This year, Scott Golem, Associate Director, HESIC, and Ashley Paling, Research Lead, HESIC, were both named Niagara 40 Under 40 recipients. While the award recognizes emerging leaders across the region, it also reflects the growing momentum of HESIC and NC’s role in advancing applied research that directly supports industry.

For Paling, the recognition reflects the work of the entire HESIC team and the rapid growth of the centre’s applied research capabilities over the past year.

“It means that all of that effort is working,” she said. “It’s paying off, and that’s really nice to see.”

For Golem, the recognition represents a full-circle moment in a career that has moved between teaching, industry, and applied research.

“It helps validate all of the work that I’ve done to get to this point,” he said. “Being able to bridge that gap between industry and academia and have that recognized is really cool.”

Together, Paling and Golem are helping lead a growing portfolio of projects that support companies in solving practical industry challenges while also preparing students for careers in the evolving agriculture and environmental sectors.

“The real value of innovation doesn’t necessarily come from discovery,” Golem said. “It comes from adoption.”

That mindset shapes the work happening inside HESIC’s greenhouse and research facilities every day.

HESIC’s research greenhouse and laboratory spaces are designed to bridge the gap between early-stage ideas and commercial implementation. The centre allows companies to test products, technologies, growing systems, and environmental approaches in controlled, commercially relevant environments before scaling them into production.

“We’re kind of in that sweet spot,” Paling said. “We’re large enough to be commercially relevant, but still small enough to move quickly and support companies in that pre-commercialization phase.”

That flexibility allows HESIC to support a wide variety of applied research projects.

Current work includes disease-resistant crop trials, environmental testing, technology validation, alternative growing systems, precision agriculture tools, and projects involving waste-stream repurposing for agricultural use. Researchers are also supporting companies looking to validate products before bringing them to market.

“They need that preliminary data before they can commercialize,” Golem said. “That’s really where we fit in.”

One of HESIC’s advantages within NC’s Research and Innovation division is its ability to connect industry partners with expertise across multiple innovation centres. While HESIC specializes in horticulture and environmental sciences, projects can also intersect with support from the Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre, the Food and Beverage Innovation Centre, the Business and Commercialization Innovation Centre, and the Healthy Aging and Wellness Innovation Centre.

That means partners can access expertise in areas such as manufacturing, automation, product development, food and beverage innovation, commercialization, market strategy, and health and wellness applications through NC’s broader applied research ecosystem.

“We’re not operating in a silo,” Paling said. “If a partner needs support beyond horticulture, we can help connect them with the right expertise across NC.”

Both Paling and Golem emphasized that HESIC’s approach is intentionally collaborative and partner focused. Some businesses rely heavily on the research team’s expertise, while others prefer to be closely involved in trial design, testing decisions, and project development throughout the process.

“We really value that collaboration with partners,” Paling said. “Every project looks a little different depending on what they need, and we want them to feel involved in the process.”

That hands-on relationship often includes facility tours, regular project updates, and opportunities for partners to see their concepts move from ideas on paper into active greenhouse and laboratory trials.

The new applied research greenhouse was intentionally designed to replicate multiple commercial growing environments while maintaining the flexibility needed for experimentation and validation.

“We can basically replicate most commercial growing systems now,” Golem said. “That’s what makes the facility so valuable for industry.”

The facility includes vertical grow systems, contained research bays, analytical laboratories, environmental controls, drought stress testing capabilities, advanced imaging technologies, and greenhouse spaces that allow researchers to safely test products and processes that commercial growers may not want to trial directly in active production environments.

Because the greenhouse includes fully contained research bays with strict sanitation and biosecurity protocols, HESIC can safely conduct disease, pest, and pesticide trials in isolated environments.

“With climate change going the way that it is right now, we’re going to see more greenhouse production going forward,” Golem said. “Controlled environment agriculture is becoming more important because it’s more controllable.”

That shift is creating demand for new technologies and growing strategies that can help producers improve sustainability, increase crop resilience, and maintain food production under changing environmental conditions.

One area where HESIC is already exploring future-focused solutions is lighting technology.

Golem said many people underestimate how significantly adjustable light spectrums can influence plant growth, nutrient content, crop timing, and overall plant quality.

