College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
June 19, 2017
Top Stories
CALS Researchers Receive $1 Million Grant to Study Prairies and Beehives
CALS researchers recently received a three-year, $1 million grant from USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study whether prairie may offer honey bees a suitable source of forage later into the year. If so, honey producers may gain a new way of safeguarding their hives. Members of the research team include Matthew O'Neal and Erin Hodgson, entomology; Amy Toth, ecology, evolution and organismal biology; and Adam Dolezal, post-doctoral scientist in EEOB. More
ISU Monarch Research Team Releases Seed Mix Publication
ISU Extension and Outreach has released “Monarch Seed Mix High Diversity,” a publication that contains a high diversity seed mix developed by the ISU Monarch Research Team. “We hope this seed mix will be used by people in Iowa to provide habitat for monarch butterflies and bees,” said Sue Blodgett, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology. All perennials in the mix are native to Iowa. More
Reiman Gardens Celebrates National Pollinator Week
National Pollinator Week is June 19-25. Reiman Gardens will celebrate with a Pollinator Fest on Saturday, June 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Collaborators include the ISU Pollinator Working Group, the ISU Entomology Graduate Student Organization and the ISU Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate program. More
Research
CAMTech Accepting Proposals for Research Projects
The Center for Arthropod Management Technologies is accepting proposals for research projects to begin Jan. 1, 2018. Proposals should be for pre-competitive research related to arthropod or nematode management. Application deadline is July 19. More
Teaching and Students
Hansen Center Providing Student Storage July 21-Aug. 4
The Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center is hosting a storage unit event this summer. From July 21 through Aug. 4, space will be available for ISU students to store their furniture while they switch housing. Availability is first come, first serve. Applications are due July 11.
Extension and Outreach
Tour Southeast Iowa Research and Demonstration Farm during June 22 Field Day
The Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm will host its annual spring field day on Thursday, June 22. Registration begins at 12:30 p.m. Updates will be provided on herbicide drift injury, seedling disease, monarchs and pollinators on the farm. More
AgSploration Helps Create Ag Education Programs in Northwest Iowa
The AgSploration program, begun in part by an ISU Extension and Outreach staffer, helped create two agricultural education programs in northwest Iowa. Cherokee Washington High School and Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn-Remsen-Union have hired ISU alumni with degrees in agricultural education and both schools now have programs as part of their curricula. More
Around the College
Order Produce Online from Horticulture Station Website
Faculty, staff and students can order fruits and vegetables grown at the Horticulture Station and the Student Organic Farm through an online produce-ordering website. Pick-up is every Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Harl Commons entrance of Curtiss Hall, on the east side of the building. Produce will also be available for purchase without pre-ordering. More
Reecy’s Research Featured in Iowa Farmer Today
In an article titled “Genetics key to livestock disease relief,” Iowa Farmer Today talked with Jim Reecy, animal science and director of the Office of Biotechnology. Researchers like Reecy are working to find cattle that offer genetic resistance to respiratory ailments such as bovine respiratory disease.
Take a Video Tour of the Dairy Farm Open House
To celebrate dairy month, the ISU Dairy Farm held its annual open house on June 9. More than 1,600 people attended the open house, taking motorized tours of the farm and visiting the milking parlor and milk house. A video featuring the open house is available online.
Calendar
Field Days and Garden Days Calendar Available Online
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. A calendar with 2017 field days and garden days is available online. More
Funding Opportunities
NSF Website, FastLane and Research.gov Unavailable June 30-July 4
The National Science Foundation is moving its Data Center IT servers to the new NSF headquarters in Alexandria, Va. Because of this move, the NSF website, FastLane and Research.gov will be unavailable from June 30 at 7 p.m. CDT until July 4 at 5 p.m. CDT. During this outage period, there will be no access to these websites, proposals cannot be submitted in FastLane, and project reports and cash requests cannot be submitted in Research.gov. Previously saved information and uploaded documents in FastLane and Research.gov, including in-process proposals and reports, will be accessible after the Data Center move. More
Limited Submission: CDC SHEPheRD Pre-proposals Due June 22
The Office of the VPR is accepting pre-proposals for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Safety and Healthcare Epidemiology Prevention Research Development program. Projects will address Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Aquaculture. Project budgets will range between $300,000 and $500,000, with a project period of 12 months. Submissions are limited to one per institution. Pre-proposals are due June 22 for the internal competition. Proposals are due to CDC by June 30. Contact: Sue Shipitalo (sueship@iastate.edu)
Fulbright Scholar Program Grant Applications Due August 1
The Core Fulbright Scholar Program offers more than 500 teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in more than 125 countries. In addition to several new program models, Fulbright is offering more opportunities for flexible, multi-country grants. Grant duration ranges from two to 12 months. Applications are due August 1. More
USAID Broad Agency Announcement for Global Health Challenge
A U.S. Agency for International Development Broad Agency Announcement is seeking partners to co-create, co-design, co-invest and collaborate in the research, development, piloting, testing and scaling of innovative, practical and cost-effective interventions to address the most pressing problems in global health. Projects will generate novel tools and approaches that accelerate and sustain improved health outcomes in developing countries. Initial expressions of interest and concept papers will be selected based on USAID’s determination of the value of the submitter’s contribution to the co-creation process and how well they address the problem and challenges set forth in the BAA. The BAA expires May 30, 2018. More
ISU Procedures: Limited Submissions and Internal Competitions
Limited submissions are funding opportunities for which the sponsoring agency limits the number of proposals that an institution may submit. The Office of the Vice President for Research maintains a website with information about the internal process for selecting the application(s) to be submitted for each opportunity. To assist investigators in planning for future competitions, the website’s Toolbox includes a list of open and closed limited submission opportunities, organized by calendar year. 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.
July 14 (abstract): CRDF Global 2017 U.S.-Ukraine Agricultural Research Competition; must include one U.S. and one Ukrainian PI, 30 percent cost share, topics include sustainable farming practices, agricultural biotechnology.
Aug. 1 (internal competition): Alfred P. Sloan Foundation – 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships; $65,000, most recent Ph.D. must have been awarded on or after Sept. 1, 2011, three nominations per academic department. More
Aug. 15 (pre-application) 25: NIH Pre-application for a Biomedical Technology Research Resource (X02). More
Oct. 16: Small Grants on Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases (R03). More
May 10 (abstract): DOD DARPA Defense Sciences Office Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement. More
Communications Kiosk
Engage Readers by Thinking Like One
Janice Castro is the senior director of the graduate program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a former Time reporter and editor. In an article on Ag Media Summit's website, she encourages communicators to think like a reader. This will help you understand your audience better and tailor your content appropriately. She offers the following seven questions ask yourself before you begin.
- How well do you know your audience?
- How do they use media to get information?
- Would they rather see a story in video than text?
- What about social media?
- Does it make sense to create an online community around your content?
- What about a Facebook page? A Twitter feed?
- Should you add social media and sharing tools to your website to make it easier for your readers to spread the word about your stories?
Infograzing
CAST Releases Commentary on Bee Health
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology has released a commentary on “Why Does Bee Health Matter? The Science Surrounding Honey Bee Health Concerns and What We Dan Do About It.” Although honey bees are one of nearly 20,000 bee species, they support more than $19 billion in food and crop production in the U.S. each year. The CAST Commentary and its companion Ag quickCAST are available online. More
Suicide Rate Among U.S. Farmers Remains High
The number of suicides among farmers and farmworkers in the U.S. has remained stubbornly high since the end of the 1980s farm crisis, much higher than workers in many other industries, according to a new study from the University of Iowa. 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.
Facebook
Twitter
University Nondiscrimination Statement