PROFILE

In this edition of The SportsField Management Interview , we meet Adam Thoms , Ph . D ., assistant professor of commercial turfgrass in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University . Thoms oversees sports turf research at Iowa State , and is the turfgrass extension specialist for Iowa . In addition to research and extension activities , Thoms teaches three classes and serves as an advisor to the Iowa State Turf Club . Thoms serves the STMA Board as academic director , serves on the STMA Editorial Committee , and is the technical editor for SportsField Management magazine .

SportsField Management ( SFM ): Please tell us about yourself , where you are from , and your background .

Thoms : I grew up in Waverly , Iowa , was active in 4-H and FFA growing up , and went to Iowa State University for undergraduate . In high school , we played a high school football playoff game in snow / slush conditions , and it was hard on our field . The next day I came to school and saw our field manager fixing the field and thought that was pretty interesting . From there I was off to find a school that would teach about turfgrass management ( ISU was close for me ). Graduate school was at University of Tennessee ( M . S . and Ph . D .) with Dr . John Sorochan .

SFM : What attracted you to the academic side of the industry , and what has been your career path thus far ?

Thoms : As an undergraduate , I was working for Mike Andresen , CSFM , on the Iowa State Athletics grounds crew , and he and Dr . Minner had pushed me to participate in the new STMA Student Challenge . I knew during undergraduate schooling that I wanted to pursue a bit more education , because the research interested me . At the STMA Conference that year , Mike took me over to meet Bobby Campbell and John Sorochan . We visited about graduate school , and when we got back from the conference Mike called me into his office and said I needed to go to graduate school . I visited UT and liked John ’ s research vision and the close

Adam Thoms , Ph . D . relationship I could have to learn how the UT fields were

managed by working with Bobby and his crew as well .

While at UT , I had the opportunity to be the Research Leader for the UT Center for Athletic Field Safety . This opportunity helped me learn so much more about both natural and synthetic turfgrass . Then , in July of 2016 , I got the chance to return to Iowa as an assistant professor of commercial turfgrass in the Department of Horticulture .

SFM : In your current role , how much is research , how much is teaching , and how much is extension work ? And can you give us an overview or breakdown of your areas of research , your teaching duties , and what is involved on the extension side of your role ?

Thoms : Extension is 70 percent . I ’ m the state turfgrass extension specialist , so I cover the state helping plan field days and the Iowa Turf Conference , as well as

24 SportsField Management | January 2022 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com