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AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
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The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Newsletter
Iowa State University
May 21, 2012 No. 701
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COLLEGE NEWS
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FARM FIELD DAYS BEGIN JUNE 21
The list of farm field days for this summer has been posted on the ISU Research and Demonstration Farms website. Field days give farmers and the public a chance to see research projects in progress and talk with the researchers involved in the experiments. They also provide the opportunity to view the latest in modern agriculture. More: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
NSF CAREER GRANT FOR SALAS FERNANDEZ
Maria Salas Fernandez, agronomy, has been awarded a grant through the Faculty Early Career Development Program of the National Science Foundation. The CAREER grant is one of the most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.
EGG INDUSTRY WELL REPRESENTED AT ISSUES FORUM
Nearly half of the egg production companies in the U.S. were in attendance at the 2012 Egg Industry Issues Forum held on April 10-11 in Denver, Colo. The forum is sponsored by the Egg Industry Center at ISU. The fourth annual forum brought together more than 110 egg producers and affiliates of the allied egg industry, state egg associations, and members of academia and government from throughout the world.
DIRECTORY HIGHLIGHTS ISU LOCAL FOOD RESOURCES
The Leopold Center has published a new directory; "Learning About Local at ISU." The directory lists 28 programs and 35 graduate and undergraduate classes that have a local foods component or could be applied to local food production and marketing.
CARD STUDY SHOWS IMPACT OF ETHANOL ON PUMP PRICES
A recent fuel price analysis, conducted by ISU's Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, found that pump prices would be $1.69 more per gallon across the Midwest if ethanol wasn't available. This $1.69 per gallon reduction adds up to $2,363 in annual savings for a typical Iowa family.
HORT ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT COURSE CITED BY CHRONICLE
A Chronicle of Higher Education article, "What Colleges Can Bring to the Table," cites a new "Horticulture Enterprise Management" course offered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and taught by a Leopold Center staff member. Students learn about how to manage and run diversified horticultural enterprises in Iowa. More: http://chronicle.com/article/What-Colleges-Can-Bring-to-the/131923/
ANIMAL SCIENCE GRADUATE STUDENT RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD
Caitlyn Abell, a doctoral student majoring in animal breeding and genetics and statistics, received the 2011 Lauren L. Christian Graduate Student Award from the National Swine Improvement Federation. Abell is the 10th award recipient from ISU since the annual award was started in 1993.
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
June 28: Iowa Swine Day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
July 10: Deadline to register for the 2012 Lauren Christian Pork Chop Open
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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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CAYUSE 424 WEBINAR ON SUBCONTRACTS
A 30-minute webinar, "Developing, Importing, Exporting and Managing Subcontracts in Cayuse 424," will demonstrate how to prepare, validate, share and submit subcontract proposal data in Cayuse 424. The webinar will be May 23, 12 to 12:30 p.m.
CAYUSE 424 TIPS AND TRICKS ARCHIVE
Cayuse 424 Tips and Tricks have been archived on the Cayuse support website.
NEW eRA COMMONS TOOL FINDS INSTITUTE OR STUDY SECTION FOR NIH APPLICATIONS
LikeThis is a new search tool to aid Principal Investigators find and learn about NIH research projects that have similar goals and objectives as their own. Following log-in to eRA Commons, PIs can access this tool as an "˜Additional Link.' PIs can enter scientific text from the grant application to find similar grants, the NIH funding institute they were submitted to, and a list of the study sections where the grants were reviewed. PIs can also access their own previously funded or unfunded submissions to find similar funded grants.
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/
June 11: BLM Climate Change Vulnerability Study; BLM land in Wisconsin, one award, $350,000 over three years.
June 13 (large projects) and July 11 (small projects): Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science and Engineering (BIGDATA). More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504767&WT.mc_ev=click
June 15: OES Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas "“ Pathways to Increased Market Access for Smallholder Producers Implementing Sustainable Agriculture Practices; one award, $247,500. More: http://goo.gl/Zkxhw
June 18 (letter of intent): NSF/DOE Partnership on Advanced Combustion Engines 2012-2015. More: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12559/nsf12559.htm?WT.mc_ev=click
July 2 (preproposals): Wells Fargo/National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Grant Program to Support Community Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship Projects.
Aug. 21 (letter of intent): NIH Development and Translation of Medical Technologies to Reduce Health Disparities (R43/R44); PI must be small business. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-EB-12-001.html
Sept. 23 (letter of intent): NIH NIGMS National Centers for Systems Biology (P50); $2 million per award. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-187.html
Oct. 3: NIH Macroeconomic Aspects of Population Aging (R01). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-186.html
Feb. 19: NSF Energy for Sustainability.
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INFOGRAZING
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UNITED WAY FOOD DRIVE RUNS THROUGH MAY 24
The fourth annual United Way LIVE UNITED Food Drive has begun. Non-perishable items and plastic grocery sacks will be collected through May 24. Collection boxes can be found at 30 Curtiss Hall, 2312 Food Sciences Building, 220 MacKay Hall, 1200 Howe Hall and 104 Marston. More: Carla Persaud, cpersaud@iastate.edu, 4-1823.
NEW FEATURES TO EXTENSION FOOD PRESERVATION PROGRAM
Preserve the Taste of Summer was launched last July by ISU Extension and Outreach as a pilot program to help adults learn how to safely preserve foods. This year, the basic structure of the program will remain the same, but some new elements are being added as a result of public demand.
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EXTERNAL VOICES
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VILSACK ON USDA's 150TH ANNIVERSARY
When the U.S. Department of Agriculture was created 150 years ago, 48 percent of the U.S. population worked in agriculture. Today the amount is less than 1 percent. "We go to the grocery store and see this enormous array of food, and we just take it for granted. We have a tendency to ignore the enormous contribution our agricultural production makes to national security." Tom Vilsack, the 30th U.S. agriculture secretary, concerning the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/usda-set-to-mark-150th-anniversar...
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MARGINALIA
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REMINISCING WITH GRADS 50 YEARS LATER
Graduates from the college's Class of `62 and earlier were on campus May 10-11 as part of the ISU Alumni Association's Alumni Days reunion. Following are a few stories shared from their college days:
* Remembering a fellow classmate who, for a class assignment, calculated how much silage the campanile would hold.
* Remembering how, on a class trip, agronomy professor Wayne Scholtes' windbreaker mysteriously disappeared, only to reappear on a statue in the town's courthouse square.
* Remembering the 1959 visit of Nikita Khrushchev to campus, with security men in trench coats carrying "violin cases."
* Remembering as a freshman in forestry in the 1940s being hospitalized with scarlet fever and the help received from an advisor to catch up with classes and eventually graduate.
* Remembering collecting samples of manure and rumen materials from cows at the dairy teaching farm, and "it's only been in the last five years that I got rid of the smell."
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AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
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EDITOR
Julie Stewart, jstewart@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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