CALS Online and Dean’s Message
December 11, 2023
Dean’s Message
Good Morning CALS – This week is happily animated by CALS Convocation on Friday at 9 a.m. in Hilton Coliseum, and then Iowa State Commencements for graduate students on Friday at 7 p.m. in Hilton, and for undergraduates on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Hilton. Academically, these are the happiest events of the year for our students. Please consider coming out to enjoy them and help celebrate your students. Especially, please consider attending the CALS Convocation on Friday morning, and if you like, joining the handshake line…
Top Stories
CALS Convocation to Honor Graduating Seniors, Dec. 15
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will hold its fall convocation Friday, Dec. 15, at 9 a.m. in Hilton Coliseum. Doors open at 8 a.m. The event will also be livestreamed. The CALS Student Council will present its senior awards (see award winners below). Jacob Friedrich, horticulture and global resource systems, is the convocation speaker. Darcy Bonds, horticulture, will serve as the CALS student marshal at the university undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 1:30 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum. The graduate commencement ceremony will take place Friday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.
Senior Award Winner: Nicole Gudenkauf
Nicole Gudenkauf, dairy science, is the fall 2023 recipient of the Leadership and Innovation Award given by the CALS Student Council. For Gudenkauf, it has been all things dairy since stepping foot on Iowa State’s campus, including co-chairing the Dairy Science Club, developing and growing the DairyCY program, and participating in the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge.
Senior Award Winner: Erik Gerdts
Erik Gerdts, agronomy, is the fall 2023 recipient of the Academic Achievement Award given by the CALS Student Council. He is graduating summa cum laude with a major in agronomy, a minor in agricultural business and a certificate in soil science. He credits his success to hard work, dedication and putting his best efforts into everything he does.
Senior Award Winner: Grace Spindler
Grace Spindler, biology, is the fall 2023 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award given by the CALS Student Council. With plans to apply for medical school, Spindler has focused much of her Iowa State extracurriculars and community service around the medical field. She began volunteering in Mary Greeley Medical Center’s emergency department in December 2022.
Senior Award Winner: Colton Holdgrafer
Colton Holdgrafer, animal science, is the fall 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Ambassador of Agriculture and Life Sciences Award given by the CALS Student Council. His activities included serving on his dorm’s house leadership cabinet, holding various positions in Block and Bridle, working the Bacon Expo, serving on the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee and CALS Student Council as a club representative and vice president.
Senior Award Winner: Grace Reiss
Grace Reiss, nutritional science and global resource systems, is the fall 2023 recipient of the Inclusive Excellence Award given by the CALS Student Council. Reiss came to Iowa State intending to find ways to fight global hunger and malnutrition, and knew she wanted to gain international experience. She has met that goal, and along the way, her outgoing and friendly personality has fostered a welcoming environment at Iowa State and around the world.
Senior Award Winner: Megan Decker
Megan Decker, agricultural and rural policy studies and international agriculture, is the fall 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award given by the CALS Student Council. While at Iowa State, Decker has been a CALS Ambassador, involved in student government, a page for the Iowa Senate, an intern for the Office of the Governor, served on the Dean’s Advisory Board and been a part of Start Something CALS’ student incubator program.
Class of 2023: Mark Coverdale
On Dec. 15, Mark Coverdale will join the rest of the fall 2023 graduating class as he earns his degree in agricultural business. Though his journey to the stage differed from most of his classmates’, his time at Iowa State has been special. Coverdale returned to Iowa State to complete his bachelor’s degree in honor of his wife, Josie (’00 MS animal nutrition, ’03 PhD), who passed away in 2016.
Research
INRC Highlights Recent Findings from Water Quality Projects
The Iowa Nutrient Research Center has highlighted recent findings from water quality projects, many of which are already influencing conservation practices. The INRC is in its 11th year and has fully or partially funded 136 projects through a competitive award process, an investment of approximately $16.4 million in nutrient-related water quality research.
Teaching and Students
CALS Students Receive Grand Prize in Food Insecurity Challenge
Students across Iowa State University teamed up to tackle food insecurity in the second annual Food Insecurity Challenge. The grand prize went to a team comprised of Morgan Lang, junior in global resource systems, Molly Simmons, senior in environmental science, and Daniella Thuerauf, junior in global resource systems. The team recommended implementing student-run grocery stores in towns where local grocery stores had closed. Theoretically, the store would operate out of an empty room in the school. CALS, the Ivy College of Business and the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the competition.
Student Club Wins Innovation Award for Growing Mushrooms
Earlier this fall, the Controlled Environments Club received honorable mention accolades and $5,000 to put toward their project in the 2023 Wilbur-Ellis Innovation Award competition. The club proposed to grow mushrooms in portable, highly controlled environments, such as container farms. They believe this growing system would be particularly useful in Iowa’s urban areas that have less land for growing produce.
Culinary Science Club Schedules Second Charcuterie Workshop
The Culinary Science Club is offering a second Charcuterie Workshop on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. in the Culinary Discovery Lab, 2379 Food Sciences Building. Participants will make their own charcuterie board, receive a booklet with recipes and charcuterie templates, and learn food safety tips. Registration fee is $30, and seating is limited. The workshop is open to faculty, staff, students and community members.
