Tom Loynachan (pronounced "law-na-cun") received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Iowa State University in 1968. He taught Vocational Agriculture at Grinnell, IA only a short time before being drafted into the U.S. Army. After honorable discharge, he received his Master of Science Degree in Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry from Iowa State in 1972 and his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Soil Science from North Carolina State University in 1975. From 1975 until 1978, he was on the staff as an assistant professor at the University of Alaska doing research on oil-spill remediation. He has been a member of the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State since 1978, and currently serves the department as Director of Graduate Education.