Dr. Adrienne Kleintop

Dr. Kleintop is an applied plant scientist with expertise in plant breeding and genetics.  She completed her Ph.D. in corn breeding and a postdoctoral fellowship in dry bean breeding.  Her research focuses on breeding for improved nutritional composition. Prior to DelVal, she developed the curriculum and a degree program in “Plant Biology and Tropical Agriculture” in Hawaii. 

At DelVal, Dr. Kleintop teaches courses in Plant Physiology, Plant Pathology, Plant Breeding, Senior Seminar, and co-teaches a course in Agricultural Biotechnology.  She has also organized course trips to Hawaii. She serves as the faculty co-advisor to the Floral Society. 

Dr. Kleintop mentors student research projects in plant breeding and projects involving orchids. Examples of student research projects have included evaluating maize landraces from South and Central America, nutritional comparison of different crop varieties, and orchid propagation research. Dr. Kleintop has also been involved in a summer internship collaboration with W. Atlee Burpee & Co.  As part of the internship, DelVal students have the opportunity to gain hands-on plant breeding experience working with a range of different annual vegetables and flowers as part of a commercial plant variety trial. Dr. Kleintop and her students have presented their research at regional and national meetings. 

Dr. Kleintop serves as the co-Chair of the DelVal Food System Institute, and she is also active in professional societies.  She served as the President-Elect of the Northeastern American Society for Horticultural Science (NE-ASHS) in 2019, and the President of the Northern-Region ASHS (NR-ASHS) in 2020 and was involved in organizing the 2020 and 2021 Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference (NEPPSC).