William Gallus

William Gallus is a professor of Meteorology in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University. He has been at Iowa State since 1995, and has had collaborations with the Iowa Water Center since 2010. His primary research focus has been on improved understanding and forecasting of the thunderstorm systems that cause the majority of flash flooding in Iowa, and how best to use numerical weather model forecasts of rainfall for these events in streamflow forecast models to give more advanced warning of floods. He holds a BS in Meteorology from Penn State University, and an MS and PhD in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University. Bill and his wife live in Ames, and have three adult sons who also live in central Iowa.

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Tom Fenton

Thomas Fenton is a Professor Emeritus in Agronomy. He has a BS and MS in Soil Science from the University of Illinois and a PhD from Iowa State University. In the Agronomy Department he was a major professor for 45 graduate students in Soil Morphology and Genesis. He was the Experiment Station Leader in the NCSS (National Cooperative Soil Survey Program) from 1970 to 2004. A state-wide system of soil productivity (Corn Suitability Ratings) was developed by him. It is used by county assessors, Department of Revenue, relators, farmers, bankers, farm managers and others interested in valuation of agriculture land. The first projects in Iowa to computerize soil maps and data were led by Fenton. Presently, he does consulting work in soils and geology and until COVID-19 volunteered at the local food pantry and meal program (Food At First) for 30-35 hours per week. In the early 1960’s Tom was a member of a soil landscape research team led by Dr. Robert Ruhe. Their research area was in northeast Iowa. By extensive mapping, soil coring, and subsurface drilling they were able to prove the Iowan drift did not exist but rather the landscape was formed by multicycles of erosion into other older glacial deposits.

Mahdi Al-Kaisi

Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi is a professor of soil physics (soil management/environment), Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. He received his MS and PhD in soil Physics from North Dakota State University. Professor Al-Kaisi has been on the faculty at Iowa State University since 2000, where his research focuses on the effects of cropping and tillage systems, crop residue management, cover crops, and nitrogen application on soil carbon dynamics and sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, and other ecosystem services. In addition, he studies the interaction effects of agricultural practices and environmental factors such as, weather variability and landscape spatial variability on soil organic carbon sequestration and systems sustainability and productivity. The focus of his research is to develop sustainable management practices that improve soil health, productivity, and environmental services. As a result of his research, he has developed field calculators to assess soil management practices impacts, such as, tillage systems, crop residue, and crop rotation effects on soil sustainability. Also, he developed soil carbon index for soils in Iowa. Dr. Al-Kaisi is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of American, and Soil and Water Conservation Society.

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J. Gordon Arbuckle

J. Arbuckle is professor and extension rural sociologist at Iowa State University. His research and extension efforts focus on improving the environmental and social performance of agricultural systems. His primary areas of interest are drivers of farmer and agricultural stakeholder action related to soil and water quality. He is director of the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, an annual survey of Iowa farmers, and Chair of the ISU Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture.

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Carmen Gomes

Dr. Carmen Gomes is an Associate Professor at Mechanical Engineering and Associate Director of the Virtual Reality Applications Center. Dr. Gomes’s background is in food process engineering. Dr. Gomes’s laboratory focuses on both fundamental and more immediately applied research in functional delivery systems and biosensors in the areas of food safety, shelf-life extension of food products, nutrient bioavailability, and agricultural applications. Dr. Gomes’s overall research emphasis is to design novel nanoscale materials using biopolymers. The study of stimuli-responsive biopolymer nanostructures is of particular interest. These stimuli-responsive nanostructures have been investigated in food safety applications as delivery systems of active compounds and as platforms for foodborne pathogen detection (biosensors). Dr. Gomes enjoys cooking, audible books and practicing yoga on her spare time.

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Omar de Kok-Mercado

Omar de Kok-Mercado is the project coordinator for the Science-based Trials of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips (STRIPS) and the Consortium for Cultivating Human and Naturally reGenerative Enterprises (C-CHANGE) at Iowa State University. In his role, he coordinates transdisciplinary research and extension activities on prairie strips and regenerative agriculture communicating their impacts on farm livelihoods, soil, water, and wildlife conservation. Omar holds a BS in Agronomy and an MS in Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry, both from Iowa State University. Most recently, Omar led the STRIPS team in writing a national environmental policy for the Conservation Reserve Program, a federal cost-share program for farmers and landowners.

Biswa Das

Biswa Das is an associate professor in the department of Community and Regional Planning and Extension economist with ISU Extension and Outreach, Community and Economic Development. In these roles, he teaches graduate courses on Public Finance and policy analysis, conducts research and extension programming in the broad areas of public finance, economic development, public policy and natural resource and environmental economics. He is the PI of the Iowa Government Finance Initiative (IGFI) and works closely with local governments in Iowa to develop and disseminate educational content to different stakeholder groups. He has been involved in several funded research projects, both at the national and state level on issues relating to public finance, housing, transportation, workforce development. In the past he has been involved in water research in the Texas High Plains where he developed an integrated framework, combining economics and groundwater hydrology to study the policy implications of extending the life of the Ogallala aquifer. He has been with ISU since 2012. He holds a PhD in agricultural economics from Texas Tech University and lives in Ames with his wife, and two children.

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William Beck

Billy Beck is the Extension Forestry Specialist (State Specialist) with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, and is responsible for forestry education and extension programming across all of Iowa’s 99 counties. He also holds research and teaching appointments in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management. His research and extension programming focus heavily on the impacts that trees, forests, and forest / riparian management have on water quality and flood mitigation within Midwestern watersheds. Billy has been with ISUEO since 2019. He holds degrees from Michigan State University (B.S., Forestry), Southern Illinois University (M.S., Forest Hydrology), and Iowa State University (Ph.D., Environmental Science). Billy lives south of Nevada, IA, with his wife, two cats, and one motorcycle.

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Emily Zimmerman

Emily Zimmerman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and Global Resource Systems in the Department of Horticulture. Emily’s research interests focus on understanding the relationship between land use and ecosystem services in working landscapes. Recently, Emily’s work has focused primarily on evaluating placement, costs, and environmental outcomes associated with spatially targeted best management practices in agricultural landscapes. In addition to her research, Emily teaches several courses, including Natural Resource Policy, and has co-led study abroad and travel courses on four continents. Emily has been in her current role since August 2019. She holds a BS in Biology and Global Resource Systems from Iowa State University, a MS in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Science from Iowa State University.

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Matthew Helmers

Matt Helmers is the Director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, the Dean’s Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University, where he has been on the faculty since 2003. Dr. Helmers’ research areas include studies on the impact of nutrient management, cropping practices, drainage design and management, and strategic placement of buffer systems on nutrient export from agricultural landscapes. He has a regional Extension program working to increase adoption of practices that have the potential to reduce downstream nutrient export. Matt grew up in Sibley, IA and spent substantial time on his grandparent’s farm growing up and was actively engaged in showing cattle.