“You can control plant growth, nutrient content, even colour, simply by changing the light spectrum,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of potential there going forward.”

The centre is also expanding its use of advanced imaging systems, analytical testing, precision data collection, and artificial intelligence (AI) to help partners better understand what is happening throughout a plant’s growth cycle. For Paling, the value of these tools is not simply in having access to new technology, but in applying it with purpose.

“It’s not just about using AI because it’s trendy,” Paling said. “It has to be intentional and solve a real problem.”

That same future-focused approach is also shaping HESIC’s cannabis research, where the team is looking beyond traditional recreational market priorities and exploring medicinal and therapeutic applications. Rather than focusing only on THC, researchers are examining how minor cannabinoids and other plant compounds could support future health and wellness innovation.

One upcoming project will focus on rare cannabis-derived compounds believed to have significant anti-inflammatory potential, with researchers exploring how to increase production and improve extraction capabilities for future pharmaceutical applications.

“Health and wellness is a much larger long-term market,” Golem said. “That’s where we see a lot of opportunity going forward.”

From the earliest stages of project planning through data collection, harvesting, and analysis, students work directly alongside researchers and industry partners while gaining hands-on experience in both greenhouse production and laboratory environments.

Paling herself began at HESIC as a student in 2021, progressing through research assistant and research associate roles to her current position as Research Lead.

“I’ve seen every stage of how students are involved,” she said. “What makes it special is that they’re truly hands-on.”

Students participate in experimental design discussions, plant care, greenhouse operations, analytical testing, and project analysis while also contributing fresh perspectives to research discussions.

“They ask questions that sometimes make you stop and rethink your own assumptions,” Golem said. “That perspective is valuable.”

The combination of applied research, greenhouse operations, and analytical lab work gives students experience that extends well beyond traditional classroom learning.

“We can teach both the grow side and the analytical lab side,” Golem said. “That gives students a much broader skill set when they move into industry.”

In many cases, students later move directly into industry positions connected to the projects they supported at HESIC.

“They already understand the products, the research process, and the problem-solving side of it,” Golem said. “That makes them incredibly valuable.”

That applied experience is also helping create direct pathways into industry. As students work alongside researchers and industry partners throughout projects, many graduate with hands-on experience using commercial-scale technologies, participating in experimental design, and solving real operational challenges.

“We’re seeing more students move directly into industry roles because they already understand the R&D process,” Golem said. “They understand the products, the trials, and how to think through problem-solving in a practical way.”

“We always joke that it’s basically a scientific playground for plant nerds,” Paling said.

Golem describes the greenhouse in much the same way, as a place where curiosity can be tested in real time and where the work connects directly to meaningful outcomes for industry and community.

“I love plants,” Golem said. “We can grow whatever they want. I can test whatever they want. It’s a limitless setup in a way.”

Behind the humour is a facility intentionally designed to support innovation across horticulture and environmental sciences while helping industry partners move ideas closer to real-world adoption.

Whether that means improving food production, validating emerging technologies, exploring sustainable agricultural practices, or advancing medicinal plant research, the work happening inside HESIC continues to position NC at the forefront of applied research in the sector.

For Paling, that work is about helping ideas move from curiosity to commercialization.

“Being able to take ideas and curiosity and test them and validate them, and lead that idea into commercialization, is such an exciting process,” she said.

For Golem, it comes back to the puzzle of applied research, finding practical answers to complex problems that matter beyond the greenhouse.

“It’s just a giant way of solving puzzles,” he said, “that actually have an impact on the world.”

As HESIC continues to expand its research capabilities and industry partnerships, both researchers see the centre playing an important role in helping industry adapt to changing environmental conditions, evolving technologies, and the future of food production.

“People underestimate how much science goes into the food they buy every day,” Golem said. “There’s a tremendous amount of research, testing, and innovation happening behind the scenes.”

That behind-the-scenes work is what makes the 40 Under 40 recognition feel especially fitting. While the award highlights Golem and Paling as emerging leaders, their story also reflects the momentum building inside HESIC, where applied research, commercialization support, and hands-on collaboration help move ideas from curiosity to real-world impact.

Businesses looking to test, validate, or advance horticultural and environmental science innovations can connect with David DiPietro to learn how NC’s Horticultural and Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre provides applied research support.