CALS Online and Dean’s Message
Jan. 6, 2025
Dean’s Message
Hello CALS and Welcome to 2025 – The new semester starts in just two weeks, and in the meantime, things really get rolling again in the college today as folks return to work after the holiday break. Some of our CALS colleagues worked all through the break, caring for plants and animals and keeping the actual and metaphorical lights on! Great thanks to them. This week, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 4 p.m. in the Sukup Atrium - Biorenewables Complex, we’ll recognize Amy Kaleita as the inaugural holder of the Larry and Bunita Buss Department Chair in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering…
Top Stories
Study Shows Miscanthus has Greater Potential for Productivity, Economic Return
New research at Iowa State shows that using advanced planting techniques can triple the amount of biomass produced by the perennial, bioenergy crop miscanthus in its establishment year. This would significantly increase the plant’s potential to store carbon and improve its economic viability for producers. “Our new study suggests that we’ve been underestimating its potential for economic and environmental benefits during the crop’s initial growing season,” said Andy VanLoocke, agronomy and a leading researcher on the project.
Research
Why U.S. Farmers are Embracing Wildflowers
Research involving Lisa Schulte Moore, natural resource ecology and management, Matt Helmers, agricultural and biosystems engineering, and Amy Toth, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, was featured in the Dec. 26 issue of The Guardian.
Roundtable Seeks Faculty Interested in Combating Endemic and Zoonotic Microbial Threats
The Office of the Vice President for Research is hosting a Research and Innovation Roundtable for faculty across campus who would like to explore issues around the overarching topic “From Risk to Resilience: Combating Endemic and Zoonotic Microbial Threats.” Register by Feb. 21 to participate in the roundtable on March 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union (lunch provided).
Teaching and Students
ISU Chapter of Engineers Without Borders Working in Ghana
Dirk Maier and a group of students involved with the Engineers Without Borders-ISU Chapter are in Ullo, Ghana, on a study abroad trip. In an email sent from Ullo, Maier reported that their 2024 fundraising campaign was a huge success, raising $31,500 (exceeding their goal of $25,000) to put toward the addition of a roof on the urgent care building of the Ullo health clinic. The team of students recently built a three-stall (pink) latrine near the girls’ dorm on the Ullo Senior High School boarding school campus. They’ve also identified sites for potential additional latrines to be constructed on the campus in the future. Maier said the cost of construction materials for the latrine they built was $1,000. The Iowa State group also collaborated with a 10-member team from the Engineers Without Borders-KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) sister chapter to work on the latrine project and assess how to improve water access and use on the campus. Those interested in learning more about these efforts can reach out to Maier, dmaier@iastate.edu.
CALS Convocation Photo Album Available Online
Congratulations to the fall 2024 CALS graduating students. An online photo album is available from CALS Convocation, held Dec. 20.
Extension and Outreach
IPIC Releases New Gilt Development Video Series
Identifying, selecting and managing the right gilts for an operation is a driving factor in farm productivity. A new video series from the Iowa Pork Industry Center focuses on a variety of aspects related to gilt development. ISU Extension and Outreach swine specialist Matt Romoser created the eight-part series.
Planter University Workshops Scheduled for February
Specialists with ISU Extension and Outreach are once again teaming up with specialists in agricultural and biosystems engineering to bring planter equipment expertise to farms across the state. Planter University workshops are set for Feb. 3-7 and 11.
Online CropsTV Program Returns for Fifth Season
CropsTV, powered by ISU Extension and Outreach, returns for a fifth season in 2025. This educational program delivers crop production information directly to farmers and agricultural service providers and provides the convenience of crop production education at home, in the office or anywhere there is an internet connection.
Around the College
Iowa Farmland Values Fall, Breaking Five Year Trend
The annual Iowa State University Land Value Survey found that farmland values decreased 3.1%, or $369, to $11,467 per acre. The decrease (calculated in 2024) nearly erased the 3.7% increase from 2023 and ends a five-year trend of increasing prices. Rabail Chandio, economics and extension economist, is the leading researcher for the annual Iowa Land Values Survey conducted by Iowa State’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development and ISU Extension and Outreach. She said survey respondents noted falling commodity prices, persistently high interest rates and elevated input costs as factors that have tightened profit margins and placed increasing downward pressure on land values across the state.
Five Questions with the Chief Faculty Marshal
Rob Wallace, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, served as chief faculty marshal during Iowa State’s fall 2024 commencement ceremonies. The chief faculty marshal carries the official university mace at the head of the academic procession and, in placing it on its stand, signals the beginning of the ceremony. The graduate college ceremony on Dec. 20 marked his 100th as a marshal at Iowa State.
Calendar
Jan. 8: Iowa Learning Farms Conservation Webinar
The Iowa Learning Farms conservation webinar taking place Wednesday, Jan. 8, at noon will feature Adam Janke, natural resource ecology and management. He will present “Exploring the Ecology of Water Quality Wetlands in Iowa.”
Jan. 8: Amy Kaleita Medallion Ceremony
A medallion ceremony for Amy Kaleita, agricultural and biosystems engineering department chair, is Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 4 p.m. in the Sukup Hall atrium. Kaleita has been named the Larry and Bunita Buss Endowed Department Chair.
Jan. 15: CALS Staff Ice Cream Social
The CALS Staff Council is holding an ice cream social on Jan. 15 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in the Iowa Farm Bureau Pavilion in Kildee Hall. The ISU Dairy Science Club is providing the ice cream.
Feb. 3: George Washington Carver Day in Iowa
CALS and the College of Veterinary Medicine will celebrate the annual George Washington Carver Day at Iowa State on Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. in the Memorial Union Durham Great Hall. Jewel Bronaugh, president and CEO of the 1890 Universities Foundation, is the keynote speaker. RSVP by Jan. 27.
Infograzing
Gupta Awarded Grant from Frontier Science Fund
Proper cell division is essential for life on earth. The process is a complicated dance involving intricate cellular mechanisms and signaling, and it all happens on a microscopic level. Much about how this works is still unknown. Mohan Gupta, genetics, development and cell biology, and his research team have been awarded the Frontier Science Fund in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to explore one facet of this complex action.
Marginalia
Snow Rollers – Cold Weather Equivalent of Tumbleweeds
Snow rollers are the cold weather equivalent of tumbleweeds. A National Geographic article describes it as a rare phenomenon that only occurs under very specific winter weather conditions with the right mixture of moisture, snow, wind and temperature. In November 2023, KCCI shared photos from viewers who saw snow rollers in Des Moines.
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Julie Stewart, Editor
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
https://www.cals.iastate.edu/cals-online
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.