College News
Agronomy Professor Named Wallace Endowed Chair
Matt Liebman, agronomy, will become the Henry A. Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture July 1. He succeeds former Wallace Chair Lorna Michael Butler who retired Feb. 1.
Agronomy Department Names Sprague and Frey Endowed Chairs
The Department of Agronomy has named two new endowed chairs in the areas of crop genomics and biorenewable crop research.
ISU Entomologist Identified Mosquito's Immune System Genes
Iowa State entomologist Lyric Bartholomay is part of an international team that identified 350 genes in the immune system of a tropical disease-transmitting mosquito and looked at their evolution compared to two other species. Their paper was published in the June 21 edition of Science.
Award-Winning Technology Featured at Leopold Celebration
The 20th anniversary celebration of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture on July 11 will showcase a new technology recently named to a top 10 list David Letterman might envy. The Impellicone anhydrous ammonia manifold has been selected by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers as one of the top 10 new agricultural products developed over the past 20 years. Learn more: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2007/tech_062107.htm
More Faculty Essays on Sesquicentennial Site
Several essays from faculty members spotlighting aspects of the history of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have been added to the sesquicentennial Web site. Essays are added as they're developed. Included in the essays are: Harold Crawford, who will retire June 30 from agricultural education and studies, relating nearly 50 years as an Iowa State student and faculty member; and Paul Doak, associate professor emeritus of economics, talking about the origins of the agricultural business program (see Internal Voices). If you have an idea for an essay, contact Ed Adcock, 4-2314 or edadcock.
McAndrews Writes Award-Winning Journal Paper
A paper written by Gina McAndrews, agronomy, was presented the 2007 K.B. Knight Award by the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Journal Award Committee. The article, titled "Using environmental and ethical issues for debate in an introductory agronomy course," was published in the NACTA Journal. The award was presented at the 53rd annual NACTA Conference banquet June 22 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Poster Wins American Phytopathological Society Competition
A poster presented by Emmanuel Byamukama, plant pathology graduate student, was awarded first place at the North Central division meeting of the American Phytopathological Society. The title of Byamukama's poster was, "Bean Pod Mottle Virus Spatial Pattern and its Relationship with Bean Leaf Beetle Winter Mortality." Faculty members Forrest W. Nutter Jr. and Alison Robertson were co-authors on the paper. The study seeks to develop a virus model to predict the seasonal and field-specific risk for bean pod mottle virus for use by farmers prior to spring planting and is sponsored by the Iowa Soybean Association. The meeting was held at Purdue University June 19-21.
World Food Prize Winner in Research with Iowa State
World Food Prize winner Philip Nelson will receive the honor Oct. 18 at the Iowa Capitol. The Purdue University professor is working on a project with Joe Sebranek and Jim Dickson, animal science, funded by the USDA-CSREES National Food Safety Initiative that is titled "Novel Aseptic Processing and Packaging of Ready-to-Eat Frankfurters." The objective is to develop a closed, aseptic system for processing and packaging ready-to-eat meat products that are susceptible to post-processing contamination with pathogenic bacteria, particularly Listeria monocytogenes. The concept is to create a process for ready-to-eat meats that resembles the aseptic packaging of liquids and pharmaceuticals. The initial study is being done at Purdue and Iowa State will be doing pilot plant evaluation and validation of the process.
Deadlines & Reminders
June 24-28: Ninth International Pollination Symposium, Scheman Building, more: http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/plantbee/home.html
June 27: Northwest Research and Demonstration Farm field day, 9 a.m., near Sutherland, more: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/farms/fielddays.php
June 27: Rhodes Farm field day, 5:30 p.m., near Rhodes, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/farms/fielddays.php
June 28: Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm field day, 1:30 p.m., near Nashua, more: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/farms/fielddays.php
June 30-July 1: Webcast conference on horse-human relationships
July 10-11: Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture 20th Anniversary Celebration, more: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2007/anniversary_052307.htm
Communications Kiosk
Nameplates Have College's New Name
Iowa State nameplates with the new name of the College are available on the Web. The graphic files are in the TIFF format for use on Mac and Windows systems. There is a link on the download page to the University's Visual Identity guidelines for using the nameplates. If you are interested in obtaining nameplates with department names, contact Ed Adcock, 4-2314 or edadcock@iastate.edu.
Infograzing
Elbert Wins Photo Awards
ISU University Relations photographer Bob Elbert recently won an award in the 2007 University Photographers' Association of America print competition. He earned a third place award for a photo of entomology faculty member Greg Courtney, which appeared in the January 2007 entomology alumni newsletter, http://www.ent.iastate.edu/alumni/newsletter/alumni-jan2007.pdf. In May, the association also awarded Elbert a second place in its monthly photo contest for a photo of Lei Li, a graduate student in interdepartmental genetics who's working with GDCB faculty member Yanhai Yin. The photo of Li will be used in recruitment materials for the interdepartmental genetics program.
Online Tool Helps Research Energy Alternatives
The National Center for Appropriate Technology has created an online search tool for farms and ranches interested in funding and building renewable energy projects, reducing energy costs and becoming more energy self-sufficient.
Internal Voices
The Origins of Ag Career Day
"In 1969, the Ag Council decided to initiate an Agricultural Career Day, which was held during the fall quarter. It had poor attendance and Ag Council decided not to hold another due to a lack of interest. Jerry Gidel and Darwin Luedtke, leaders in the Agricultural Business Club, came to me to express their disappointment and they believed they could do better having learned from the mistakes of the Ag Council. We decided that the Agricultural Business Club should sponsor an event as a service project for the College. College administrators approved the plan. The event was held in the fairly wide hallways of the first and second floors of Curtiss Hall. At that time Curtiss Hall was a pedestrian freeway between the east and the west side of campus. Many agriculture students passed through Curtiss Hall several times a day - making it a prime location. About 25 of the most active recruiters were invited to have a small booth or table at the event. The affair was an instant success due to the efforts of Jerry and Darwin. The state fire marshal eventually closed down the Curtiss Hall operation and it was it was moved to the combined space of the Great Hall and the Sun Room of the Union." --Paul Doak, associate professor emeritus of economics, sesquicentennial essay
External Voices
World Food Prize Win Incredible
"Obviously, this is incredible. It's the ultimate in recognition I guess and I'm very humbled and proud to be the recipient." --Philip Nelson, Purdue University food scientist, reacting to being named the 2007 World Food Prize laureate (Radio Iowa, June 18)
Marginalia
Food from Ethanol Byproduct Under Study
Distillers dried grains (DDGs) aren't just for cattle and pigs any more. U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is working on incorporating DDGs, a byproduct of ethanol production, into human food. ARS scientist Kurt Rosentrater is developing recipes for new foods including cookies, breads and pastas that are low in calories and carbohydrates, but high in protein and fiber. DDGs flour is often more nutritious than regular flour, because ethanol processing tends to concentrate the grain's protein and fiber three- to nine-fold. But the fermentation process used to make ethanol often imparts a bitter off-flavor and odor to distiller's grains. (ARS News Service, June 22, http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070622.htm)
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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