Herman Quirmbach


Herman Charles Quirmbach is an American politician and academic, currently serving as a member of the Iowa Senate from the 23rd District. A Democrat, he has served in the Iowa Senate since 2003 and served on the Ames City Council from 1995 to 2003.

Education

Quirmbach earned his B.A. from Harvard College and his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University after completing a doctoral dissertation "Input prices and the horizontal and vertical structure of industry." As an undergraduate, Quirmbach roomed with biochemist and Nobel laureate Roger Y. Tsien.

Career

After earning his doctoral degree, Quirmbach became an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University.
Quirmbach currently serves on several committees in the Iowa Senate—the Education committee; the Human Resources committee; the Judiciary committee; and the Ways and Means committee; and the Local Government committee, where he is chair. He also serves as vice chair of the Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
Quirmbach was re-elected in 2006 with 11,782 votes, defeating Republican opponent Linda Livingston.