R.w. Nelson

Biography

 R.W. holds four patents and has been recognized worldwide for his innovations, including citations from Presidents Nixon and Carter – the President’s “E” Certificate for Exports in 1971, and the President’s “E” Star Award for Excellence in Export in 1978. He also received the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Export Award in 1972, the State of Iowa Economic Impact Award in 1987, the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Achievement Iowa award in 1991, and the Iowa Biotechnology Association’s Entrepreneur Achievement Biotechnology Award in 2004. He was inducted into the Iowa Business Hall of Fame in 2006. R.W. has served or continues to serve on more than a dozen boards and committees for industry trade groups, banks, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Drake University, and private primary and secondary schools in the Des Moines Diocese, the American Institute of Entrepreneurs, the Greater Des Moines Committee, a group of business luminaries founded in 1907 to share information about important topics in the community and nation. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Feed Industry Association. A graduate of Dowling Catholic High School, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and chemistry from Drake University. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1945 to 1947, and was honorably discharged as a corporal. He earned service ribbons while deployed in the Philippines at the close of World War II.

Research Interest

 Agriculture Industry