Iowa State University PhD candidate Kevin Falk received the grand prize this year in the American Seed Trade Association’s (ASTA) second annual “Better Seed, Better Life” student video contest during the CSS 2018 & Seed Expo in Chicago this week. The award was presented to him by Kerry Grossweiler of BASF, which sponsors the ASTA Communications Committee.

The contest is held in conjunction with the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) and the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of American and Soil Science Society of America (Tri-Societies). The 2018 contest theme was “Rumor Has It” and was open to university students who were asked to create videos to help set the record straight on a common misconception or myth associated with the seed industry and/or plant science. Second and third place winners were Kshitij Khatri, University of Florida, and Nathalia Penna Cruzato, Texas A&M University.

Kevin is currently a PhD candidate at Iowa State University focusing on soybean breeding. He holds a master’s in plant breeding from the University of Manitoba and worked in canola breeding programs at Monsanto and Bayer for five years prior to returning to pursue his PhD at Iowa State. He is one of five PhD students in the Singh soybean breeding and plant phenomics group. His PhD work focuses around harnessing technology to develop high throughput phenotyping platforms to advance plant breeding. He enjoys playing hockey, kitesurfing, videography, and exploring new technology. Kevin is set to graduate in the coming months and is interested in science, agriculture and using social media to connect and communicate with the public.

Learn more about Kevin in this interview and watch his award-winning video below – ASTACSS18 Interview with student video award winner Kevin Falk, ISU

2018 ASTA CSS and Seed Expo Photo Album

ASTA CSS Virtual Newsroom