The College of Agriculture awards seven alumni to the ranks of Distinguished Ag Alumni

The College of Agriculture recognized seven alumni at the distinguished Agricultural Alumni Award Ceremony on March 3rd.

Biochemistry alumnus Andrew Alpert earned a PhD from Purdue in 1980. While at Purdue, he studied under Fred Regnier, a distinguished professor of analytical chemistry who was making significant advances in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Alpert initially planned to be a professor, but instead created a company, PolyLC Inc., that provides life scientists with separation tools. Thousands of labs use its top product, PolyCAT A. “In effect, they found my research compelling enough to implement it themselves, which is hugely rewarding,” says Alpert, whose company is in Columbia, Maryland. “My main reward is being able to influence how analytical biochemistry is done.”

Animal Sciences alumna Janelle Deatsman is senior communications manager for Maple Leaf Farms in Milford, Indiana. She’s been with the company since her Purdue graduation in 2000. Maple Leaf Farms produces about a third of the national commercial duck production. Her animal sciences connections remain strong. She has served on the poultry career panel, hosted the ANSC 18100 animal industry tour, and led discussions in ANSC 48100 as a featured speaker. In 2015, the department gave her a Distinguished Alumni Award, Early Career.

Forestry and Natural Resources alumnus Emmanuel Frimpong earned a PhD in Aquatic Sciences and Resource Policy. Frimpong, a Ghana native, said his Purdue degree made him realize “the sky was my limit.” In 2005, he joined the faculty at Virginia Tech, where his research program focuses on fish ecology and aquaculture within the context of temperate (US) and tropical (Africa) freshwater ecosystems and environmental sustainability. He was chosen as a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow in 2015 and Fulbright Scholar in 2021, both times working in Ghana. Recently, Frimpong secured just over $1 million in National Science Foundation funding as the lead principal investigator to support an interdisciplinary project focusing on interspecies reproductive interactions in stream fishes.

Jeff Grogg earned a bachelor’s degree in Food Science in 1992. His career began at Kellogg and Kashi. He spent 16 years there in a variety of roles before shifting to an entrepreneurial path. The 2015 recipient of the Purdue University Outstanding Food Science Award has founded and co-founded several companies in sports, real estate, manufacturing, sales and consulting. He’s led JPG Resources in Battle Creek, Michigan, since 2009. It has more than 65 team members and has launched more than 2,500 products.

Source:https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2023/03/the-college-of-agriculture-awards-seven-alumni-to-the-ranks-of-distinguished-ag-alumni.html?image