Hometown: Fort Morgan, Colorado.

When did you join UMRA? 2016

What was your very first job? Branch station agronomist for Colorado State University, in Hesperus, located in the Four Corners region of Colorado. 

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Agronomy.

Where were you in 1968? On the St Paul Campus of the U of M.

Do you have a favorite place on the U of M campus? In the fields on the St. Paul Campus looking back at the water tower. 

If you were an Olympic athlete, what would you like your sport to be? A marathoner. 

What is a fun fact about you we might not know? I like to work with wood and travel. I’m currently in Palm Springs, California

What is something you currently enjoy doing with your time? I volunteered as an engineer-agronomist for Compatible Technology International (CTI) from 2010 through 2018. I designed hand-powered harvesting and threshing tools for small landholders in Africa, specifically Malawi, Tanzania, and Senegal. In East Africa, the work was with peanuts (ground nuts). I developed a peanut lifter that was oxen powered and reduced the lifting time for the women farmers by a factor of 10; a peanut stripper that removed the pods from the plant in one-third the time the women spent picking by hand; and a peanut sheller that increased shelling from 2 pounds to 70 pounds per hour. In Senegal, I designed a hand-powered pearl millet/sorghum thresher that increased clean grain from 25 pounds per hour with the traditional mortar and pestle to nearly 100 pounds per hour. In December, CTI decided to close prototype work at the shop in St. Paul and have all work done in Africa by the onsite manufacturers of the various tools, thus terminating my activities. I’m now volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.