Extension and Outreach
Farmers Concerned about Herbicide-Resistant Weeds
The 2022 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll asked farmers about their perspectives and behaviors related to weed and resistance management. Results were gathered from more than 850 row crop farmers and were published in November 2023, in an extension report called Farmers’ Attitudes and Behaviors Related to Weed and Herbicide Resistance Management.
Updated Iowa Phosphorus Index Calculator Available
A newer version of the Iowa Phosphorus Index calculator is now available. The P-Index calculator tool was developed to assess the potential for phosphorus moving from individual fields based on selected soil and field characteristics and management practices. The tool is available online at no cost.
Latest Health Data for Decision Makers Reports Now Available
ISU Extension and Outreach has released the latest Health Data for Decision Makers reports. They provide health-related data for Iowa’s counties for public health planning and action. The reports highlight county trends and enable comparisons among counties within the state, and rural and urban areas.
Water Rocks! Accepting Live Stream Classroom Requests
Water Rocks!, the ISU Extension and Outreach youth water education program, is accepting live streaming virtual presentation requests for January and February sessions. The program brings science and research-based lessons about conservation, natural resources and water quality to Iowa schools free of charge. All sessions correspond with the Next Generation Science Standards, adopted to guide curriculum in most Iowa schools.
ANR Extension Spotlight: Ajay Nair
Ajay Nair is an extension vegetable specialist for ISU Extension and Outreach and a professor in horticulture. He works with commercial vegetable growers in Iowa and across the region, helping them with soil fertility, insect and disease management, sustainable production, high tunnels and cultivar evaluation.
Around the College
New Book by Father, Son Reviews Status of Iowa’s Wildlife
“Iowa's Changing Wildlife: Three Decades of Gain and Loss,” written by a father/son Iowa State University faculty duo, has arrived on bookstore shelves and online. The book reflects a life of collaboration between Jim Dinsmore and son Steve Dinsmore. Jim taught wildlife ecology at Iowa State for almost three decades (1975-2002). Steve grew up trailing his father into classrooms and on outings far and wide. He now chairs Iowa State’s Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and researches avian ecology around the world.
Coats Receives Spencer Award
Joel Coats, distinguished professor emeritus in plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, received the Kenneth A. Spencer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Agricultural and Food Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. His research has helped pave the way for agricultural chemical companies to move forward in research and development of new products in the field of natural pesticides and repellents.
ISU Creamery Offers Holiday Butter Workshop
The ISU Creamery is offering a Holiday Butter Workshop Tuesday, Dec. 12, from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Culinary Discovery Lab, 2379 Food Sciences Building. Participants will learn how to make flavored homemade butter under the guidance of ISU Creamery students. The cost is $30.
Calendar
Dec. 13: Iowa Learning Farms Conservation Webinar
The Iowa Learning Farms conservation webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at noon, will focus on prairie planting success. Laura Jackson, director of the Tallgrass Prairie Center at the University of Northern Iowa, will provide research outcomes and field-proven prairie planting and management keys to success.
Dec. 13: INRC Focus on the Future Seminar
Carbon payment strategies and a breakdown of Iowa’s nutrient loads will be featured topics at the next Iowa Nutrient Research Center Water Quality Research Seminar on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 3:10 p.m., 3306 Elings Hall (note the different location).
Communications Kiosk
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year – Authentic
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 is authentic. It has a number of meanings, including “not false or imitation” and “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.” A high-volume lookup most years, authentic saw a substantial increase in 2023, driven by stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity and social media. Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate—two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary.
Infograzing
Iowa State’s SHOP Featured on Local News
Channel 5 news ran a feature on Iowa State’s student run food pantry on Dec. 5. Over the past three years, students’ need for food has increased nearly 1,000%. The SHOP serves approximately 2,000 students per month. It is open Mondays through Fridays, and lines begin to build up two hours before it opens.
USDA to Conduct 2023 Census of Aquaculture
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service announced that starting Dec. 18 they will mail the 2023 Census of Aquaculture to all producers who indicated in their 2022 Census of Agriculture that they produce and sell aquaculture products. The deadline to respond is Jan. 15, 2024. An ag census special study, the Census of Aquaculture will provide comprehensive aquaculture data at the state and national levels, including production volume and methods, surface water acres and sources, and sales.
Food and Agriculture Innovations Needed to Protect the Climate and Feed a Rapidly Growing World
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is finishing up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In a Dec. 2 article for The Conversation, Paul Winters, professor of global affairs at the University of Notre Dame, states that for the first time ever, food and agriculture took center stage at the annual United Nations climate conference. “More than 130 countries signed a declaration on Dec. 1, committing to make their food systems – everything from production to consumption – a focal point in national strategies to address climate change,” Winters said.
Marginalia
True North vs. Magnetic North
The Geographic North Pole is a fixed point on the globe. Maps and directions are usually oriented toward the Geographic Pole, also referred to as “True North.” The magnetic needle in a compass is attracted by the magnetism of the earth, and therefore always points to the constantly shifting Magnetic North Pole. Magnetic declination is the direction and amount of variation between the Magnetic North Pole and the Geographic North Pole.
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 Thursday.