WASHINGTON – The US Department of Agriculture appointed Sonny Ramaswamy, Ph.D. as director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). President Obama nominated him to the post in March.

Dr. Ramaswamy served as the Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State Univ., a position he held since 2009. He also serves as director of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. Previously, he was the associate dean of the Purdue Univ. College of Agriculture and directed the university's agricultural research programs from 2006 to 2009.

Before joining the Purdue faculty, Dr. Ramaswamy was a Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Entomology at Kansas State Univ. from 1997 to 2006. He also served on the faculty of Mississippi State Univ., was a research associate at Michigan State Univ., and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Entomological Society of America.

Dr. Ramaswamy earned his B.S. and M.S. in entomology from the Univ. of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, and earned his Ph.D. in Entomology from Rutgers Univ.

NIFA links USDA with land-grant universities and other public and private organizations to advance research, extension and higher education in the food and agricultural sciences and related environmental, social and human sciences.