Issue: 679

................................................... AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE ................................................... The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Newsletter Iowa State University Dec. 5, 2011 No. 679 ................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... STORIES RECIPE FOR SUCCESS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE The latest issue of the College's alumni magazine, STORIES in Agriculture and Life Sciences is available online. This issue focuses on food and food systems work in the college.  An accompanying cookbook is available for download featuring recipes from those profiled in the magazine. Among other topics, Recipe for Success includes articles about home garden field days, student-run farms, and essays by alumni and friends sharing their views on food systems. Please send feedback to stories@iastate.edu. CALS TO HOST CENTER FOR NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION MEETING, DEC. 13 CALS will host a meeting for researchers from the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation to explore potential applications for CNDE technologies and capabilities in CALS research. The Center has a number of state-of-the-art technologies to evaluate materials"”plant, animal, food, soil, metal, composite materials, etc."”without destroying the original sample. Use of these technologies has provided a key element of innovation to a broad variety of funded research projects. The meeting will be on Dec. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. in 3140 Agronomy Hall. RSVP to Carla Persaud (cpersaud@iastate.edu) by Friday, Dec. 9, if you plan to attend. MINNER NAMED ONE OF MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN GREEN INDUSTRY David Minner, horticulture, was named one of the "Most Influential People in the Green Industry" by Green Media. Recipients were chosen for their commitment to the Green Industry and their influence on their peers. FF13BFFEE5 AGRONOMY STUDENTS ELECTED TO NATIONAL POSITIONS Rachel Owen, a senior in global resource systems and agronomy, was elected national vice-president of Students of Agronomy, Soils and Environmental Sciences at the American Society of Agronomy meetings this fall. Logan Lyon, a junior in agronomy, was elected national president-elect for Public Service and Administration in Agriculture. ZHU AND DiSPIRITO RECEIVE NEW PATENTS Junwei Zhu, entomology, was issued a patent on May 10 for "Biorational Repellents Obtained from Terpenoids for Use Against Arthropods." Alan DiSpirito, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, received a patent issued April 26 for "Use of Methanobactin." VIDEOS DEMONSTRATE MARKETMAKER ISU Extension and Outreach has released videos highlighting the online tool MarketMaker. Family shoppers can use the MarketMaker website to search for restaurants or places to buy everything from freshly picked or pick-your-own produce, to maple syrup and wine. Farmers can search for farmers' markets, grocery stores and other outlets to sell their food products. The national MarketMaker link is hosted by the Agricultural Resource Center at ISU. CANDIDATES FOR LEOPOLD CENTER DIRECTOR VISIT CAMPUS The third of three candidates for the director's position of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture will hold a seminar this afternoon that is open to the public. Mark Rasmussen, U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, will speak today, Dec. 5, at 2 p.m. in 8 Curtiss Hall. A link to archived versions of the other two candidates' seminars are available on the Leopold Center website. NIKOLAU PART OF US-JAPAN TEAM RESEARCHING GENE CHEMISTRY Basil Nikolau, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, is part of an ISU research team collaborating with scientists at the Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation and with scientists in Japan to develop an international partnership to help make strides in the technologies needed towards a low-carbon society. The research will look at the chemistry of basic processes in plants and how those functions can be better known and used. More: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2011/dec/nikolau COMPUTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE CALL FOR PROPOSALS The Computation Advisory Committee is searching for projects that will have a broad impact on student computing and represent innovative uses of information technology for instruction at ISU. Student involvement in the development of proposals is encouraged. Proposals are due in CALS on Feb. 17. Submit to David Acker, dacker@iastate.edu. More:   http://www.cio.iastate.edu/committees/cac/proposals/2012-2013/cac_cfp_2… FORESTRY CLUB SELLS CHRISTMAS TREES, DEC. 9-11 The Forestry Club will be selling Christmas trees in the Reiman Gardens parking area on Dec. 9-11. Hours are Friday 3 to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 12 to 6 p.m. Balsam firs are $40 for a 6 to 7 foot tree or $45 for a 7 to 8 foot tree. Scotch and white pines are $25. Balsam fir wreaths will be sold for $15 (24" undecorated), $20 (24" decorated), $20 (30" undecorated) and $25 (30" decorated). More: Angela Stone, alstone@iastate.edu. NEW LEOPOLD CENTER RESEARCH RESULTS AVAILABLE Summaries of six recently completed projects are now available on the Leopold Center's website, exploring topics that range from producing organic livestock to enhancing the quality of Iowa wines. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Dec. 9: Food Safety Modernization Act webinar, 1 p.m. ................................................... FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES ................................................... NCR-SARE 2012 GRADUATE STUDENT GRANT CALL FOR PROPOSALS The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program has released its 2012 Graduate Student Grant call for proposals. Graduate students enrolled at colleges or universities in the North Central region can submit proposals for up to $10,000 to fund sustainable agriculture projects that will be part of their educational programs. NCR-SARE expects to fund about 15 projects. Proposals are due Jan. 26. Contact: Beth Nelson, schre002@umn.edu, (612) 626-4436. More: http://www.northcentralsare.org/Grants/Apply-for-a-Grant ISU BROWN GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2012-2013 ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS The purpose of the Brown Graduate Fellowship is to strategically advance ISU research in science, agriculture and space science. The preference is to fund Ph.D. students, although exceptional M.S. students will be considered. Fellowship funds can provide partial funding for a fellowship or enhance an existing fellowship. Funds can be used to assist current graduate students or to recruit new graduate students. The maximum award will be $10,000. Applications are due Feb. 15. FIND OPEN AND FUTURE FEDERAL SBIR, STTR SOLICITATIONS Open and future U.S. government solicitations for Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer are available at http://www.sbir.gov/solicitations. Applications must be filed by a small business, but relationships with university researchers can range from PIs to consultants, depending on the solicitation. 