Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

New director named for Leopold Center

Back to Leopold Letter Winter 2011

A microbiologist with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will be the newest director of the Leopold Center in its 25-year history. Mark Rasmussen, supervisory microbiologist and director of the Division of Animal and Food Microbiology at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine in Laurel, Maryland, will begin work no later than June 1.

“Dr. Rasmussen brings to us a broad-based background and exceptional scientific, agricultural and administrative strengths that will provide strong leadership for the Leopold Center and for Iowa agriculture,” said Gregory Geoffroy, president of Iowa State University.

Geoffroy announced the appointment January 3 in a letter to the Leopold Center Advisory Board, staff and a 10-member committee that conducted the nationwide search.

At the FDA, Rasmussen has provided technical guidance and research support for regulatory decisions on drugs, feed additives and contaminants in animal feeds. He also worked 18 years as a scientist and research leader at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames, including service as a collaborating faculty member in Iowa State’s animal science and biomedical sciences departments. He has held research positions in private companies and has farmed full-time in Nebraska.

Rasmussen was raised on a farm in northeastern Nebraska west of Sioux City, Iowa. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture (1976) and a master’s degree in animal science (1979) from the University of Nebraska, a Ph.D. in dairy science (1986) from the University of Illinois and a master of business administration degree (1996) from Iowa State University.

His scientific expertise includes areas of microbiology, food safety, animal health, ruminant nutrition, veterinary medicine and antibiotic resistance. He holds two patents related to his research, including food safety technology used on an estimated 20 percent of the beef carcasses marketed in the United States.

He has presented lectures in an animal health management course at the University of Maryland.  While in Ames he taught graduate courses in rumen microbiology and lectured on agricultural technology in sociology classes.

Before joining the FDA in 2009, he worked for a biofuels company in Minnesota. He also worked briefly as a research scientist for Eastman Kodak after finishing graduate school.

Rasmussen was one of three candidates invited to the Iowa State campus for interviews in late November and early December. Other candidates were Abdullah Jaradat, a research leader at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Morris, Minnesota; and Thanos Papanicolaou, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa.

Sharron Quisenberry, ISU Vice President for Research and Economic Development, chaired the search committee that included four members of the Leopold Center Advisory Board. They were Bill Ehm, Dan Frieberg, Jennifer Steffen and Keith Summerville. 

Mark Honeyman, who coordinates ISU Research and Demonstration Farms, will continue as interim director at the Leopold Center until June 1. The Leopold Center’s first director was Dennis Keeney, followed by Fred Kirschenmann and Jerry DeWitt.

Back to Leopold Letter Winter 2011