Neal Adam grew up on a farm in Nebraska and continued in the agricultural field. He received his Bachelor of Science in 1985 from Kansas State University and his Master of Science from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1989. His PhD research was completed in 1996 at Kansas State University in global change biology. After the PhD, he had several postdoctoral research appointments with the USDA-ARS. The emphasis in his PhD research, as well as on the first three postdoctoral research appointments, was on responses of photosynthesis and photosynthetic enzymes to elevated atmospheric CO2 levels in the global change program. The last postdoctoral appointment focused on photosynthetic, germination and growth limitations of native industrial crops. Research methodology included gas exchange measurements, leaf collection techniques, assay of enzymes using radioactive isotopes, gel electrophoresis, ecological/field applications, micrometeorology techniques and analysis, germination studies and design and assembly of research equipment. Neal is a father of three girls and enjoys spending time with them and embarrassing them (which isn’t difficult).
Faculty Spotlight Questions:
At the end of my time with the USDA-ARS in 2005, I applied for this teaching position at GCU. Grand Canyon University had just transitioned to its for-profit status, and we had about 900 campus students, all colleges combined. A lot of changes have taken place since then and I’ve seen a lot of good students come through!
We have a lot of good people in our department who are willing to work together, help each other and work with students. We have expanded so rapidly that I don’t know them all as well as I should, but this will happen over time.
Work really hard at the start of the semester, instead of waiting until after your first quiz!