tlp24@cornell.eduDegree Program: Ph.D.
Concentration: Viticulture
Advisor: Justine Vanden Heuvel
Office: 25 Plant Science Building
Cell phone (631) 513-6780
Education
M.S. Cornell University, Agricultural Economics (2002)
M.Dipl. The University of Edinburgh, Biodiversity & Taxonomy of Plants (1999)
B.S. Iowa State University, Global Science Policy and Bioethics (1998)
Research focus
My Ph.D. research is related to the cultural practices and physiology affecting production and degradation of flavors and aromas in cool climate wine grapes. In particular, I am focusing on the impact of Riesling cropload and its ultimate role in the characterization of wine flavor/chemistry, vine physiology, and economic sustainability. I am developing new models for understanding the economic sustainability of certain viticultural management practices.
About me
I grew up on a cattle ranch in northwestern South Dakota, near the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, and received my early education at one of the last remaining one-room schoolhouses on the Great Plains. My family and my hometown of Lemmon, South Dakota, were subjects of a book written by my school's librarian, Kathleen Norris, titled "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography," which became an international bestseller and was a 1993 New York Times Notable Book of the Year. This forgotten corner of America defines and inspires much of who I am.
I completed my undergraduate studies in three years at Iowa State University, where I was the student speaker at graduation and received several national postgraduate awards, including Phi Beta Kappa, the Rotary Scholarship, the Udall Scholarship, and the Truman Scholarship National Finalist distinction. I subsequently earned a Master's Diploma in Botany at The University of Edinburgh and Royal Botanic Gardens (U.K.), where I was a Rotary Scholar.
During the Clinton Presidency, I worked as a research associate for biodiversity policy at the National Institutes of Health, and was an intern at The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. In 2002 I completed a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics at Cornell University, where my research focused on marketing New York wines, and received the Outstanding Thesis award from Cornell's Department of Applied Economics & Management.
I worked for the past five years as Chief Operating Officer at Bedell Cellars, the premier vineyard on the North Fork of Long Island, and during my tenure as COO, Bedell was recognized as one of the "Top 10 Hottest Small Brands" in the world by Wine Business Monthly.
I am an active Board member of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, and Chair-Elect of the Iowa State University Young Alumni Council.
Publications
Rosenthal, J.P. and T. Preszler. 2002. Biodiversity in biomedical research. In: Conservation medicine: Ecological health in practice. A.A. Aguirre, R.S. Ostfeld, G.M. Tabor, C. House, and M.C. Pearl (Eds.), pp. 327-344. Oxford University Press, New York.
Preszler, T. and T.M. Schmit. 2008. Modeling perceptions of locally produced wine among restaurateurs in New York City. American Association of Wine Economists Working Paper #29.