(Formerly Superior Achievement Award for Early or Mid-Career Alumni)
This citation honors College of Agriculture and Life Sciences early- or mid-career alumni who have distinguished themselves through significant advancement and achievement in their discipline, field or area of expertise. Selection is made by the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
This award was established in 2010 and is presented annually during Iowa State University’s Homecoming Weekend.
2026 Outstanding Young Professional Awardee
Caleb Floss (’18 global resource systems, business economics)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Caleb Floss exemplifies the impact of a rising young leader in global agriculture, distinguishing himself through significant professional achievement and international leadership early in his career. Floss serves as deputy regional director of Southeast Asia and Oceania for the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council. This nonprofit organization promotes the global use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products, including ethanol and distiller’s dried grains with solubles. In his role, Floss contributes to the overall strategy and management of the council’s activities in southeast Asia.
Since joining the council in 2023 as manager of global programs in Washington, D.C., Floss has advanced rapidly through positions of increasing responsibility, relocating to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2024 to serve as regional trade manager before being promoted to deputy regional director. Prior to his work with the council, he spent nearly four years as an economist with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. His professional experience also includes agricultural industry work through service with the ISU-Uganda Program, reflecting a longstanding commitment to international development and global food systems.
Floss’ Iowa State experience laid the foundation for his global career, including participation in the CALS Service Learning Program in Uganda, the CALS Dean’s Global Agriculture and Food Leadership Program in Italy, and an international internship with Cargill in Thailand. He was active in Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, served on the ISU Alumni Association Senior Class Council, and continued his engagement with Iowa State after graduation as an alumni representative on the global resource systems major’s advisory council.
Past Recipients
- 2025 - Jimmy Kent ('14 agricultural business)
- 2024 – Brad Kinsinger, 05 agricultural and life sciences education
- 2023 – Bradley Joel (BJ) Brugman, ’12 agricultural business
- 2022 – Amanda (Taylor) De Jong, ’02 agricultural business
- 2021 – Kevin Ross, ’03 agricultural studies, ’21 MBA
- 2020 – Colin Hurd, ’13 agricultural studies
- 2019 – Kelly Norris, ’08 horticulture, ’11 MS
- 2019 – Mike Taylor, ’03 agricultural studies
- 2018 – Jen Sorenson, ’01 animal science, journalism and mass communication
- 2017 – Dawn E. Refsell, ’01 agronomy, ’03 MS crop production and physiology
- 2016 – Nancy Bohl Bormann, (’04 ag and life sciences education, environmental science)
- 2015 – Lisa Wasko DeVetter, ’07 biology, horticulture, ’10 MS horticulture, agronomy, soil science
- 2014 – Laurie A. Hueneke Martens, ‘01 animal science, international agriculture
- 2013 – Sarah Low, ‘02 public service and administration in agriculture
- 2012 – Gretchen Cline, ‘97 forestry
- 2011 – Charles E. Stewart, ‘00 agricultural biochemistry
- 2010 – Andrea Falk Sellers, ‘94 agricultural biochemistry