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Andrew Ruppier joins Dr. Diana Cochran’s research staff

“I joined the Horticulture Department at Iowa State University in April.  Before coming to Iowa State, I served as a member of the United States Air Force as a C-130 crew member and chaplain assistant.  After leaving active duty, I received a BS degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Drake University in Des Moines, IA.  I  also spent 3 years at DuPont as a Senior Research Associate working in genome edited trait expression engineering.

I have a passion for sharing my experience with students, working in the outdoors, and that is what brought me to my current role at ISU.  At home I breed giant sunflower varieties.  Ont he weekends you can generally find me at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt, hunting, bird watching, and fishing”.