Speakers

William R. (Randy) Woodson
Interim Dean, Purdue Agriculture

Sunday during Dinner

Dr. Randy Woodson currently is serving as Purdue's Interim Dean of Agriculture. He also serves as Director of Agriculture Research Programs, a position he has held since July 1998.  Dr. Woodson's career has been shaped by the Land Grant University system, receiving BS, MS and PhD degrees in Horticulture from the University of Arkansas and Cornell University , respectively.  He joined the Purdue faculty in 1985 as a professor in the Department of Horticulture after beginning his academic career at Louisiana State University in 1983. Prior to his current administrative appointment, Dr. Woodson served as Head of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue and was a Visiting Scholar at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse, France.

Dr. Woodson and his research group contributed a substantial body of knowledge to the field of plant science, which is published in more than 100 journal articles and book chapters.  His research focuses on the biochemical and molecular basis of plant senescence and the role of the plant hormone ethylene in these processes.  This research bridges the gap between basic plant biochemistry and molecular biology and applying the knowledge to the field of horticulture.  Discoveries in Dr. Woodson's program led to the development of molecular approaches to improve postharvest storage and shipping of horticultural products, increasing the useful life for the consumer.  His research has been featured in stories published in Business Week, The Futurist, and Discover.

Dr. Woodson has received a number of professional honors during his career, including the Purdue University Agriculture Research Award, the American Society for Horticultural Science Outstanding Researcher Career Award, and the B.Y. Morrison Medal from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service. He is a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Dan Cotton
Director of e-Extension Initiative
University of Nebraska

Monday - 9:00 AM

As the recently named director of the e-Extension initiative, Dan Cotton heads the collaboration between land-grant universities and the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service to develop content and technology for the project.

At Nebraska , Cotton served as director of Communications & Information Technology and founded the Distributed Environments for Active Learning Laboratory, which assists faculty in developing Internet-based active learning environments. Before coming to Nebraska , he was computer coordinator for the Illinois Cooperative Extension Service where he helped develop the organization's statewide computer network and technology resources. He also was a consultant and partner to a consortium of rural telephone companies interested in bringing the Internet to rural Illinois communities.

At Illinois , he assisted the National Center for Supercomputing Applications on several important grant proposals and in the development an Internet-based agricultural production support system. He also provided support in the development of PrairieNet, a community network located at the University of Illinois . Prior to Illinois , he was manager of Personal Computer Operations for the Missouri Cooperative Extension Service.

Gerry Dick
President, Grow Indiana Media Ventures

Tuesday - 9:00 AM

In June 2000, broadcast news veteran Gerry A. Dick and technology entrepreneur Scott A. Jones formed Grow Indiana Media Ventures, LLC, a new media company focused on creating and delivering Indiana business news and information through multiple media sources

Grow Indiana Media Ventures' properties include Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, Indiana 's most watched local business television program, InsideIndianaBusiness.com, Inside INdiana Business Radio and The INside Edge daily e-newsletter. Recognized across the state as an Indiana business leader, he also appears weekly on WTHR Channel 13 (NBC, Indianapolis ) as an Eyewitness News business analyst.

Prior to the creation of Grow Indiana Media Ventures, he was senior vice president of the Indianapolis Economic Development Corporation, where he was responsible for a broad range of managerial and operational initiatives, including marketing, communications, advertising and media relations. While at IEDC, he led the creation and implementation of a new brand image for the Indianapolis region.

His broadcast news background includes 14 years as a principal reporter and field anchor at WRTV (ABC) in Indianapolis , where his work received recognition from numerous organizations, including an Emmy nomination for a 1993 series on Indiana companies doing business along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Jim Bottum
Vice President for Information Technology and CIO
Purdue University

Wednesday - 9:00 AM

As vice president for information technology at Purdue University, Bottum is responsible for system-wide planning and coordination of computing and information systems for the university. He directs a staff of more than 450 full-time employees who handle the educational, research and administrative computing and networking for the 38,500 students and 14,000 faculty and staff on the West Lafayette campus.

Bottum has chaired or been a member of advisory committees serving the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and IEEE. He is chair of the Education Program for SC2005, the major international conference on high-performance computing, networking, and storage.

Prior to coming to Purdue, Bottum was the executive director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign. Before his appointment at NCSA, he was an associate director in the NSF's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing where he played a key role in the establishment of the Foundation's Advanced Scientific Computing Initiative and NSFNet. << Biographical Sketch >>