College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Aug. 1, 2016 – No. 911
Top Stories
Student Leadership: Taking the Reins
A sorrel miniature horse with a flaxen mane follows Aimee Schulz anywhere she leads – even to Iowa State University. Schulz, a CALS sophomore in genetics, says working with horses has taught her perseverance, dedication, patience, responsibility and time management. During her freshman year she won regional champion, semi-finals champion and went on to represent ISU’s Western Equestrian Team at the national championships at the Kentucky Horse Park. During her first year at Iowa State, Schulz participated in the President’s Leadership Class and the CALS Dean’s Leadership Class. More
Teaching and Students
McCubbins Receives Graduate Student Teaching Award
Andrew McCubbins, graduate student in agricultural education and studies, received the Graduate Student Teaching Award at the 2016 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture conference, held June 21-24 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He was recognized for his commitment, excellence and scholarship in college teaching.
CALS Entrepreneurial Grads Host Ag Entrepreneurship Interns
Learning by doing is one of the best teachers for students in the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative. Each summer up to 20 student interns experience what it’s like to be an entrepreneurial business owner. Graduates from the program have started 18 businesses, four of which offer internships to ISU students: ScoutPro, Mairet’s Gardening Center, Smart Ag LLC and AccuGrain. More
CALS Graduate Student on Changing Gender Roles in Farming
Haley Banwart, graduate student in agricultural education and studies, grew up on a family farm near West Bend. Although they never discussed it, Banwart said she expected that her brother would return home and farm and she would find a different path. Harvest Public Media ran a story on July 26 about Banwart and changing gender roles in farming. More
Extension and Outreach
Publication Provides Tips for Melon Production
The production of melon, from site selection and planting to harvesting, is covered in "Commercial Melon Production," a new ISU Extension and Outreach publication. Written by Ajay Nair, horticulture, and John Krzton-Presson, graduate student in horticulture, the publication is available online through the Extension Store. More
New Extension Publications Address Soil Health
Three publications have been released to increase understanding of soil health concepts and awareness of best management practices to protect soil health. The Iowa Soil Health Management Manual, Iowa Soil Health Field Guide and Iowa Soil Health Assessment Card are a collaborative effort between ISU Extension and Outreach and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Authors include Mahdi Al-Kaisi, agronomy. More
Around the College
VanDerZanden Receives Teaching Award
Ann Marie VanDerZanden, horticulture and director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, received the Teaching Award of Excellence at the 2016 annual conference of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, held June 21-24 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She was recognized for her commitment, excellence and scholarship in teaching.
Honors to ABE at ASABE Meeting
Several Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering faculty, staff, students and alumni were recognized at the 2016 annual international meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, held July 17-20 in Orlando. A full list of award titles and awardees is available online.
- Carl Bern - Sukup Global Food Security Award
- Mark Hanna - SMV Technologies Ergonomics, Safety and Health Award
- Matt Helmers - Blue Ribbon Award
- Steve Hoff - Superior Paper Award
- Jacek Koziel - Superior Paper Award
- Raj Raman - Massey-Ferguson Educational Gold Medal
- Charles Sukup (alumnus) - McCormick Case Gold Medal
- Hongwei Xin - Henry Giese Structures and Environment Award
Clark Co-Chairs Cheese Conference
Stephanie Clark, food science and human nutrition, co-chaired the American Cheese Society’s 2016 annual conference, held July 27-30 in Des Moines. More than 1,000 cheese-makers and cheese lovers from across the country were at the Iowa Events Center on Saturday for the final event, The Festival of Cheese. More
Hart on Iowa Public Radio: Changes in Farming
During the July 28 episode of “Talk of Iowa,” host Charity Nebbe talked with Chad Hart, economics, about how farming has changed. As technology and ideas about growing food change, there is a perceived divide between more conventional farms and farms trying something new. More
Calendar
Aug. 3: Farewell Reception for Carly Cummings
A farewell reception for Carly Cummings, program coordinator for the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative, will be held Wednesday, Aug. 3, 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the AgEI office, 30 Curtiss Hall. Cummings will be working as the new events manager for FarmHer, an agriculture start-up focused on bringing women into the forefront of the industry. Amanda Blair will be taking over as program coordinator for AgEI.
