College News
Colletti Named to Interim Position in College of Agriculture
Joe Colletti, professor and interim chair of the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, has been named interim senior associate dean of the College of Agriculture.
ISU Students to Speak at USDA Farm Bill Forum Thursday
Two Iowa State students have been invited to give opening remarks at a USDA Farm Bill Forum at the Iowa State Fair at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 11. The forum is one of several listening sessions held nationwide with Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. The ISU students are Shamus Brown, a sophomore in animal science from Graettinger, and Alicia Clancy, a senior from Halbur who has a double major in journalism and public service and administration in agriculture. Brown, the state FFA president, will speak on behalf of the FFA's Iowa chapters. Clancy, who has been active on the state 4-H Council and Collegiate 4-H, will represent Iowa's 4-H clubs. Both will speak briefly on the impact of new farm policy on the next generation of farmers.
Astronaut/ISU Grad Part of Soybean Program at State Fair
The Iowa Soybean Association and ISU's NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center will host astronaut Clayton Anderson at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 16. Anderson graduated from Iowa State in 1983 with a master's degree in aerospace engineering and was hired by NASA's Johnson Space Center that same year. He is assigned as the flight engineer for the upcoming International Space Station Long Duration Expedition in 2006. At 9 a.m., Anderson will join ISU NASA Center Director Anthony Pometto and Lester Wilson, ISU professor of food science and human nutrition, to participate in a news conference at the fair to kick off the day. At 10 a.m. they will meet for a "Soybeans in Space" program on the AE Dairy stage. The program will include information about soy foods in space and current soy foods research. At 1 p.m., Anderson will sign autographs and give a children's presentation in the Iowa Soybean Association Kid's Tent. The events are part of Soybean Day at the State Fair. ISU's NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center and the Iowa Soybean Association invited Anderson and will host him during the one-day event.
Wintersteen and Hogberg to Show Cattle at the Fair
Interim Dean Wendy Wintersteen and Maynard Hogberg, chair of the animal science department, will participate in the 2005 Governor's Charity Steer Show at the Iowa State Fair. The show ring competition will start at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, in the Pioneer Livestock Pavilion at the Iowa State Fair. Immediately following the competition, the steers will be sold at auction, with proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald Houses of Iowa. Both the show ring event and the auction are open to the general public. Since its inception in 1983, the Governor's Charity Steer Show has raised more than $1.2 million for the Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux City Ronald McDonald Houses.
Ten Field Days Set for this Month and Next
The late-summer round of Research and Demonstration Farm field days begins at 10 a.m. Aug. 23 at the Armstrong farm devoted to beef cattle hoop research. The previously announced field day at the Northwest farm near Doon, scheduled for Aug. 31, has been cancelled. A field day at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Armstrong farm will deal with raising crops in high tunnels, a cross between hoops and greenhouses. Riparian grazing will be the topic of the 6 p.m., Sept. 15 field day at Rhodes. Other dates and times are:
- Aug. 24, Neely-Kinyon, 2 p.m.
- Aug. 25, Western, 1 p.m.
- Sept. 1, Northern, 9:30 a.m.
- Sept. 6, McNay, 4:30 p.m.
- Sept. 8, Northeast, 1:30 p.m.
- Sept. 13, Muscatine, 3 p.m.
- Sept. 14, Southeast, 1:30 p.m.
Event to Address Gulf Hypoxia and Local Water Quality
A workshop on hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and other water quality issues will be held Sept. 26-28 on the Iowa State campus. The program includes 15 sessions, each focusing on a specific question or topic. It is sponsored by the Upper Mississippi River Sub-basin Hypoxia Nutrient Committee, ISU College of Agriculture, EPA regions 5 and 7 and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Alumnus Henry 'H.B.' Wallace Dies in Arizona
Henry 'H.B.' Wallace, a College of Agriculture alumnus and son of Henry A. Wallace, died Aug. 4 in Arizona. He was 90 years old. A Des Moines Register article called him "a Des Moines businessman who pioneered hybrid chickens" and he became president of Hy-Line Poultry Farms, a division of Pioneer Hi-bred International, in the 1960s. He also was involved in philanthropy, scientific research and community service. Wallace earned a bachelor's degree in agronomy from Iowa State in 1938. He was born in 1915 in Des Moines, the son of llo Browne Wallace and Henry Agard Wallace, the former U.S. secretary of agriculture and U.S. vice president. Memorial donations may be made to Wallace Desert Gardens.
