Rate My Professor Thomas Brumm

Thomas Brumm is the Mary and Charles Sukup Global Professor in Food Security in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering within the College of Engineering at Iowa State University. He earned his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Iowa State University in 1979, M.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Purdue University in 1980, and Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering with a minor in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1990. After nine years in the seed industry, he joined the Iowa State faculty in 2000 as an assistant professor, progressing to associate professor in 2006 and full professor. Currently, he holds positions as Associate Chair for Teaching in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL), director of assessment for the College of Engineering, and instructor for Agricultural Systems Management & Technology courses in the IDEA alliance. He also serves as a visiting professor at Makerere University in Uganda and leads faculty for Iowa State's service learning program there.

Brumm's academic interests center on improving post-harvest systems in low-income countries to ensure food security by reducing losses, optimizing biorefinery systems especially biomass storage, and evaluating teaching pedagogies for enhanced student learning. His expertise includes post-harvest technology, grain/seed quality and processing, biorenewables, student learning assessment, and sustainable development. Notable publications encompass "Reshaping Agricultural and Biosystem Engineering Degree Programs for Student Success and Retention" (2024), "Mechanical stirring of bulk-stored maize in steel bins to suppress maize weevils and other beetle populations" (2024), "Periodic disturbance time interval for suppression of the maize weevils, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky in stored maize" (2021), "Drying turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) using far‐Infrared radiation: Drying characteristics and process optimization" (2021), and "Assessing and developing program outcomes through workplace competencies" (2006, cited 124 times). He co-authored the book "Fundamentals of Technology." Brumm's contributions to education and research are recognized with awards such as the 2024 Massey-Ferguson Educational Gold Medal from ASABE, ASABE Fellow (2024), 2024 CALS Distance Education Teaching Award, CALS Faculty Outstanding Achievement in Advising Award, Iowa FFA Distinguished Service Award (2011), and the endowed Sukup professorship (2015). Through CSRL, his programs have positively impacted thousands of rural Ugandans by addressing malnutrition, health, and poverty.