Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content

About Us: Our Faculty

David Dornbos, Associate Professor, Biology

David Dornbos616-526-8578
dld9@calvin.edu
Office: DeVries Hall 205

Weekly Schedule
(Portal login required)

 

Education

B.S. in Biology, Calvin College
M.S. in Crop Production and Physiology, The Ohio State University
Ph.D. in Crop Production and Physiology, Iowa State University

Professional Experience

-Faculty, Au Sable Institute Great Lakes, teaching "Field Biology in Spring" (Biology 361)
-Lecturer, Iowa State University Seed Technology and Business (STB) distance learning M.S. program, teaching Variety Testing (STB 534) and Seed Production (STB 547)
-Agricultural industry research management with Syngenta Seeds, Inc. for 15 years in the roles of Global Head of Seed Production Research, North American Director of Product Development, Field Agronomist
-Advisory Boards: Pierce Cedar Creek Institute (Hastings, MI), Land Conservancy of West Michigan (LCWM), Genesis Community of Transformation (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), Integrated Solutions Asia Cooperative (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), Integrated Science Research Institute (ISRI)
-Scientific Association Section Chairs: Botany and Ecology, Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters (MASAL), and Seed Production and Technology (C-4) of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA)

-USDA/ARS Post-doctoral Research Scientist of the Bioactive Constituents Research Unit at the Northern Regional Research Center, Peoria, IL

Grants funded recently

2012: Pierce Cedar Creek Institute URGE Program. $7,000. Productivity of Switchgrass and Corn Grown in Close Proximity with Nitrogen Fixing Autumn Olive and Cow Pea in Productive and Nutrient-poor Soils.

2011: Nagel Institute Fellowship. $6000. Eden School of Agriculture project “Transforming Cambodia: Holistic Application of Sustainable Food Production Methods in Rural Cambodia”.

2010: Pierce Cedar Creek Institute URGE Program. $10,500. Relationship between Nitrogen Fixation Rate, Apparent Photosynthesis Rate, and Chlorophyll Content of Autumn Olive and Potential Impacts on the Competitiveness of Cohabiting Native Plant Species.

 

Research / Professional Interests

  • Global Sustainability Issues: Particularly Utilization of Green Space to Sequester Atmospheric Carbon
  • Application of sustainable food production techniques of developed countries
    with comparable efforts in Cambodia; optimization of appropriate food
    production systems for small shareholder farmers through the NGO Genesis
    Community of Learning and Eden School of Agriculture.
  • Measurement of the quantity of carbon dioxide assimilated annually by the
    greenspace of Calvin College and Pierce Cedar Creek Institute to enable
    optimization of carbon sequestration efforts through the effective management
    of land resources.
  • Characterizing the physiological advantages of invasive shrub species of
    southwestern Michigan by assessing photosynthesis and transpiration rates,
    water and light use efficiencies: common and glossy buckthorn, and autumn
    olive compared with a number of native shrub species.
  • Optimization of methods to control the buckthorn species and autumn olive in
    southwestern Michigan.

Life Outside Calvin

Anything outdoors...running, cycling, fishing, hunting, hiking, vegetable gardening

See a partial list of Dr. Dornbos' publications