About Me

After growing up in Southern California, I obtained degrees in biology, plant science, and plant physiology before coming to NW Iowa to teach at Dordt.

• B.Sc. Biology, Calvin College
• M.Sc. Plant Science, U.C. Riverside
• Ph.D. Plant Physiology, Virginia Tech

I taught courses in agronomy, soil science, crop protection, and horticulture as well as a senior capstone.  These courses challenged students to understand how perspectives brought to an area of study orient the questions and directions taken by a discipline. Similarly, students discovered how a Christian perspective is integral to studying a discipline's practices and technologies as well as the biotic world. Among the courses I taught were:

• Introduction to Plant Sciences
• Nature and Properties of Soils
• Horticultural Crops
• Forage Crop Management
• Entomology and Pest Management
• Plant Pathology an/d Weed Science
• Field Crop Management
• Senior Capstone Seminar
• Agriculture Directed Study

Additionally, I mentored Senior Directed Research team projects including some of the following representative studies:

• Evidence for Corn Rootworm Egg-laying in Alfalfa
• The Potential of the Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test as a Management Tool for Iowa Corn Production
• Allelopathy of Hazelnuts
• Effects of Hybrid and Harvest Moisture on Corn Grain Extractable Starch for Ethanol Production
• Effects of a Humic Acid Product (Ignite^TM) on Corn Production
• Effect of Compost Tea on Soil Microbial Respiration of Sterilized Soils for Strawberry Production
• Effect of Soil Applications of Neem Leaf on Root-knot Nematode on 'Tiny Tim' Tomato Plants

After retiring from teaching in 2015, I consulted for four years as an agronomist for the dairy industry.  Since November of 2019, I have served as an independent consultant to the Northwest Iowa Research Institute (NWIRI) by helping prepare and submit grant applications as well as managing ongoing institutional grants for Dordt University.