...................................................
AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
...................................................
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Newsletter
Iowa State University
June 13, 2011 No. 655
...................................................
COLLEGE NEWS
...................................................
GRADUATE STUDENT RECEIVES FUNDING
Jason Patton, an agricultural meteorology graduate student and former Research Training Fellowship participant, recently was awarded a research fellowship from NASA. Patton will be comparing different sources of vegetation water content data for use in SMAP soil moisture retrieval. SMAP is the European Space Agency satellite launched recently to track soil moisture across the globe.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION WITH AGRONOMY ALUM, JUNE 14
Faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students are invited to attend an informal "roundtable discussion" with Dewayne Goldmon, a 1991 agronomy alum, on successful corporate agriculture and career choices. The roundtable will be held on Tuesday, June 14, 2 to 3 p.m. at the Agronomy Commons in Agronomy Hall. Goldmon is director of stakeholder relations at Monsanto and is the featured luncheon speaker at the ISU GMAP Research Symposium. He has agreed to provide a special discussion for graduate and undergraduate students, faculty and staff after the symposium.
FARMING FOR UNTROUBLED WATERS:Â LEOPOLD CENTER RESEARCH GOES BEYOND BUFFERS
Water is a huge issue in agriculture "“ just ask a Louisiana farmer watching floodwaters rise, or an Iowa farmer waiting to plant corn after a wet spring. The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture has funded two ongoing research projects that explore existing water and conservation practices.
http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2011/052711_bearcreek…
WEBINAR FOCUSES ON CONTAMINANTS IN SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER
The Iowa Learning Farms' June webinar, on June 15 at noon, will feature Michelle Soupir, who will talk about the fate and transport of pathogens from agricultural landscapes.
DAIRY FARM TO CELEBRATE DAIRY MONTH, JUNE 17
The ISU Dairy Farm will celebrate Dairy Month on June 17 from 6 to 11 a.m. The event is open to the public and will include tours of the milking parlor, barns and a discovery center for children. Free samples of milk, cheese, yogurt and icecream will be available courtesy of Iowa's dairy processors.
IOWA LEARNING FARMS CO-HOSTS JUNE 21 STRIP-TILL FIELD DAY
Iowa Learning Farms and Key Cooperative will co-sponsor a strip-tillage field day at the Mike Hermanson farm and at the Key Co-op S14 office strip-till plots in northern Story County on June 21, beginning at 10 a.m.
LATEST CCUR BULLETIN AVAILABLE ONLINE
The May/June 2011 issue of the Center for Crops Utilization Research Bulletin is available online.
JUNE ISSUE OF LEOPOLD NOTES AVAILABLE ONLINE
The June issue of Notes from the Leopold Center is available online
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
June 14: Retirement reception for Loren Shiers, 2 to 4 p.m., 1151 NSRIC
June 20: Retirement reception for Lloyd Anderson, 2:30 to 4 p.m., Kildee Hall atrium
June 24: Retirement reception for Steven Jungst, 4 to 5:30 p.m., Memorial Union South Ballroom
June 27: Retirement reception for Jerry Miller, 3 to 5 p.m., Reiman Gardens
July 19: Lauren Christian Pork Chop Open, Veenker Memorial Golf Course, ipic@iastate.edu
...................................................
EXTERNAL FUNDING
...................................................
STAYING AHEAD OF THE FUNDING GAME AT NIH
The National Health Institute's New Investigator Series offers strategies for getting and staying funded.
NEW CONCEPTS: POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES AT NIAID
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has released newly approved concepts for research programs. These concepts include "Using "˜Omics' Technologies for Predictive Modeling of Infectious Diseases" and "Development of Therapeutic and Prophylactic (Vaccine) Countermeasures for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases." Approved concepts represent early planning states for potential funding opportunities but do not guarantee that a concept will become an initiative.
FUNDING INFORMATION, OPPORTUNITIES AND DEADLINE REMINDERS
Dates listed are application deadlines. Contact: Roxanne Clemens, rclemens@iastate.edu
Additional information is posted at CALS Funding Resources, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/research/fundingResources/
July 1: 2011 Farmers Market Promotion Program Grants; 180 awards, $5,000 to $100,000.
July 5: USDA Scientific Cooperation Research Program; $45,000 over two years, 25 percent cost share.
July 6 (white paper): Use of Microalgae Feedstocks in the Joint Development and Validation of a Novel Algal Lipids Extraction Technology; one award, $500,000.
July 7: Opportunities for Promoting Understanding through Synthesis. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13403&WT.mc_id=USNSF_39…
July 13: NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; limited submission. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5257
July 15 and Oct. 15 (tentative due dates for review rounds): USAID Development Innovation Ventures; $100,000 Proof of Concept, $1 million Pilot and Impact Evaluation, $15 million Transitioning to Wide Scale.
July 22: USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grants; 35 awards up to $225,000 each, one year, 25 percent cost share. More: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-06-07/pdf/2011-13927.pdf
Aug. 20 (letter of intent): Dual Purpose with Dual Benefit: Research in Biomedicine and Agriculture Using Agriculturally Important Domestic Species (R01). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-276.html
Sept. 19: NIH High-End Instrumentation Grant Program (S10); $750,000 to $1 million. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-11-228.html
...................................................
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
...................................................
BECAUSE VS. SINCE
Use "because" to denote a specific cause-effect relationship: He went because he was told.
"Since" is acceptable in a causal sense when the first event in a sequence led logically to the second but was not its direct cause: They went to the game, since they had been given the tickets.
(The Associated Press Stylebook, 45th ed., 2010)
...................................................
INFOGRAZING
...................................................
2011 MOSQUITO COUNTS
During the summer, the Iowa State University Medical Entomology Laboratory, in a cooperative project with the Iowa Department of Public Health and the University Hygienic Lab (Iowa City), monitors mosquito populations and mosquito-borne disease in the State of Iowa. Mosquito surveillance began in the late 1960s under the supervision of Wayne Rowley and continues today under the supervision of Lyric Bartholomay. The lab's web site provides information on mosquito populations, including numbers and types of mosquitoes trapped weekly.
http://mosquito.ent.iastate.edu/
...................................................
INTERNAL VOICES
...................................................
THE 'INEVITABLE' YEAR OF VERY DEADLY TORNADOES
La Niña may be responsible for this year's devastating tornadoes, says Bill Gallus, geological and atmospheric sciences, but the number of significant tornadoes (EF-2 or greater) has stayed the same or even fallen slightly over time. It's the destruction that is so extraordinary. "It seems strange to say, but it's bad luck. It's a big coincidence that the tornadoes this year have been hitting fairly large cities." HuffingtonPost, May 26. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-hernandez/the-inevitable-year-of-v…
...................................................
EXTERNAL VOICES
....................................................
OBSERVING LIFE BROADENS THE MIND
"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under your observation in life."
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and Stoic philosopher.
...................................................
MARGINALIA
...................................................
HANDS-ON WORK ATTRACTS ALUM
Chad Fertig, who returned to his family's dairy farm after earning a bachelor's degree in agricultural studies in 2010, was featured on the cover of the June 8 issue of the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman. While an Iowa State student, he returned to the farm on weekends to help with milking. And he said going to college helped him decide to farm because he missed the "hands-on work."
........................................................
AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
........................................................
EDITOR
Julie Stewart, jstewart@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
SUBSCRIBE
Ag and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag and Life Sciences Online subscribe" to jstewart@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag and Life Sciences Online unsubscribe."
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IowaStateU.AgLifeSciences
Twitter: http://twitter.com/iastate_cals
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, 3280 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.