Mitch Baum grew up in central Iowa. A Bondurant Blue Jay, he came to Iowa State to be an engineer.
“One problem, I didn’t really understand what engineers did on a day to day basis,” said Baum.
After realizing engineering wasn’t as hands on as he had hoped, Baum remembered a class about soil he really enjoyed taught by Dr. Michael Thompson.
“I didn’t grow up on a farm,” said Baum. “I had no experience with agronomy but I took that class and wound up talking soil chemistry with Dr. Thompson during his office hours.”
Based on his interest in soil chemistry, Baum made the switch changing his major to agronomy.
Rebecca Vittetoe, student in our MS Agronomy distance masters program recently won the Muenchrath award. Named after Deborah Muenchrath the award is giving to the student with the most outstanding creative component. It is available to a student who has distinguished themselves academically, creatively and professionally. 
Mitch Baum grew up in central Iowa. A Bondurant Blue Jay, he came to Iowa State to be an engineer.
Angelos arrived at Iowa State University on March 19, 2019 for a five-month program. During his visit, Angelos has been working with Dr. Archontoulis to provide technical support on the FACTS project and design a web interface and data flow simulation model that will be used to show yield predictions. Angelos is also working to create a website that would provide project information and updates to site visitors. Dr. Archontoulis said, “I have really enjoy hosting Angelos because of his motivation and drive to learn and participate in the project.” Angelos has contributed a significant amount of technical support to the project, but has also valued all that he has learned from Dr. Archontoulis and his colleagues that have been working on the project. Angelos said, “When first arriving to Iowa State, I had little knowledge about agriculture as my studies are in computer science and engineering, but after spending time with Dr. Sotirios I have gained a wealth of knowledge on the industry as well as enhanced my computer science skills through hands on learning opportunities.”
Leandro Tonello Zuffo, a PhD student visiting from Federal University of Viçosa in Brazil with an interest in agronomy arrived to Iowa State University on August 30, 2018 and is conducting research with Dr. Thomas Lubberstedt. Leandro’s research focus is on the application of tools and methods provided by genome analysis to understand the composition of complex traits and phenomena, to determine and exploit genetic diversity in elite and exotic germplasm and apply this knowledge to plant breeding.
John Jones was the recipient of our Teaching Excellence Award. The purpose of this award to is recognize and encourage outstanding achievement by graduate students in teaching. John teaches our Agronomy 354 Soil and Plant Growth and he currently is assistant coach of the Iowa State University soil judging team. 
PhD candidate John Jones was awarded with the Future Leaders in Science Award from the ASA-CSSA-SSSA. Speaking with colleagues who had attended the ASA-CSSA-SSSA Congressional Visits Day in the past led him to apply for the award. The tri-societies provide workshops and sessions for graduate students who have an interest in communicating their science to a broader audience. After interacting with actively engaged graduate students and representatives from the ASA-CSSA-SSSA science policy office, the Future Leaders of Science Award seemed like an excellent opportunity for John to expand his understanding of science communicator. 
Kevin Falk was this year’s American Seed Trade Association 1st place video winner! He was awarded on December 3rd, and we are so proud of this amazing accomplishment. Kevin’s concept was about setting the record straight on common misconceptions in the seed industry. He focused specifically chose whether farmers can recycle their seed in following years, their interactions with big companies and the intellectual property that those big companies hold with regards to seed. He used the public to ask his questions about the misconception and he also used Agronomy Graduate Students to describe how the misconceptions are wrong, what they do and their goal towards helping farmers.