COLLEGE NEWS
- New leaders named for ISU entomology, sociology
- Ag delegation from India to visit ISU next week
- Bring the kids: Children’s Garden dedication June 5
- College welcomes alumni for ISU Alumni Days
- Golf event to benefit Lauren Christian endowment
- Nineteen countries represented at "visions" conference
- Ag Ambassadors make the rounds this spring
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Noonan’s seven rules for easing speaker anxiety
- Goof in the spelling goofs
INFOGRAZING
- By the numbers: Tech transfer in the college
- By the numbers: Tech transfer at ISU
INTERNAL VOICES
- A magnificent species returns to Iowa
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Jersey cows and a college education
MARGINALIA
- Butterflies inspire military, high-tech researchers
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C O L L E G E N E W S
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NEW LEADERS NAMED FOR ISU ENTOMOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
Beginning July 1, the departments of entomology and sociology will have new leadership. Joel Coats will be the new chair of the Department of Entomology. Coats, a professor of entomology and toxicology, has been on the ISU faculty since 1978. He succeeds Tom Baker, who served as chair for seven years and will remain on the department faculty. Robert Schafer will be the new chair of the Department of Sociology. Schafer, a professor of sociology, has been an ISU faculty member since 1970 and served as assistant chair of the department from 1988 to 1989. He succeeds Willis Goudy, who is completing a five-year term and will return to the department faculty.
AG DELEGATION FROM INDIA TO VISIT ISU NEXT WEEK
Four senior scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will visit ISU May 31 to June 4. The delegation’s visit is part of an agreement between ICAR and ISU to develop collaborative research and training exchanges. The effort is funded by the World Bank. The delegation will meet with ISU officials to discuss visiting professor exchanges, graduate student programs and research proposals. The Indian scientists will visit several College of Agriculture departments and centers, the National Soil Tilth Lab and research sites around the state. On June 1, faculty and staff are invited to a seminar by one member of the delegation, G.B. Singh, deputy director general - natural resources. He will speak on sustainability and farming systems in India and opportunities for collaboration with ISU. It will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Room 109, Soil Tilth Lab.
BRING THE KIDS: CHILDREN’S GARDEN DEDICATION ON JUNE 5
Faculty, staff and their children are invited to attend the dedication of the new Children’s Garden in the Reiman Gardens at 10:15 a.m., Saturday, June 5. The program will feature singing by the Des Moines Children’s Choir and the release of 350 painted-lady butterflies. Remarks will be given by alumnus and gardens benefactor Roy Reiman; ISU President Martin Jischke; and Mike Chaplin, horticulture department head and director of the gardens. Children and families from the university child-care centers will present the Reiman family with a memory book. The Class of 1949 and others will be recognized for their gifts to help develop the Children’s Garden. President Jischke also will read a children’s book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," to the kids attending.
COLLEGE WELCOMES ALUMNI FOR ISU ALUMNI DAYS
The College of Agriculture will host a reception at the Reiman Gardens for alumni who’ll be on campus for ISU Alumni Days June 3-5. Alumni, including members of the classes of 1949, 1944, 1939, 1929 and 1924, are expected to be on hand. The college reception is June 4. The college also will welcome alumni at a social hour the evening of June 3.
GOLF EVENT TO BENEFIT LAUREN CHRISTIAN ENDOWMENT
The Department of Animal Science is planning a golf outing on June 13 that will benefit the Lauren L. Christian Endowment. Christian, a distinguished professor of animal science, died last November. Friends and family will be on hand, as well as members of the animal science department and the college. Invitations have been sent to alumni and many others. The ISU Animal Science Scramble, a four-person golf event, will begin at 1 p.m. A mixer starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 p.m. Entry fee is $50 per person. Those who do not golf may attend the mixer and dinner for $20. RSVP by June 10 to Mike Telford, 4-3303 or mtelford@iastate.edu.
NINETEEN COUNTRIES REPRESENTED AT ‘VISIONS’ CONFERENCE
The "From Jay L. Lush to Genomics: Visions for Animal Breeding and Genetics" conference was attended by 248 scientists from 19 countries on May 16-18. Twelve plenary speakers delivered remarks, and more than 40 posters were presented. The papers and abstracts have been published in a book of proceedings. The proceedings also will be made available online through "AgBiotechNet," an electronic journal. Abstracts are already online and papers will be available soon. Photos of the event can be found online. Conference co-chairs were animal science faculty Max Rothschild and Sue Lamont.
AG AMBASSADORS MAKE THE ROUNDS THIS SPRING
This spring 21 ISU agriculture students traveled to 32 schools to talk about opportunities in the College of Agriculture. The Ag Ambassadors visited with almost 850 students in 31 Iowa and Wisconsin high schools and one Iowa community college. The ambassadors talk about career opportunities in food and agriculture, natural resources and related fields; distribute information on the college; and answer questions about life at ISU. The Ag Ambassadors receive training in communications and presentations from college faculty and staff prior to their visits.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
June 3-5: Alumni Days.