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/ Dec. 20 (letter of intent): DOE FY 2012 SBIR/STTR Phase I (Release 2); 80 awards, $150,000 per award, up to nine months, application must be small business, university researchers can subcontract. More: https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/ (DE-FOA-0000628) Dec. 23 (letter of intent): NIH Studies to Evaluate Cellular Heterogeneity Using Transcriptional Profiling of Single Cells (U01). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-013.html Dec. 23 (letter of intent): NIH Exceptionally Innovative Tools and Technologies for Single Cell Analysis (R21). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-014.html Dec. 23 (letter of intent): NIH Accelerating the Integration and Translation of Technologies to Characterize Biological Processes at the Single Cell Level (R01). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-015.html Dec. 31 (letter of intent): NIH Development of Courses or Workshops in Metabolomics (R25) Grant. Jan. 18: NSF Cyberlearning: Transforming Education - Design and Implementation Projects (DIPs). More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503581&WT.mc_ev=click Jan. 23: NSF Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504687&org=DMS&from=home Feb. 1: NOAA SBIR FY 2012; applicant must be small business, university researchers can be consultants. Feb. 2 (abbreviated proposals): NIST Precision Measurement Grant Program; two awards, $150,000 over three years. Feb. 12: NIH Midcareer Investigator Award in Mouse Pathobiology and Comprehensive Phenotyping Research (K26). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-021.html Feb. 14 (letter of intent): NIH Bioengineering Interdisciplinary Training and Education for Type I Diabetes Research (T90/R90). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-11-023.html Feb. 15: NSF Cyberlearning: Transforming Education - Cyberlearning Resource Center (CRC). More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503581&WT.mc_ev=click Feb. 16: NIH Validation of Molecular Diagnostics to Predict Patient Outcomes Using Specimens from Multi-Site Cancer Trials (R21). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-014.html March 20: NIH NIAMS Small Grant Program for New Investigators (R03). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-045.html March 21: NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program (S10). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-017.html Sept 30, 2013: NOAA FY 2012-2013 Broad Agency Announcement. ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... NEW CALS SCREENSAVER: PREPARING THE POINSETTIAS A new photo on the CALS website shows Kellie Walters, sophomore in horticulture and agricultural and life sciences education, watering some of the 1,300 poinsettias prepared for the Horticulture Club's annual sale and other holiday uses. This photo and others can be downloaded as screensavers on the college's homepage. TIPS ON TIDYING UP QUOTATIONS Carol Saller, a senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press, is providing tips to academics on tidying up quotations in a series of articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Leaving material out of a quotation requires ellipses, those three little dots. But ellipses are rarely needed at the beginning or end of a quotation. Readers understand that a quotation is taken from a larger text, so save your dots for material that's missing from the middle and for quotations that end midsentence. ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... RECEPTION TO HONOR GEOFFROY, DEC. 8 A reception to honor President Gregory Geoffroy, who is stepping down as ISU president in January, will be held Thursday, Dec. 8, 3 to 6 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom. The event will include a receiving line, a program at 4:30 and refreshments throughout. RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH TRAINING The National Science Foundation requires responsible conduct of research training for all students (undergraduate and graduate) and post-doctoral fellow who conduct research support by NSF funds. For options on how to meet these requirements and more information, go to the Office for Responsible Researcher's RCR training page. More: http://www.compliance.iastate.edu/rcr/training/ PROPOSALS FOR IOWA YOUTH CONFERENCE DUE JAN. 5 Faculty and staff are encouraged to submit workshop topics for the 2012 Iowa 4-H Youth Conference, scheduled for June 26-28 on the ISU campus. With more than 900 high school students from across Iowa attending, it is an opportunity for departments to share what they have available for potential students. An information letter and workshop proposal form can be found at the bottom of the conference website under "Workshops" (http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/StateConference/). Proposals are due by Jan. 5 to Brenda Allen, bsallen@iastate.edu, 4-1567. ................................................... EXTERNAL VOICES ................................................... DNA SEQUENCING CAUGHT IN DELUGE OF DATA "Data handling is now the bottleneck. It costs more to analyze a genome than to sequence a genome." David Haussler, director of the center for biomolecular science and engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in an article in the New York Times on "DNA Sequencing Caught in Deluge of Data." The ability to determine DNA sequences is starting to outrun the ability of researchers to store, transmit and analyze the data. More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/business/dna-sequencing-caught-in-del… ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... HOW WRITERS LIVE WITH THEIR BOOKS "Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books" is filled with details about how writers read, collect and live with their books. Published this month by Yale University Press, the book features interviews with 13 writers and color photographs of their collections. The section on each writer concludes with his or her list of top 10 books. More: http://chronicle.com/blogs/pageview/library-lust/29764?sid=at&utm_sourc… ........................................................ 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.