Fall Online Course on Perennials Offered
Iowa State is offering a horticulture class online during the fall semester. "Workshop in Horticulture: Perennial Garden Flowers" will begin Aug. 22 and end Oct. 3. The class is appropriate for anyone who wants to expand their gardening knowledge, including homeowners, master gardeners and ISU students.
Deadlines and Reminders
Aug. 16: Dry Manure Application Field Day, near Clarion
Aug. 23-24: Manure Management Clinic, Field Extension Education Laboratory near Ames
Sept. 12-14: "A Conference to Reinvigorate Public Breeding of Seeds and Animals for a Healthy 21st Century Agriculture," Gateway Center, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2005/seeds_072705.htm
Communications Kiosk
Ingenious and Ingenuous
Ingenious describes what is intelligent, clever and original -- "an ingenious invention." Ingenuous describes what is candid, naive and lacking subtlety -- "a hurtful, but ingenuous observation." (The Chicago Manual of Style, 2003, 15th edition)
Infograzing
Woteki to Co-Moderate World Food Prize Symposium
Former Dean Catherine Woteki and 2003 World Food Prize Laureate Catherine Bertinia will moderate the World Food Prize Symposium Oct. 12-14 in Des Moines. The theme will be "The Dual Global Challenges of Malnutrition and Obesity." Modadugu Gupta of India has been awarded the 2005 World Food Prize for pioneering the development and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fish-farming by the rural poor. For details: http://www.worldfoodprize.org/
American Society of Agricultural Engineers Gets New Name
The American Society of Agricultural Engineers has announced that it has changed its name to the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. The name change acknowledges the close integration and shared history of agricultural and biological engineering. The name change was adopted July 19 at the society's annual meeting.
E-Mail Updates of New ISU Technologies Available
To learn about the latest technology developments in Iowa State University's research labs, sign up online and the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer will automatically e-mail updates. You can customize the updates for the kinds of technologies that interest you: agriculture, biotechnology and pharmaceutical, chemistry, computer technology, engineering, environmental technologies, food and nutrition and materials. The updates are designed to help transfer the results of Iowa State research to companies for the development of products and services. To sign up, go to http://www.techtransfer.iastate.edu. Click technology search and follow the link to the sign-up page. Contacts: Nita Lovejoy, 4-4740 or nlovejoy@iastate.edu ; Todd Headley, 4-4470 or theadley@iastate.edu.
External Voices
IDALS Announces New Center for Agriculture Security
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge announced today (Monday) the formation of the Center for Agriculture Security within the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. "The Center for Agriculture Security will coordinate the department's efforts in the areas of livestock, crop, dairy, fertilizer and pesticide security. It will also be a resource for local, state and national agencies to coordinate agriculture security policy and agriculture disaster response," Judge said. The center will include response training for agricultural producers and first responders, information sharing between agricultural stakeholders and emergency response personnel, and assessing the threats and vulnerabilities to the agriculture industry. "Iowa leads the nation in pork, egg, corn and soybean production. Agriculture contributes over $13 billion a year to Iowa's economy and provides over 160,000 Iowa jobs. It is vitally important that we protect our food supply, keeping it safe and abundant," Judge said.
Marginalia
Rural Town in Oregon a Global Internet Leader
"... [Hermiston, Oregon] is actually a global leader of our Internet future. Today, this chunk of arid farm country appears to be the largest Wi-Fi hot spot in the world, with wireless high-speed Internet access available free for some 600 square miles ... We need to envision broadband Internet access as just another utility, like electricity or water ... Other American towns need to follow Hermiston ... in ensuring broadband Internet access as reliably as they do water or electricity. The fact is, unless you're a cowboy here in eastern Oregon, you're behind the times." From an opinion piece written by Nicholas Kristof in the Aug. 7 New York Times.
Next issue: Aug. 15
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
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