PELLA—There were memories of the idyllic summer in Hawaii, on a mathematics research project after his freshman year.
           
Or the more buttoned-down opportunity the next summer in Washington, D.C., tackling a classified National Security Agency computer science assignment that, even now, he can't talk about.
           
There were still dreams of someday standing simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated on the track and field multi-events podium at the NCAA Division III Championships, and later, a career in the adrenaline-fueled world of start-up businesses.
           
But none of that was on the mind of Central College senior Ryan Kruse (St. Clair, Minn.) in the steamy darkness last June as he anxiously approached the small but sturdy tin-walled, two-bedroom house in Bahia-Uvita, Costa Rica, his home for the next five weeks in a Central summer research program. After earlier meeting Central lecturer of Spanish Oscar Reynaga at the San Jose airport, they made the unfamiliar 3-hour drive along the coast in the fading twilight before their arrival. Then Reynaga and one of the program directors left Kruse with his host, Isabel, and her grandson Axel. He was under the impression the house would have wi-fi access and air conditioning, and that his host family spoke English.
           
"None of which was true," discovered Kruse, who is seeking the Iowa Conference men's track and field decathlon title this week.

From mathematically determining how the brain maps to the environment to unlocking the mysteries of the pole vault, Kruse's college years are littered with challenges. But perhaps the most mind-bending, what-do-I-do-now moment of his Central career was awkwardly standing in the small living room with Isabel and Axel that late night.

"It was a little bit scary," Kruse said. "I don't want to say I felt helpless--but not really knowing what I could do."

His mind was not eased when he got so sick a day later that he had to seek help at the local medical clinic.

"I had to look up words in the pocket dictionary I did not expect to have to look up," Kruse said with a wince.

Kruse's Spanish improved and so did his experience, which he soon reframed and calls one of his best.

"My perspective was turned inside-out and flipped upside-down," Kruse said. "The experience was unlike anything I'd ever imagined. 

"The cultural experience was the biggest thing. Just seeing their style of living. I'd lived in D.C., in Hawaii and in the Midwest, but there was such a huge difference."

After pinballing through a series of seemingly random opportunities in his four years at Central, Kruse is seeing payoffs. He reached the all-America podium by placing third in the indoor heptathlon at the NCAA Division III meet in Birmingham, Alabama March 9-10. He racked up 5,124 points, while sophomore teammate Will Daniels (Geneseo, Ill.) took the national title.

And this week, Kruse learned his idea for a start-up business—monitoring swine health by measuring respiration rates--which took shape as a senior computer science project, was accepted by the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator. In return for six percent of the business, the accelerator provides a 100-day program and 11 meetings with AgTech-centric mentors, along with $40,000 in initial funding.  Even without that funding, the interest the project already generated among other prospective investors assured Kruse he'll be living in Des Moines for at least his first year after graduation.

 "I've always wanted to start a business," Kruse said. "I've never really known what I wanted to do, (except that it would be) something tech-related. Now this idea has kind of turned into something that would be feasible."
  Kruse is crossing lifetime goals off his mental checklist at a dizzying pace. And Stephen Fyfe, professor of computer science, said those seemingly unrelated experiences are a reason why.

"I think we see strong value in what happens outside of the classroom," he said. "We encourage students to apply their coursework. Getting students involved in research is a very big deal. We get excited about that."

Encouraged by associate professor of mathematics Russell Goodman, Kruse got started early, landing one of the few open spots in the Pacific Undergraduate Research Experience at the University of Hawaii-Hilo after his freshman year, in summer, 2015. It was a five-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) sponsored by Sam Houston State University (Texas) through the National Science Foundation. Kruse was on a four-student team applying mathematical concepts to neuroscience.

"It was a little eye-opening," he said.

The research the team conducted was continued by others and resulted in a paper that was recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Algebra and Computation.

That led to his acceptance into the 10-week program with the NSA the following summer. It was fascinating, Kruse said, but highly structured, restrictive and, well, he can't say much more.

"I got a lot more real-world experience than I expected," he said. "I'm glad I did it and I liked it, but I think I realized that's not the path I want to take."

Fyfe said it's unusual for a freshman to be selected for a major research program and credits Kruse's initiative. Kruse said Central played the pivotal role.

"Above all else, I would say the faculty letters of recommendation were huge," he said. "Dr. (Allen) Hibbard, Dr. Goodman, Dr. (Mark) Mills, Dr. (Robert) Franks, I had one, maybe two classes with these professors but I already had a personal connection with them, they knew I was in track, they knew what was going with my life and I think they put together some nice letters for me. I don't think I would have had these opportunities at other schools."

The Costa Rica program was led by Reynaga and assistant professor of exercise science Sara Shuger Fox. Kruse interned with Geoporter, which uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to solve community problems.

