To October’s MVP for Iowa STEM, continued success for STEM in Iowa creates a better future for feeding people in the state and billions around the globe. That is why DuPont Pioneer, a business committed to helping farmers produce bountiful crops throughout the world, and its President Paul Schickler devote time, talent and gifts that have helped nourish the flourishing STEM roots of Iowa.
The talent shared by DuPont Pioneer, including Schickler, an original member of the STEM Council’s executive committee, as well as Robin (Habeger) Greubel, academic outreach manager, and John Arbuckle, vice president of crop genetics research and development, among many others, have helped shape STEM Council opportunities to meet the needs of Iowa’s agricultural industry. Greubel helped develop recommendations for both the Business Engagement and STEM Support of Agriculture Science working groups, and Arbuckle serves on the South Central Regional STEM Advisory Board.
DuPont Pioneer hosted STEM leaders just last month from across the Midwest and beyond for the STEM Council’s fourth annual Midwest STEM Forum. The company’s outstanding facility in Johnston has also been home to a handful of regional STEM advisory board meetings.
In the last year, DuPont Pioneer has supported the development of the Agora: STEM Learning Communities for collaboration among STEM Scale-Up Program educators and helped launch an opportunity for Iowa schools to build Iowa STEM Equity training teams through the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE). The company also supported the STEM Council in reaching thousands of students in Washington, D.C. in 2014 at the USA Science and Engineering Festival. And, DuPont Pioneer opened its facility to a film crew earlier this year to develop an Iowa STEM Career video, helping inspire students with how they “work the bugs out.”
“We will need farmers, scientists and agronomists, and we will need leaders in global health, finance, environment, rural development, logistics, information technology, digital engineering and other roles that people may not think of when it comes to food and agriculture,” Schickler said. “That one student who participates in a STEM Council program may be the one who has the science breakthrough to feed billions of people.”
Thank you, Mr. Schickler and DuPont Pioneer, as well as the other 46 members of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and their leadership for growing STEM throughout Iowa.