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Indiana Ag News Headlines
Shanower to Replace Ramaswamy at NIFA
Indiana Ag Connection - 04/23/2018

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Research, Education, Economics and Acting Chief Scientist Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young announced that Thomas Shanower will become Acting Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Shanower will be replacing outgoing NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy is an Indian American agricultural scientist who attended the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1973 and a Master of Science (Agriculture) in agricultural entomology in 1976. He then earned his Ph.D. in Entomology from Rutgers University. He completed the executive Management Development Program from Harvard University in 2001.

From 1997 to 2006 Ramaswamy was head of the Department of Entomology at Kansas State University, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor. He was then the Associate Dean of Purdue University College of Agriculture and directed the University's agricultural research programs from 2006 to 2009.

In 2009, Ramaswamy was appointed as the Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University and Director of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

On March 2012 President Barack Obama announced his intention to appoint Ramaswamy as Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Ramaswamy is married to Gita N. Ramaswamy who is director of academic programs, assessment, and accreditation at Oregon State University. Their daughter Megha Ramaswamy is an assistant professor at University of Kansas Medical Center.

"Dr. Shanower brings more than 20 years of experience in scientific research and management, and he will maintain a steady hand at the helm of NIFA," said Dr. Jacobs-Young. "NIFAs' support of the best and brightest scientists has resulted in groundbreaking discoveries that combat childhood obesity, improve rural economic growth, address water availability issues, increase food production, explore new sources of energy, mitigate climate variability and ensure food safety. We salute Dr. Ramaswamy for his tireless enthusiasm at NIFA in support of agriculture-related research and education."

Dr. Shanower comes to the post from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), where he served as the Associate Area Director for the Pacific West Area (PWA). From 2007 to 2015, he served as the Center Director for ARS' Center for Grain and Animal Health Research in Manhattan, Kan.

Raised in Naperville, Ill., Shanower received a B.S. in Biology from Marietta College in Ohio, followed by a M.S. in Entomology from the University of Illinois. As a member of the Peace Corps, he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests in the Kingdom of Tonga (South Pacific) for 2.5 years. After returning to the United States, he attended the University of California, Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in Entomology in 1989.

Dr. Shanower worked 8 years at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India, and 2 years at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa. In 1998, he accepted a research entomologist position at the Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory (NPARL) in Sidney, Montana, where his personal research focused on biological control of the wheat stem sawfly. He was research leader for the Pest Management Research Unit at NPARL from 2000 to 2007.

NIFA's mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA's investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture.


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