Babcock receives Lee R. Kolmer award

Professor of economics Bruce Babcock was honored by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the college’s fall convocation when he was presented the Dean Lee R. Kolmer Award for Excellence in Applied Research. The award is named for a former college dean and is given to honor significant contributions to improving the welfare of Iowans through application of research.

Babcock has been a professor of economics at Iowa State since 1990 and currently holds the Cargill Endowed Chair of Energy Economics and serves as the director of the Biobased Industry Center. He was the director of CARD for 13 years.

Babcock began studying economics as an undergraduate at the University of California, Davis, where he earned both his BS and MS degrees. He went on to study agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his PhD. His most recent work has focused on agricultural and bioenergy markets, where his research into corn-based ethanol and crop insurance subsidies, among other topics, have garnered him national attention. The Kolmer award was presented as recognition for work Babcock has done in agricultural economics, including conservation programs and crop insurance programs.

Mark Hanna, a professor of agricultural engineering, was also a recipient of the Kolmer award this year.

(Released August 2014)