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Matt Miller/DN
Agronomy professor James Specht peers through test tubes in Keim Hail on Tuesday
afternoon. Specht is nationally recognized for his research done in drought tolerance of
soybeans.
Fertile mind
Prof essor yields success in research
By Joshua Gillin research was the key to progress about Jim was his openness as a
staff Reporter- in thc m(xlcrn world. researcher,” Lee said. “Scientists
“Research turns into discover- sometimes like to guard their
Although James Snccht snends ics, he said. Discoveries turn secrets, but he s always willing to
much oSteSiSdlba^n !nt0 ideas’and thosc idcas tum share his discoveries and ideas.”
landscape of test tubes into advancements. Those advance- Lee said Specht s courtesy as a
and computer printouts, —■———— scientist spilled into his
Snd fn wWch°mer °f “A SCieHtiSt 'WS t0 be U tmdler $0 ke ~S"n«fyid
imagination grows. CUH explain fliS discoveries to people. ” helping younger
Specht, a 21-year researchers and
professor for UNL-S JAMES SPECHT
agronomy department, them involved in and
has used his imagination UNL agronomy professor excited about their
to help him win nation- - work.
wide recognition for
research in plant physiology.
His recent research on drought
tolerance in soybeans even won
him an award for soybean
research at the Commodity
Classic Soybean and Com
Exposition in Phoenix last month,
and he has been named Sigma Xi
Outstanding Scientist of 1996.
But Specht is not the straight
laced, nose-in-a-book research
scientist one might expect. He is a
good-natured and relaxed man
who seems as if he would be just
as comfortable working in a hot
soybean field as he would in an
air-conditioned office.
Specht said he was a typical
example of a man in his position.
He said he balanced his duties as
a research scientist and a teacher,
and that he loved aspects from
both professions.
“I’m both,” he said, “and I
have-to be. A scientist has to be a
teacher so he can explain his
discoveries to people.
“If you can’t explain them,
they aren’t worth anything.”
Specht, who has been credited
by the Nebraska Soybean Board
for several improvements in
soybean farming, said he wanted
to be a scientist since his child
hood on a farm near Scottsbluff.
His interest in plant physiology
led him to UNL in 1963. After
earning a bachelor’s degree in
agronomy, Specht served in the
Vietnam War, putting off his
education for almost four years.
Specht earned a master’s
degree in agronomy at the
University of Illinois-Champaign
Urbana in June of 1971, and he
returned to receive a doctorate in
genetics in 1974.
He said his work with sorghum
during his graduate studies
clinched his decision to become a
researcher of plant physiology.
“When you discover some
thing, you get this ‘eureka’
feeling, like ‘this is it — I’ve done
it,”’ he said. “That feeling is what
attracted me to research.”
Specht said he believed
ments are called technology”
Specht said he was a strong
advocate of technological
advances. He said improvements
in the way in which data was
collected, organized and analyzed
today were because of better
technology and research methods.
His own research and discover
ies were a direct result of recent
advances in data-gathering
techniques, as well as scientific
discoveries, but he keeps things in
perspective.
Discoveries and improvements
in methods and technology
excited him as much as everyone
else in the scientific community,
he said. But Spccht said he tried
to keep a “long view” in mind.
Most advancements in
technology are incremental, he
said, and scientists needed to
keep that in mind.
“It’s not like computers
jumped from being these huge
machines that took up a whole
floor of a building to desktop PCs
over the course of a year,” he said.
Taking time to perfect new
technology and techniques often
gives scientists time to find out
things that were unexpected, he
said. He said he believed that
small problems often were
overlooked if advancements were
rushed.
“Because of those kinds of
situations, maybe those small,
incremental advancements are a
good thing,” he said.
Incremental advancements are
nothing new to Specht — his
recent soybean physiology
experiments have taken more than
three years. He said he believed
they were worth every moment,
however — both in the laboratory
and in the field.
Specht’s patience and wisdom
have been noticed by his col
leagues. Don Lee, an assistant
professor of agronomy, said the
first thing he noticed about Specht
was his willingness to help co
workers.
“What impressed me the most
dui lcc saiu wnai ne
liked about Specht most of all was
that work was never the only
thing in his life.
“Jim’s not just a research
colleague,” Lee said. “He’s also a
friend, someone I like working
with.”
Ken Cassman, head of UNL’s
agronomy department, called
Specht a resourceful scientist and
an excellent teacher.
“His goal is success, and his
research is a testament to that,”
Cassman said.
These praises fall on all but
deaf ears, though. For Specht, the
discoveries he makes are what
really matters.
“If we stop the pursuit of
knowledge, I think we’re pretty
much done for as a race,” Specht
said. “So much is dependent on
technology today, we need
advancements in order to survive.”
Specht said he thought his
work was an essential part of
those advancements.
Hours mapping genes and
researching plant structure are
spent in the hopes that his
discoveries will one day have a
profound effect on the lives of
people around the world.
“The six billion people we’re
supposed to have on this planet by
the year 2000 will all need to
have something to eat,” he said.
“Maybe something I’m working
on will one day help with those
problems.
“Then again,” he said, “it
might not.”
Specht said he planned to
continue teaching and working,
and to keep boring his wife with
the details of his research, for a
long time.
Science is something that
captivates and exhilarates him, he
said, and is not something he is
willing to give up soon.
“I think most scientists,
whether they know it or not, do
what they do because they know
their knowledge will somehow
better mankind,” he said. “I know
that’s why I do it.”