Wendy Wintersteen re­­calls a time early in her career as an Extension integrated pest management specialist when she got word of a potential black cutworm outbreak over Memorial Day weekend.

In a time before cell phones and social media, Wintersteen jumped in her car to scout cornfields and let Iowa farmers know their crops were at risk, without regard for holiday schedules. 

“Every field I went to on that Memorial Day weekend was infested with black cutworm," she remembers. "I interrupted so many Memorial Day picnics to tell farmers that they had black cutworms in their fields and that they needed to be out there doing something."

It was that kind of grit that Wintersteen displayed throughout a career that saw her rise from Extension to dean of the Iowa State...