Biographical Sketch
Grant P, Neppl was born on June 21, 1976 to Roger and Jennifer
Neppl in Denver, Colorado. He has one sister,
Heather, who is married to Tom Smith and has
two children, Bailey and Chloe. Grant spent
most of his childhood in Evergreen, CO with
a brief move to Newnan, GA during his junior
year of high school. He attended Clear Creek
High School in Idaho Springs, CO from 1991-1993,
Newnan High School from 1993-1994 and Clear
Creek High School from 1994-1995. Grant graduated
as a varsity athlete in track and cross country
as well as being salutatorian.
That fall he enrolled in Colorado State University to obtain
a bachelor of science degree in Crop Science. While attending
Colorado State, Grant held the office of treasurer and chair
of the chili bean fundraising committee for the Agronomy
Club. He received numerous scholarships including the Helen
M. Faris Agronomy Scholarship from 1995-1998, the Wayne
and Joyce Keim Scholarship for 1998-1999, and the D. W.
Scotty Roberston Award in 1999. Grant spent two consecutive
summer internships (1997, 1998) with Seedex Inc., a sugar
beet seed breeding company out of Longmont, CO. Under the
direction of Shaoke Wang, he gained experience in the process
of seed breeding and some of the genetics behind it.
With directional leadership from his father, Grant started
his own carpet cleaning business for rental cars in 1996.
In May of 1999 Grant graduated from Colorado State University
with a B.S. degree in Crop Science with honors.
That fall, he passed his carpet cleaning business on to
his brother in law as a result of his enrollment in North
Carolina State University to obtain a Master's degree in
Horticulture Plant Breeding. Grant studied under Dr. Todd
Wehner working on watermelon. His research involved determining
the need for border rows in research plots as well as the
most efficient plot size for maximizing information obtained
from yield trials. Under a research assistantship, Grant
gained further plant breeding experience working at the
cucurbit research greenhouses performing cross pollinations
and seed increases for both watermelon and cucumber. While
at NC State, Grant was initiated into the honor society
of Pi Alpha Xi. As a member he was a volunteer at the society's
spring and fall fundraising plant sales. He later became
a member of the SR-ASHS (Southern Region American Society
for Horticultural Science). Grant was also the 2000-2001
recipient of the Foil McLaughlin Fellowship Award.
Grant would eventually like to perform scientific research
in the area of plant breeding as a junior breeder or a research
technician. He currently lives in Raleigh, NC and enjoys
running, camping, trekking, archery, leather working, medieval
reenacting and gardening. He hopes to be able to return
to the mountains of Colorado some day.
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