoltaics and its benefits, including enhanced food production and security, improving clean energy pathways, and exploring sustainability integrations.