Aug. 3: Retirement Reception for Richard VanDePol
A retirement reception for Richard VanDePol, manager of ISU's agricultural engineering/agronomy research farm, will be held Wednesday, Aug. 3, 12 to 3 p.m. at the farm in Boone. Lunch will be served and a program will begin at 1 p.m. More
Aug. 4: Home Demonstration Garden Field Day
A Home Demonstration Garden Field Day will be held at the Horticulture Research Station in Ames on Aug. 4 at 6:30 p.m. Each year ISU Research and Demonstration Farms plant seven demonstration gardens around the state to showcase home vegetable gardening. A video has been released on the benefit of horticulture field days. More
Aug. 22: ISU Veterans in Agriculture Conference
The ISU Veterans in Agriculture and Entrepreneurship Conference will be held Aug. 22, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. "Common Ground: Creating Dialog and Action," will provide veterans, their families, service providers and policy makers an opportunity to learn and network.
Funding Opportunities
Internal Competition: Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists
Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists recognize the country’s most promising young faculty-rank scientists and engineers within the broad disciplinary categories of life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and chemistry. One Blavatnik Laureate in each disciplinary category will receive $250,000 in unrestricted funds and an opportunity to publish in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Nominees must have been born in or after 1975. Internal nominations must be submitted by Nov. 2. For internal submission guidelines, contact Sue Shipitalo (sueship@iastate.edu) or Donna Van Pelt (dvanpelt@foundation.iastate.edu). More
Limited Submission: Sloan Research Fellowship Applications Due Sept. 15
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awards Sloan Research Fellowships to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. Successful candidates receive a two-year fellowship of $60,000 to use for equipment, technical assistance, professional travel, trainee support, summer salary or any other research-related activity. Candidates must be conducting basic research in chemistry, computational or evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, ocean sciences or physics and hold a Ph.D. awarded on or after Sept. 1, 2010 (exceptions may apply). Submissions are limited to three per department. Interested individuals should contact their associate dean of research and department chair. More
Funding Information, Opportunities and Deadline Reminders
Dates listed are application deadlines. Contact: Roxanne Clemens, rclemens@iastate.edu. Additional information is posted at CALS Pre-Award Resources.
Aug. 24 (letter of intent): NOAA FY 2017 Climate Program Office - Climate and Atmospheric Research; $50,000 to $300,000 per year, up to three years. More
Aug. 29: EPA Region 7 Sustainable Materials Management Program.
Sept. 6 (letter of intent): DOE FY 2017 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I; applicant must be small business. More
Sept. 8 (pre-application): DOE Office of Science - Early Career Research Program; $750,000 over five years. More
Sept. 12: EPA Modeling of Climate Change Mitigation, Impacts and Adaptation FY 2016; $100,000 to $250,000 per year, up to five years. More
Nov. 18: DOD Robots in Manufacturing Environments Manufacturing Innovation Institute. More
Dec. 25 (letter of intent): NIH Center of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Integrative Health (P01). More
Oct. 1, Feb. 1, April 1 (letter of intent 8 weeks prior to application date): FDA Scientific Conference Grant Program (R13); $25,000 to $50,000. More
Infograzing
Clapperton to Lead Soil Health Workshop at Borlaug Farm, Aug. 13
The Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation is holding a soil health workshop at the Norman Borlaug boyhood farm near Cresco on Aug. 13, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Jill Clapperton, principal scientist and co-founder of Rhizoterra Inc., will share her research with Iowa farmers. Clapperton is a well-known researcher, international lecturer and advocate of farm practices that promote soil health. Registration deadline is Aug. 10.
Guidelines for Interactions between College Students and Professors
Interactions with college professors can be complicated. An article in an earlier issue of U.S. News and World Report offers the following five guidelines to help students maximize the chances of resolving challenges that arise. More
- You’re not an adult in training.
- All classes are important.
- Your GPA isn’t your professor’s problem.
- Be respectful.
- Grades are earned.
Marginalia
Licht on “Corn Sweat” (aka Evapotranspiration)
An article in the July 22 edition of USA Today talks about “corn sweat” adding to the heat misery in the Midwest. No, the nation's 94 million acres of corn don't actually sweat, said Mark Licht, agronomy. Corn sweat is another way to describe evapotranspiration, the natural process of water evaporating from plants to the air. In Iowa, corn pumps out "a staggering 49 to 56 billion gallons of water into the atmosphere each day," the National Weather Service said. That can add 5 to 10 degrees to the dew point on a hot summer day. More
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Julie Stewart, Editor
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/agonline
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is published by email every Monday. The deadline for submitting content is 12 p.m. on Friday.