An ambassador for WSU’s signature apple — and women in science

As Kate Evans established herself in the male-dominated field of plant breeding, she noticed subtle ways that her influence was sidelined.

In the 1990s in the United Kingdom, when she got her first position as a principal investigator in an apple and pear breeding program, she stood out among all the men.

"I would be almost always the only woman in a meeting of tree fruit people, apple and pear people," she said. "I was trawling through photographs recently, and I found one of the early days of me leading the folks who were funding my program. They were all men. All men, mostly in suits. Then there was me in this pink jacket thing."

She began to see how gender gaps could be reinforced in ways that were sometimes not immediately apparent. She would be at meetings where she realized the "meeting" had continued while the men were in the restroom during breaks. She noticed that even when she was the expert in the room, she often was not seen as such.

"People would be having technical conversations with my colleagues about the tree growth stage or disease or pests," said Evans, a professor in Washington State University's Department of Horticulture since 2008. "And then the conversation with me would be about whether I had any vacation planned or what was my family up to. I had a realization: How come they're having that conversation, and yet I'm having this conversation?"

She also dealt with the challenges of blending family life with a career. She has four children, and when they were young - and she was in Great Britain before coming to the U.S. - she frequently brought them into the field with her.

"As babies, all my children were in the carrier walking the orchard rows with me, even while I was on maternity leave, because I couldn't really stop my program," she said. "That is in itself a massive factor in terms of the struggle of not just women in science, but all women in the workplace. We all have that challenge."

At this point, Evans has more than found her voice, becoming an ambassador for WSU's efforts to bring new and improved apples to the public. She brought the signature Cosmic Crisp® apple to market, building on the work of her predecessor, Bruce Barritt.

Cosmic Crisp® has been a boon for apple growers, apple lovers and WSU, bringing in more than $28 million in royalties, the most of any commercialized research product at the university. Evans calls it "the right apple at the right moment for the right industry."

She's now working on the next big WSU apple variety, the Sunflare™, which has already generated excitement and attention, including a New York Times story, though it won't make it to grocery stores until 2029.

As a tree fruit breeder, Evans had a different approach to the idea of commercialization than scientists in other fields. Whereas many researchers may work on answering a scientific question or exploring a hypothesis and then consider commercial possibilities, working in tree fruit breeding is aimed from the very start at producing a variety for growers and consumers.

It's work that doesn't end when the apple goes to market. Evans is a tireless ambassador for the apple, working to keep the Cosmic Crisp® on the minds - and in the shopping carts - of consumers.

"I'm producing a product that goes directly in the hands of the consumer, and I need people to keep buying it," she said. "So it's not a one-and-done kind of deal."

Like other women who are successful in research commercialization, Evans cites the importance of mentorship. Early in her career, she worked with a raspberry breeder who set an example for how her own work might proceed, and Evans now serves as a similar guiding force for younger women in the field.

"That's why I'm pretty willing to sit on a panel or answer questions from the press, or continue to mentor graduate students through the various stages of their careers," she said. "I think it's really important."

Bucking the trend

At a time of persistent gender gaps in the commercialization of science, women researchers have produced scientific innovations with major impact at Washington State University. This is the final story in a five-part series on those scientists.