College News
Convocation Saturday to Honor Graduates
Faculty and staff are invited to help recognize approximately 176 fall semester graduates Saturday, Dec. 15, at the College's convocation. A reception begins at 8:30 a.m. in the first floor lobby at C.Y. Stephens Auditorium with coffee, milk and cookies. The program follows at 9:30 a.m. Lorilee Schultz, who is graduating with a double major in agricultural business and economics, will be the senior class speaker and also will be presented the outstanding senior award by the Ag and Life Sciences Student Council. Other award winners will be Kellie Tholen, agronomy, for academic achievement; Nathan Unsworth, animal ecology, for distinguished service; and Jessie Westhoff, dairy science, for leadership excellence.
Third-Generation Iowa Stater to Be College's Marshal
Grant Thompson will be the student marshal for the College at commencement on Saturday, Dec. 15. He is graduating with a dual degrees in horticulture and landscape architecture. Thompson plans to attend graduate school and would like to become a professor, much like his grandfather, Louis Thompson, who was a faculty member in the agronomy department and an associate dean of the College. He will be accompanied by Ann Marie VanDerZanden, his advisor and associate professor of horticulture.
Ag and Life Sciences Student Coucil Presents Awards
The Ag and Life Sciences Student Council presented awards to its member clubs for annual achievements. The Outstanding Community Service Project award went to the Dairy Science Club for its Iowa Junior Dairy Coalition that is held each spring. The Outstanding Club Project Award was presented to the Block & Bridle Club for its display at VEISHA that included beef, sheep, swine, poultry, equine and companion animals. Howard Tyler, animal science, was awarded the Outstanding Club Advisor for his work with the Dairy Science Club.
Video Highlights Research on Planet's Water Cycles
Amy Kaleita, agricultural and biosystems engineering, and Brian Hornbuckle, agronomy, are featured in the video "Protecting the Planet's Water." The two assistant professors are working on a five-year NASA project to determine if remote sensing can be used to monitor the water cycles. They have set up monitoring stations east of Ames to measure transporation, evaporation and subsoil moisture. The data collected from this site will be used to measure the accuracy of infrared pictures taken by NASA satellites. Scientists can measure the moisture cycles of oceans and large bodies of water but not of landlocked areas, which effect agricultural areas. The video was produced by the College of Engineering.
Economic Study Finds ISU Worth $1.52 Billion to State Economy
Iowa State accounted for $1.52 billion in state economic impact during the 2006 fiscal year, according to a report by ISU economists David Swenson and Liesl Eathington.
Research: Poultry Diets Can Contain High Levels of DDGS
Several researchers at Iowa State are studying the use of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) as a feed ingredient. A recent project showed laying hen diets can be formulated with high amounts of corn DDGS without adversely affecting egg production and egg quality.
Dairy Farm Auction Nets More Than $200,000
More than 500 buyer numbers were given out for the Dec. 4 auction of ISU surplus dairy and farm machinery held at the Ankeny Farm. Most of the items sold were from the Ankeny dairy operation, which has been transferred to the new Dairy Farm south of Ames. Other items came from ISU's research and demonstration farms across Iowa. Auction proceeds, which totaled more than $200,000 in gross sales, will be returned to the ISU farms to support their operations. The highest selling item was a 7410 John Deere tractor and loader with more than 12,000 hours, which sold for $27,000. A sure sign that the auction was a busy place: the concession stand ran out of buns.
Ames Firm Donates Precision Farming Equipment
Ag Leader Technology Inc. of Ames has donated the latest precision farming equipment to the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering to use in educating students. The donation starts a new lab at Iowa State, complete with hardware and software.
Deadlines and Reminders
Dec. 15: College Convocation, 9:30 a.m., C.Y. Stephens Auditorium
Communications Kiosk
Polishing the Pegs: Use of Nondiscriminatory Words
Pastor Henry Ward Beecher once said, "All words are pegs to hang ideas on." Writers and editors are advised to ensure those pegs are smooth, polished and free of rough spots that can cause snags in meaning and understanding, according to Glenda Freeman, communications editor at Auburn University. "Every grammar book, style guide, or text about language that we might pull from our bookshelves warns against the use of discriminatory or biased language in our writing. As stewards of the language it is important to watch for such language and replace it with appropriate terms so the power of the message is not threatened by insensitivity and carelessness. Traps include bias, exclusivity, sexist language and generic terms," she said. (Dec. 7, Grammar Hints for the ACE Writing SIG)
Infograzing
Iowa State-ConocoPhillips Alternative Fuel Project Selected
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected an Iowa State University-ConocoPhillips research project for up to a $2 million award for the design and construction of a biomass gasification system to produce synthetic diesel fuel. The award will help support a two-year, $5.2 million research project.
WebCT System to Be Upgraded Over Break
The WebCT GOLD system will be shutdown Dec. 31 at 7 p.m. through 5 p.m. Jan. 4 for upgrades. Students, teaching assistants, instructors and designers will not be able to access WebCT GOLD during this period. Service could return earlier than expected. An update announcement will be posted on the WebCT public page when the system is available.
2008 Farm Progress Show Seeks Groups to Volunteer
A variety of volunteer opportunities are available at the 2008 Farm Progress Show for service groups or non-profit organizations interested in earning funds. The Farm Progress Show is set for Aug. 26, 27 and 28, east of Boone. Representatives of organizations interested in volunteering at the show are asked to attend an informational meeting Thursday, Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the DMACC Boone Campus Auditorium, 1125 Hancock Drive, Boone.
Internal Voices
ISU Paper in Crop Science Proposes Recycling Between Biorefineries and Fields
"By creating a large, new domestic demand for agricultural products, the advent of commercial-scale conversion of biomass into ethanol and other industrial chemicals is likely to have a strong influence on the design of agricultural systems. The possibility of recycling nutrients from the biorefinery to the agricultural system that produces the feedstock may allow substantial improvements in both sustainability and production efficiency."-- Rob Anex, agricultural and biosystems engineering, Matt Liebman and Andrew Heggenstaller, agronomy, and Lee Lynd and Mark Laser, Dartmouth College, in the paper, "Potential for Enhanced Nutrient Cycling through Coupling of Agricultural and Bioenergy Systems," which was recently published online by Crop Science.
External Voices
Harkin Sees Iowa as Example of Energy Security
"Emerging technologies to convert biomass into clean, domestic fuels is the future of our national energy security. No where is that more evident than in Iowa, where we are literally growing the crops that will lead to these advancements"--Sen. Tom Harkin, announcing that Iowa State will receive up to $2 million in from the U.S. Department of Energy for a biomass research project with ConocoPhillips Co. (See item in Infograzing section above)
Marginalia
Former ISU Faculty Member Murano in Line to Lead Texas A&M
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has voted to select former Iowa State faculty member Elsa Murano as the sole finalist for the position of president of Texas A&M University. The food science researcher, former federal appointee and the current vice chancellor of agriculture of the A&M System, as well as the dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M, will be eligible to become president in 21 days. From 1990 to 1995, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Preventive Medicine at Iowa State.
Ag and Life Sciences Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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