Iris Cui is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Food and Agricultural Business. Her research focuses on workforce development and talent management – an emerging area that has been largely overlooked in traditional agricultural economics. In addition to her research, she serves as vice president of the CAB Research Lab under the guidance of Dr. Trey Malone, where she manages and supports multiple clusters of graduates, undergraduate and K–12 students working on projects in sales, strategy and policy.

Prior to joining Purdue, Iris earned her Ph.D. in food and resource economics from the University of Florida, where her dissertation examined the impact of immigration policies on labor markets. During her four-year extension career in Tennessee, she worked closely with farmers and agricultural communities, teaching farm management, supporting business planning and conducting financial analysis. She pioneered extension programming on industrial hemp, developing widely used budgeting tools and producer surveys to support decision-making.

Beyond her professional work, Iris is a proud mother of a three-year-old.