Research Interest

Tina Marie (Waliczek) Cade is currently a Professor of Horticulture in the Department of Agriculture at Texas State University.  Her research interests are diverse and have focused on the area of urban/plant interactions including studies on the effects of green spaces on people and the influence gardening on perceptions of quality of life, and interior plants on job satisfaction and interior space usage in buildings.  She has also researched teaching techniques in horticulture, such as studying the benefits of integrating service-learning into the horticulture curriculum.  Lastly, she is interested in composting and managing invasive species using large-scale composting systems, as well as the economics of integrating cafeteria composting programs into universities.  She has been leading a group of graduate students in studying different invasive aquatic species and the potential to manage the species by harvesting and using them in compost.  The research evaluates whether seeds and other propagules in which the species may spread can be killed through high temperatures achieved in the compost piles.  The compost is then evaluated in the lab on compost industry quality attributes such as levels of nutrition and presence of pathogens.  Invasive species studied thus far include Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce), Hydrilla verticillata (hydrilla) and Arundo donax (Georgia cane).