"My specific project was creating an Emergency Action Plan for coastal communities," Kruse said. "Basically, the people down there don't have a very good address system so it's really hard to keep track of where people are and where they need to go in case of a natural disaster or some sort of emergency."

Kruse's start-up business was, literally, a hoop dream. It was hatched with St.Clair (Minn.) High School friend Kenny Strobel.

"Last summer, Kenny and I were just playing basketball and he was telling me about this idea he had," Kruse said. "He knew that I was a computer science guy and he suggested that we design a drone and we would fly it over the hogs and scan them to tell if they were sick, which would be great but it's a little beyond my capabilities and I'm not sure that that's a reasonable thing to even make. 

"But the idea of it was just to tell if hogs are sick because the problem is there's a mortality rate of anywhere from 3 to 9 percent typically on these farms for hogs at this point in their life that we're looking at. And the way they tell if they're sick is just a walk-through visual eye test. Maybe once or twice a day they'll walk through the barn and see which hogs look sick or if they see a hog coughing. And if a hog looks sick, they'll maybe isolate them or they'll medicate them right away but with that high of a mortality rate, it's clear that they're missing a lot.

"So we kind of whittled his idea to what it is now, a device that will monitor an individual hog."

Kruse took advantage of his Central connections to forge ahead. He turned it into his senior project with Fyfe and sought his advice. He also met with Tej Dhawan, a 1991 Central grad and chief data officer at Principal Financial Group as well as a key player in the Des Moines business start-up community. Dhawan, who will take over as chair of Central's board of trustees this summer, recommended that he apply to the Iowa AgriTech accelerator. That led him to the group's conference in Des Moines March 23, where he and Strobel pitched their idea.

Fortunately for Kruse, his Central experience wasn't limited to learning how to write software code.

"I believe our computer science program is maybe different from others because it is more than computer science," Fyfe said. "We expect students to learn how to write and speak about computer science. As a part of this senior project, Ryan has had to stand up in front of the class three times now and talk about his project. And he had to write updates. I strongly believe that's something we do really well and something we put a big emphasis on here."

Technical skills alone won't convince a potential investor to part with thousands of dollars. Kruse's speaking and writing ability helped make the sale.

But much like associate head track and field coach Jim Fuller telling him his elbow position is wrong on a discus spin, experts at the Iowa AgriTech Conference steered Kruse to consider tweaks to his business plan.

"What we're learning from the professionals and mentors we met at the conference is there's a slightly different direction that we should maybe take it," Kruse said. "Really, just the data collection with the hogs is more valuable than we thought it would be.

Originally, we weren't planning on collecting all that data. We were just going to have it stay on a single device and then when the device is done it gets thrown out and the data is lost. But it turns out, a lot of the professionals are telling us that this data actually could be very valuable to us and to researchers and the market as a whole. We've got to tweak the design a little bit from what I'm doing for my senior project so we can get that data back."

He found that the numbers tell the story farmers are seeking.

"They have some statistics (that show) the respiratory rate is going to follow a normal kind of distribution," Kruse said. "So you expect a certain percentage to be within that range. If a larger percentage get outside of that range, there's probably a 99 percent chance that something's wrong."

Suddenly those abstract concepts he absorbed in class sprang to life.

"This is stuff that I learned in my Applied Statistics class, right from the lectures with Dr. Mills," Kruse said. "It's great to be able to apply those things."
Kruse welcomed the critiques.

"I'm pretty used to being coached," he said. "That's had a pretty positive impact on me. I'm used to being told I'm not doing things right."
Instead, Kruse listened, asked questions and learned.           

He had to learn about agriculture as well. Admittedly, large-scale hog production is as foreign to Kruse as Costa Rica was. That's where he relies on his partner, Strobel, who was raised on a farm. Strobel is a junior at the University of Minnesota, majoring in applied economics and animal science. But Kruse is eager to gain his own understanding.

"As we designed this system, there's a lot that has to be taken into consideration with hogs and how they interact with each other and what symptoms they show when they're sick," Kruse said. "So Kenny has been very involved in the design process. I've done my best to explain how the technical side of things work and he's done his best to explain how hogs work. I've toured some of their barns and facilities and tried to learn something about that."
 
Kruse is equally curious on the track, said Fuller, who works with the multi-event athletes.

"Ryan's a really bright kid," Fuller said. "He thinks outside of the box. He looks at things a little differently. He wants to understand what he's doing. Most kids just kind of blindly do whatever you tell them. Ryan, he wants to figure it out. That's a good thing.

There should be a purpose behind everything you're doing."

It's not always the pupil who learns.

"We both feel pretty comfortable with each other so sometimes I'll tell him something and he'll ask, 'Did you think about this?'" Fuller said. "Most of the time, I go with what he's thinking. He has a pretty good feel for stuff."

Kruse's personality and grasp of details are valuable qualities to possess as a coach, a role he already informally fills.

