Leopold Center becomes focus for research project, for a change
Leopold Center grants spark more resesarch
Read Obrycki's report [PDF]
The Leopold Center is known for providing grants for research projects, but rarely is the focus of research. John F. Obrycki, Jr. turned the tables, and made the Leopold Center the subject of his senior honors research project at Miami (Oxford, Ohio) University.
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| John F. Obrycki, Jr. |
With a double major in history and environmental studies, Obrycki felt that the Leopold Center was a good fit for his project. An Ames native, Obrycki also was familiar with the Leopold Center, especially since his father, John J. Obrycki, Sr. (now an entomologist at the University of Kentucky) had received research funds from the Leopold Center while at Iowa State.
Obycki's project is entitled “Broadening the Communities to Which We Belong: Iowa, Agriculture, and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture,” and focuses on the history of the Center, its successes and challenges.
Obrycki had concerns about the depth and breadth of his chosen subject. The project was extensive, especially for an undergraduate student. He also was concerned about his age relative to the subject matter.
“In 1987, I was one year old when the Iowa Groundwater Protection Act was signed and created the Leopold Center," he said. "I didn’t have a foundation of knowledge and the experiences to pull from that the people I interviewed had. But the project was a great learning opportunity.”
His hypothesis: “The Leopold Center is a model* for an institutional approach to agricultural issues.” He explained that “the asterisk represents the limitations or obstacles that the Center faces that further show how the Center can be a great example by learning how it approaches these issues.”
The report covers topics including Iowa agriculture in the 1980s, the Groundwater Protection Act, and the Leopold Center and its approach to sustainable agriculture. Obrycki conducted quantitative and qualitative assessments of the Center’s impact through its research grants, and through more than 50 interviews with Leopold Center advisory board members, staff and stakeholders.
Obrycki noted a theme of time as he was conducting his project.
- Time: The Leopold Center celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007 but, as one interviewee stated, “twenty years is a short time, really (to fully assess the Center's impact).” The Center has several great successes over a short time.
- Timing: The Groundwater Protection Act and subsequently the Leopold Center were created because the right people convened at the right time 20 years ago. This collaboration still exists through the Center's efforts to be a catalyst and convener for sustainable agriculture.
- Timelessness: The Center addresses large questions regarding sustainable agriculture, a timeless concept. The Center is a place where “a continual process” of finding answers can occur.
He concluded by indicating the challenges that the Center faces: its relationship with mainstream agriculture; the size of the Center; its level of funding; communication with agricultural groups, farmers and the public; and the Center’s involvement with policy. He cited major successes of the Center: its ability to be a voice for change, its efficient use of limited resources, and its visibility to raise awareness of sustainable agriculture.
The project has been a two-year “journey” for Obrycki, completed early in the Spring 2008 semester prior to his graduation. He has presented the project at Miami University, the Forum on Agricultural and Rural History at Mississippi State University, and to the Leopold Center staff and advisory board. He hopes to continue this research more in-depth when he moves on to graduate school next year.
Leopold Center grants spark more research
What are the top-cited grant projects of the Leopold Center? Check out the Top 20
One aspect of John F. Obrycki, Jr.'s project was to explore the outcomes of the research that the Leopold Center has funded.
Using on-line tools such as Web of Science, Obrycki found 107 publications were generated from 233 Leopold Center grant projects, which were cited a total of 2,105 times.
One journal article in particular, “Premaginal development, survival, and field abundance of insect predators on transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis corn” from Environmental Entomology, has been cited 133 times in the scholarly world. This article was the outcome of a 1995 Leopold Center grant conducted by Marlin Rice, John J. Obrycki, Sr., Leslie C. Lewis, and Clinton Pilcher.
According to the Web of Science, citations are “footnotes or references published with a scholarly journal article. These cited references are authors’ acknowledgments of their debt to the published research findings of others.”
So, what do all these citations mean to non-researchers?
It means that scholarly peers are reading the results of Leopold Center-funded projects and continuing their own research based on published findings. It means a network of information is developing with its roots at the Leopold Center. It means the impact that the Leopold Center has on advancing agriculture is great.
Obrycki cited this quote about Leopold Center-funded research, taken from a newsletter interview with ISU animal science professor Mark Honeyman: “None of this would have been possible with not only the funding support, but also the ethical and philosophical leadership of the Leopold Center.”