Speakers - Guests

Dr. Peter K. Dorhout serves as Professor of Chemistry and Vice President for Research at Iowa State University and an Ames National Laboratory Affiliate.  Prior to coming to Iowa State, he served five years as Vice President for Research following four years as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Kansas State University.  He has served as the Interim Provost at Colorado State University-Pueblo (2011), preceded by 20 years at Colorado State University-Fort Collins as Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, Assistant Vice President for Research, and Professor of Chemistry.  He served as a collaborator at Los Alamos National Laboratory 1987-2011.  He is a past chair of the Chemistry Section for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has led professional organizations and foundations as a member of the Boards of Directors for the American Chemical Society, where he was the 2018 President, the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the Iowa State University Research Park, the Iowa Innovation Council, the Science Center of Iowa, and the Mid-Iowa Council Scouting BSA Executive Board.

He is a recognized expert in solid state and nuclear materials science and environmental chemistry.  He has had active research programs in solid-state f-element and radiochemistry, and nanomaterials science.  He has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and reviews while presenting over 130 international and national invited lectures on his chemistry and related topics, including laboratory safety.  Dr. Dorhout earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served as a postdoctoral scientist at Ames National Lab at Iowa State.  His list of professional awards includes Fellow of the American Chemical Society, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, A. P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, National Science Foundation CAREER Fellow, and the ACS-ExxonMobil Faculty Award in Solid State Chemistry. 

He can be reached at: dorhout@iastate.edu

William R. Graves (Bill), serves as Dean of the Graduate College, a position he has held since 2017.  He was Associate Dean of the Graduate College from 2010-2017 and has been a Professor at Iowa State since 1992.  He was elected to the university’s Graduate Council before his administrative service in the Graduate College began. 

Graves earned a doctorate at Purdue University after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Iowa State.  He was assistant professor at the University of Maryland before joining the Iowa State faculty, and he been a visiting scholar at the University of Delaware and Stanford University.  Graves has published over 100 scholarly papers and co-authored a book.  His research centers on the reproductive biology, physiology, and ecology of rare plants.  He has served as major professor for numerous graduate students, directed two Iowa State graduate programs, and taught graduate and undergraduate courses.  

Raised near Chicago, Graves believes that graduate education opens doors, builds bridges, solves problems, and enriches the world. 

Dr. Elena Cotos is an Associate Dean of the Graduate College. She provides leadership for the professional development programs offered through the Graduate College. She has served the Graduate College in different capacities since 2009, devising innovative support programming for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Dr. Cotos is the founding Director of the Center for Communication Excellence (CCE), which was created in 2015. Since becoming an Associate Dean last year, she has been working on systematizing and integrating professional-development opportunities and resources provided by the CCE, the Graduate Career Services Office, the Preparing Future Faculty Program, the Emerging Leaders Academy, and the multi-institutional network known as the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning. She works to ensure that all graduate students and postdocs at ISU have access to varied opportunities for professional growth and are equipped with the ‘power skills’ needed to accomplish their academic, career, and personal goals. In addition to her role in the Graduate College, Dr. Cotos holds an Associate Professor appointment in the English Department. She takes pride in the fact that she is the first graduate of the department’s PhD program in Applied Linguistics and Technology. Much of her research in this field has been translated to the CCE’s programing focused on scientific writing and English for academic purposes.

Dr. Karen M. Kedrowski is Director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics and the Whitaker-Lindgren Faculty Fellow and Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. Dr. Kedrowski earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she majored in Political Science, French, and History. She then earned her Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma, Norman. Her research agenda focuses primarily on women and politics and civic engagement. She is the author or coauthor of four books and more than 60 book chapters, book reviews, journal articles, encyclopedia entries, and blog posts.  She also leads Iowa State’s voter engagement efforts, which have earned several national recognitions. In addition, Dr. Kedrowski is frequently interviewed by local, regional, national, and international news organizations.