|  | | Forrest Izuno | Forrest Izuno was appointed Director of Operations at the University of Minnesota’s UMore Park in February 2008. Additionally, he serves as Head of the University’s Rosemount Research and Outreach Center as well as the Southern Research and Outreach Center (SROC) in Waseca, both part of the University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS).
In his role as the UMore Park Director of Operations, Izuno works to position UMore Park as a key resource for the University, faculty and students—and citizens and businesses in the region. Additionally, Izuno coordinates project consultants and contractors regarding planning and on-site development. He also assesses opportunities for on-site research and potential future research, education and public engagement.
Izuno is a member of the UMore Park Management Team, and serves on the Operations Team of the joint management group (including the University, the Department of Natural Resources and Dakota County) that oversees planning for Vermillion Highlands, the 2,822-acre property directly south of the 5,000-acre UMore Park property.
Izuno’s distinctive role as head of two Research and Outreach Centers (ROCs) provides the University and CFANS with the unique opportunity to better serve faculty, students and the surrounding communities through integrated services and program efficiencies. His leadership position will result in additional opportunities for synergy between UMore Park and the two ROCs which are geographically convenient to one another and to the Twin Cities campus. Opportunities to leverage strengths and resources among the units and with regional, state and national partners will be actively pursued.
For the past six years, Izuno has served as Head of the SROC. A key focus of his leadership at the SROC is the development of internal and external partnerships to promote multidisciplinary research and outreach for the purpose of enhancing the value of the rural landscape including: 1) alternative and added value crops and cropping systems; 2) balancing primary values including food production, biomass production for renewable energy and fiber, plant-based chemopreventive agents and the environment; and 3) developing opportunities for sustainable social and economic vitality in rural areas.
Prior to coming to the University of Minnesota, Izuno was an agricultural engineering faculty member specializing in irrigation and drainage research and extension at the Everglades Research and Education Center in the University of Florida system. Everglades water quality and supply issues were the focus of his work which included development and implementation of best management practices for reducing nutrient flows from agricultural lands north of Everglades National Park and working with producers and local, state and federal government agencies to ensure that science remained the basis of plans for restoration of the Everglades and accompanying regulatory programs.
Izuno received his Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering from Purdue University and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural engineering from Colorado State University.
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