• James Baker, professor of agricultural engineering, came to Iowa from South Dakota in 1966, and he received his doctorate in 1971.

Baker worked with a program that searched for more efficient uses for agricultural chemicals, and it studied the effects of conservation tillage on surface runoff and drainage. His program has been used nationwide.

Baker is still a professor of agricultural engineering.

• Jean L. Laffoon received his M.S and Ph.D. degrees from ISU in entomology. He joined the faculty in 1946 and became a professor in 1962.

Laffoon’s primary interests were in the identification and labeling of insect species and types.

• Richard Walter Pohl joined the ISU faculty in 1947, remaining until his retirement in 1986.

Pohl’s main emphasis was in the study of bamboo and grasses, and he spent time in Costa Rica and Central America, where he is regarded as an expert in grass taxonomy.

—Daily reporters Magda Beme and Dan A. Farmer complied this report using information from ISU library achieves and “A Century Worth Celebrating.”