It’s been a seven-year, often interrupted college journey for Kidron Knox, who received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State this month. It hasn’t been easy; but then again, the education Knox has received hasn’t all been what you’ll find in a college catalog — because in that time Knox has also been a student in the curriculum of serving his country, as a member of the U.S. Army.
Knox, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, has spent the last four years as both an Iowa State transfer student and a military man, serving in one overseas deployment and one overseas training exercise, in addition to spending time focusing on an internship at a company that ended up employing him in a management positon even before his college graduation. It hasn’t been a traditional route to the diploma, but it’s one that has worked for Knox, with plenty of help from plenty of people.
Many friends….and a mentor
“Everyone at Iowa State totally understood my situation and worked so hard to make adjustments for it, and kept things from falling through the cracks,” said Knox. “When I was on one of my military deployments one chemistry professor allowed me to take pictures of my completed homework with my phone and send the pictures to him to get credit.”
From his early college days at Iowa Central Community College through joining the Army and then transferring to Iowa State, no matter where his life has taken him these last few years, Knox never lost sight of his goal: to study chemical engineering and to work in biorenewable energy. “I wanted to work with biorenewables to turn Ethanol and biodiesel plants into centers for renewable resources that we have in society,“ he said. “We can close the loop on the environment and harvest from it instead of not putting back.”
His interest in this technology led him to Iowa State Chemical and Biological Engineering professor Dr. Jacqueline Shanks, who became a mentor and a valuable asset for not only his education, but an ally in helping him combine the life of a student and the life of a soldier. “Dr. Shanks was very instrumental in helping me get through my journey at Iowa State while balancing all the other things going on in my world,” he explained. Shanks admits to one period of time when she had to work hard to keep Knox from throwing in the towel, when he felt that he could not possibly be a student and a soldier at the same time. She prevailed.
Knox also has much to say about others in CBE: “The whole advising and teaching staff was great during this time. I would communicate with them by email and they would make sure to take care of things like seeing that my ISU email stayed connected and that I did not miss anything important.” He also praises the Office of the Registrar and the university’s Veterans Center and coordinator Jathan Chicoine for offering a great deal of assistance in many areas.
That university support made it easier for Knox to focus on his Army duties during deployments, where he was part of the 949th Medical Detachment based in Ames. A veterinary-related unit, Knox worked as a lab technician during his first overseas rotation in South Africa, where the group provided veterinary care for animals, including a spay and neuter program; and in his second rotation in Kuwait as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, where his unit provided care for military working dogs and also ensured that U.S. troops were receiving and eating healthy foods – a duty that included Knox overseeing the planning, execution and review of many missions to other regions from his unit’s base in Kuwait, as well as missions of his own. “I sent people all over central Asia and the Middle East,” he said of that deployment, which accounted for about a year of active duty. He rose from Private to Staff Sergeant during his Army tenure.
Another highlight of his military service and great source of pride for Knox was being part of the Army’s Best Warrior Competition, an elite event that brings together American soldiers to vie for special honors incorporating a number of physical and tactical tasks. Knox was involved as both a competitor (where he won in two different levels of command) and as part of the Cadre, which is a support group for the competition.
Engineering Career Fair charts a course
But it was a trip to one of Iowa State’s College of Engineering Career Fairs that cast the die for Knox’s future plans. He approached one of the participants, a company called Corn Oil ONE, based in Des Moines. After learning more about the company that specializes in producing a refined corn oil that delivers the advantages of soybean oil at a fraction of the cost, he planned an internship program there. “That Iowa State Engineering Career Fair is the best of its kind that I know of,” Knox remarked. “The people at Engineering Career Services work tirelessly to get people to come in and work with students directly on campus and to help them make good connections. I found my job at the Engineering Career Fair.”
His involvement with Corn Oil ONE led to specific research that he conducted at Iowa State as an undergraduate – which in turn led to co-authoring one patent published in May of 2014 and two other provisional patents. The process Knox collaborated on with six other Iowa State interns and one Iowa State graduate student takes Ethanol and employs a free fatty acid removal system which then produces the attractive reconstituted corn oil. It produces healthier vegetable-based feedstock that is in demand with today’s farmers. Corn Oil ONE contracts with Ethanol facilities and currently works closely with one in Council Bluffs.
Corn oil research project produces big yields
Naturally, Knox had a strong connection to the university’s Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC) and Dr. Brent Shanks, the facility’s director, and husband of Jacqueline Shanks. “What he and that center are doing is having an incredible impact. Brent Shanks has really helped put a new face on ISU Chemical Engineering,” he said. “It was my internship research at Iowa State that took this Ethanol and corn oil process and put it in a beaker.” From there it was just a matter of enlarging it to the industrial scale process at Corn Oil ONE. “This is a whole new thing – no one else in the U.S. is doing this.”
During his senior year at Iowa State Knox was hired by Corn Oil ONE as plant superintendent in the company’s brand new facility, placing him in the position of having a full time job and a head start on a career before even leaving school. “I developed an all-new operator training program for the company over spring break,” said Knox with a smile, confirming he has had little chance to rest in recent months. He has also interviewed and hired much of the staff currently working at the facility. As if that wasn’t enough, Knox also got married in August of 2014. He and his wife have been house hunting in the Council Bluffs area.
Through it all, it’s been a case of teamwork that Knox treasures. “I can’t say enough good things about so many people at Iowa State who worked so hard to make sure I could get an education and still fulfill my duties outside of being a student.”