June 4-6: "Building the Land-Grant Community with Tribal Colleges and Universities," conference preceding the North Central Teaching Symposium, Holiday Inn Gateway Center.
June 6-8: "Engaging Learners Through Communication," 1999 North Central Teaching Symposium, Holiday Inn Gateway Center.
June 13: Animal Science Scramble, golf outing for Lauren Christian Endowment, 4-3303.
June 17: "Expo ’99: Creating a Thriving Iowa Agriculture," Vision 2020, Scheman Building, 4-2092.
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C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
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NOONAN’s SEVEN RULES FOR EASING SPEAKER ANXIETY
Peggy Noonan, former presidential speechwriter and author of "Simply Speaking," has seven rules to counter the anxiety public speakers may feel:
- Don't be afraid, a flop is not deadly.
- Use logic to make your case.
- Say what you believe with wit and feeling.
- Be yourself, speaking as you would to a friend.
- Start with humor to relax you and your audience.
- Rehearse, fixing the difficult parts.
- Use your own gestures, unless they are distracting.
GOOF IN THE SPELLING GOOFS
In the item on spelling goofs from last issue’s Communications Kiosk, the apostrophe was omitted from the spelling of HORS D’OEUVRE. Drat.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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BY THE NUMBERS: TECH TRANSFER IN THE COLLEGE
The following figures are from a report given in February to the Ag Cabinet by Kenneth Kirkland, director, Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer. All the figures listed were for FY99, and were current through Feb. 1.
Number of ISU invention disclosures: 108
Percentage of those that came from the College of Agriculture: 50
Number of patents to ISU inventors: 31
Number of those patents issued to College of Ag inventors: 9
Number of non-germplasm licenses executed: 10
Number of those licenses related to College of Ag work: 7
Number of germplasm licenses executed: 56
BY THE NUMBERS: TECH TRANSFER AT ISU
The following figures are from a May 21 report by the Office of Institutional Research:
Number of technology disclosures received by Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer in 1998: 158
Number received in 1999, through April 23: 137
Number of U.S. patents issued to ISU inventors in FY98: 54
Number issued in FY99, through April 23: 39
Number of license and option agreements executed in FY99, through April 23: 220
Number of licenses and options executed per $10 million research expenditures in FY97: 7.2
Rank of ISU among nine peer land-grant universities in that category: 1
Number of R&D 100 awards awarded to ISU, Ames Lab and affiliated centers or partners since 1990: 15
Number of companies formed since 1990 due to ISU technologies and/or technical expertise: 39
Number of those companies that are still in business: 31
Number of tenant employees in ISU Research Park in 1988: 88
Number in 1998: 1,086
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I N T E R N A L V O I C E S
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A MAGNIFICENT SPECIES RETURNS TO IOWA
"On April 9 . . . I was watching something I had never expected to see in the state: real whooping cranes, back in Iowa where they belonged. With four sightings of this species in less than six months, one wonders if such sightings will become regular in Iowa. Or were these just chance events of birds being blown east from their usual migration route? Whatever happens, at least we have the joy of knowing that the long-term nurturing of this magnificent species has had some success and that one of our natives has returned, if ever so briefly." James Dinsmore, professor of animal ecology, writing in the April 29 Des Moines Register on recent whooping crane sightings in western Iowa.
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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JERSEY COWS AND A COLLEGE EDUCATION
"Dairying is a demanding occupation, but has treated our family well. It has made it possible for the five in my generation to graduate from Iowa State University and to pursue useful careers in agriculture. The next generation of 22 grew up on the farm and received their college education from the Jersey cows . . . Now we are in the third generation of children needing money for education. Hopefully some will want to come home to farm and milk Jersey cows." Joe Lyon of Toledo, Iowa, writing in the spring issue of the Iowa Barn Foundation magazine. Lyon is a member of the foundation’s board. (Lyon’s wife, Duffy, creates the butter sculptures at the Iowa State Fair.)
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M A R G I N A L I A
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BUTTERFLIES INSPIRE MILITARY, HIGH-TECH RESEARCHERS
British defense officials are eyeing research on how butterfly wings get their shimmering color, and think it could have important military uses. Rather than containing any pigment, butterfly wings are covered by overlapping "tiles" 50 times thinner than a human hair. Each tile contains multiple layers of cells, separated by air gaps. When the light bounces off the tiles, the layers reflect colors with an iridescent sheen. Research could result in tile-like structures that use microscopic plastic flakes to regulate color. One result might be the blackest black ever -- so dark that it would even block infrared heat rays, making it virtually invisible to night-vision systems. Extending the concept to radio wavelengths could make planes invisible to radar, and using such particles in inks would produce security seals that would make credit cards and banknotes more difficult to forge. (Business Week, March 29)