Kevin Kephart is the NIFA Division Director of the Agricultural Systems Division of the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability (IFPS). Kevin joins us after a 30-year career with South Dakota State University, including eleven years as Vice President for Research and Economic Development, seven years as the director of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and twelve years as a professor of plant science. During his university career he conducted field-based research and instruction on crop production and physiology of forages, biomass energy feedstocks, wheat, and soybeans.  He was the founder of the Sun Grant Program and one of the founders of the Protein Highway Initiative, a bilateral project with states in the Northern Great Plains and Canadian Prairie Provinces to expand production and processing of plant proteins. Most recently he served as director of scientific engagement and communications for Indigo Ag. Inc., a Boston-based agricultural technology company that develops microbial endophytes to enhance crop production without additional synthetic chemicals, irrigation, or other such inputs. Kevin earned a B.S. degree in Agricultural Sciences/Soils from Montana State University (1979), an M.S. in Agronomy from the University of Wyoming (1982), and a Ph.D. degree in Crop Production and Physiology from Iowa State University (1987).