Iowa State University professors named to environmental protection agency scientific advisory committee

Two Iowa State University professors have been appointed to serve on the Agricultural Science Committee of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board.

Catherine Kling, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of economics, and Matthew Helmers, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, were nominated to the committee and agreed to serve starting Oct. 1.

The committee was created through the Agricultural Act of 2014 to provide advice to the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) on matters referred to the board, in consultation with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, may have a significant impact on farming and agriculture-related industries. The committee sought individuals with expertise in agriculture-related sciences, including economics; chemistry; engineering; agronomy; aquaculture science; biofuels engineering; biotechnology; crop and animal science; environmental chemistry; forestry; and hydrology.

Kling is director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015.

She earned a bachelor's degree in business and economics from the University of Iowa and a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland. Her research has contributed to the theory and practice of nonmarket valuation, the design of environmental programs to cost effectively achieve environmental improvement in water quality, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and other ecosystem services.

Helmers serves as the Dean’s Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Iowa State, a master’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech and a doctorate in agricultural and biological systems engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Helmers studies the impacts of land, nutrient and water management practices on water quality and water flow from agricultural lands.

(Released October 2016)