"Coaches can't work with (athletes) in the off-season but there's no rule that says they can't work with each other," Fuller said. "He organized it so he could work with all the multi-event kids, men and women. He's made a huge impact on the whole group.

He organized their training. He's a wonderful leader. He's made every one of these multi-event kids better. I have a lot of trust in him."

Daniels credits Kruse for his dramatic progress, particularly in the throwing events, en route to his national title.

"It's kind of unfair, because he could be a throwing coach at the high school or maybe even the college level right now," Daniels said. "He's been a huge help, learning all the footwork and everything."

But Kruse said he's learned from Daniels as well.

"Every event I've done, I've gotten better because of him," Kruse said. "The same thing is true of Coach Fuller."

Kruse is committed to his business career, but admits to being intrigued by a coaching future, albeit only as a sideline.

"Someday I would like to get into coaching, probably at the high school level," he said. "I like seeing athletes develop."

Kruse was injured early in the outdoor season but is trying to fast-track his recovery in time for the Iowa Conference meet Central hosts Thursday through Saturday and the May 24-26 NCAA Division III Championships in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was unable to finish the decathlon at the Kansas Relays April 18-19, but still wants to compete in some open events this week. He's already in good position for a spot in the NCAA javelin. His throw of 200 feet, 11 inches at the Central Invitational March 30 still ranks in the national top 20, which would secure an invitation. Kruse was 13th at last year's NCAA decathlon before climbing to third in the indoor heptathlon in March. He was the league indoor heptathlon champ at Pella in February, while also taking third in the pole vault and seventh in the 60-meter hurdles. He has received USTFCCCA all-Central Region and all-conference distinction three times.

Kruse, who carries a 3.70 grade point average, will likely be a three-time academic all-conference and USTFCCCA all-academic team honoree as well.

"He's very competitive, but maybe not in a way that society sees as being competitive," Fuller said. "He's not boisterous or aggressive. But he's very competitive. He wants to win."
Fyfe, who also helps coach Central's distance runners, said that Kruse's athletics background helped him reach new heights academically as well as in his budding business career.

"He has to be on top of things," Fyfe said. "He has to be sure he's getting everything done. I think part of athletics is learning discipline and that's a piece of what Ryan has had to learn. I would say that early in Ryan's academic career that he had always been such a good student that things came very easily to him. I think he learned that, 'Oh, things are getting a little harder, I do need to be more disciplined.' I think that's something he's learned from athletics because as he's gotten better athletically he's realized that, 'For me to be at the national meet, to be an all-American, I can't just rely on my talent alone. I have to do the work.' And I think the same thing has happened on the academic side. He can't just rely on being a smart person. He needed to do the work to apply that knowledge and apply that ability."

The payoff from a successful start-up business could be huge, as are the risks, of course. But Kruse isn't just another young entrepreneur chasing dollars. If the business succeeds, he envisions it will benefit consumers as well as agriculture, as one of the goals is developing a food traceability system.

"Just to have a little more knowledge of where your food came from," he said.

Kruse is eager to give back in more direct ways, as well. His Costa Rica trip inspired him to join Caitlyn Champ (senior, Kearney, Mo.) from the women's soccer team in launching Central College Pencils of Promise on campus earlier this year. The group staged a bike-a-thon April 22 around nearby Lake Red Rock, raising $2,000 to help build and supply schools for communities in need in Nicaragua, Laos, Guatemala and Ghana. While in Costa Rica, read a book by Adam Braun, founders of the Pencils of Promise world organization, which has constructed more than 460 schools.

"We felt very grateful to have the opportunities in education that all these children around the world didn't have and I think reading it while we were in Costa Rica, while they had developed communities and they had an educational system, having that other cultural perspective while reading that book really made it kind of hit home with us that these things are taking place, that this is real and that we needed to give back somehow. We started brainstorming and came up with something we can do."

Even as he moves into a career beyond the classroom, Kruse continues to draw on the support he receives at Central.

"(Fyfe) has given me a lot of advice in terms of grad school, just things outside of the classroom, what to look for in a job, how to approach the start-up process, so he's been really great," Kruse said. "He continues to give me advice and I'm sure I'll stay in contact with him after I graduate, too. Really, the entire math/computer science department. They all keep up with me, which is great. They all offer their different pieces of advice. They're genuinely interested in what I'm doing in my life."

That's the Central way, said Fyfe.

"Everybody talks about the community and the caring atmosphere here, and that's real," Fyfe said. "And it's more than just our department. We have a group of faculty who really are interested in our students and what they're doing and we want to support them."

And whether it's straining through the 1,500 meters or puzzling over an Iowa hog's vital signs, Kruse will carry lessons from a sultry summer in Costa Rica.

"I think things there are a lot simpler," he said. "Sometimes even with training for the decathlon, we get away from just the simple ideas of what needs to be done. We get too focused on the details that aren't important instead of just looking at the big picture."