Two minutes

Cotton is king of research interests

In a research facility atop Bessey Hall at Iowa State sits Iowa's largest cotton crop. It's also the home of the nation's leading research being conducted on a crop better suited for the South than Ames, Iowa.

The scientist: Jonathan Wendel, professor and chair of the department of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, studies cotton. "Cotton is the classical botanical mystery," he says. "I've always enjoyed studying speciation and evolution, and cotton is a fascinating model to study the evolutionary process."

No one else is doing this: Wendell has been awarded numerous grants for his research to study the comparative evolutionary genomics of cotton, the world's leading textile fiber. "No one else in the world is doing this technically challenging research with cotton," he says. "We think we can develop resources and tools that will benefit the entire cotton research and breeding communities."

His research at ISU: "I would be hard pressed to find a better place to do this than here."

NSF video: Wendell's cotton research was featured in a new National Science Foundation video, Secrets of Plant Genomes -- Revealed!. The video is being used to encourage high school and college students to consider careers in the plant sciences.

-- Diana Pounds