................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... CORRECTION: FACULTY MEMBER AND GRAD STUDENT ALSO ON SEARCH COMMITTEE The Ag Online item last week about the College’s representation on the search committee for the new vice president and provost should also have included Levon Esters, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies. Also omitted was Andrew Brown, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology graduate student, who represents the Graduate and Professional Student Senate. MYERS TO SPEAK AT NATIONAL CORN UTILIZATION MEETING Alan Myers, chair of the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, has been invited to speak to the fifth Corn Utilization and Technology Conference, sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association, to be held in Dallas on June 5-7. The theme of the conference reflects the growing importance of corn as a keystone to a carbohydrate-based economy. Myers will speak on ongoing work in the laboratory he directs along with adjunct associate professor Martha James. His presentation, titled "Genetic Modification of Maize Starch Structure,” will describe progress made at ISU towards genetically modified corn varieties that are designed to provide significant nutritional benefits for human consumers. AGRICULTURAL AND BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING FACULTY NAMED OUTSTANDING ADVISERS Steven Mickelson, agricultural and biosystems engineering, was recently selected as one of two university advisers of the year. Thomas Brumm, agricultural and biosystems engineering, was named a college adviser of the year. College advisers of the year are selected by each of the colleges at Iowa State. University advisers of the year are selected by the Office of the Provost. SERVICES FOR DUVICK SET FOR TONIGHT AND TOMORROW Memorial services for Don Duvick, agronomy affiliate professor and retired senior vice president of research at Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., will be tonight, May 30, and Wednesday, May 31. He died May 23 at the age of 81. Services will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today and 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Urbandale United Church of Christ, 3530 70th St. Condolences may be sent to his family at 6837 NW Beaver Dr, Johnston, IA 50131. COLLEGE SENDS FACULTY AND STAFF TO NATIONAL DIVERSITY CONFERENCE The College is sponsoring faculty and staff to participate in this week’s Annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education. Sorrel Brown, newly named chair of the College Diversity Committee, will be attending with Stan Henning, agronomy; Ebby Luvaga, economics; and Deland Myers, food science and human nutrition. The conference will be held today, May 30, to Saturday, June 3, in Chicago, Ill. LEOPOLD CENTER SEMINAR SET FOR JUNE 1 The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture will host a June 1 seminar featuring the chief officer from the nation's first commercial bank formed to support environmentally sustainable development. John Berdes, president and managing director of ShoreBank Pacific Enterprise, will speak at 3 p.m. in the Hughes Auditorium at Reiman Gardens. His topic will be: "Investing for Triple Bottom Line Returns: Business Practices that Support Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development." BRENTON CENTER TO CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY JUNE 10 The Brenton Center for Agricultural Instruction & Technology Transfer will celebrate its 10th anniversary with an open house on Saturday, June 10. College faculty and staff are invited to the Brenton Center from 2 to 4 p.m., with a brief program at 3 p.m. Refreshments will be provided. RSVP to Carrie Brus (cbrus@iastate.edu) by Friday, June 2. TRAIN TO BECOME A SOYBEAN RUST FIRST DETECTOR The Iowa Soybean Rust Team is recruiting Iowa agricultural professionals to serve as “First Detectors” for soybean rust. A training session will be held June 20. HOOKED ON SCIENCE WORKSHOP JUNE 12 AND 13 The Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition will sponsor the Hooked on Science summer interactive workshop June 12 and 13 at Iowa State. The program targets high school students that excel in the sciences and high school teachers and will explore career opportunities in Food Science and Human Nutrition. Contact Terri Boylston, 4-0077 or tboylsto@iastate.edu. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS June 9: U.S. Pork Center of Excellence news conference, 10:15 a.m., Media Center, World Pork Expo July 11: Lauren Christian Pork Chop Open, Veenker Memorial Golf Course June 12: Open forum with Jack Payne, vice provost for Extension, 3:10 to 3:55 pm, 1951 Food Sciences Building June 19: Research and Demonstration Farm Field Days begin, Horticulture Station, near Ames, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... WEBSITE HELPS THOSE STUMPED BY AN ACRONYM You can search for nearly half a million entries at the Acronym Finder, which calls itself the web's most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms. The Acronym Finder allows users to decipher acronyms from a database of more than 430,000 entries covering computers, technology, telecommunications and the military. Visitors can add any acronyms they think are missing. More: http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ ........................................................ INFOGRAZING ........................................................ SENATE CONFIRMS ISU ALUM TO USDA POST Iowa State alumnus Gale Buchanan has been confirmed to become under secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Buchanan served as dean and director emeritus at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia until April 2005. Buchanan received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Florida and his doctorate degree in botany from Iowa State in 1965. ANIMAL WELFARE SPECIALIST AT IOWA STATE JUNE 5 Renowned animal scientist and animal welfare advocate Temple Grandin will present two ISU Bioethics lectures at Iowa State June 5. Both are free and open to the public. NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT STUDY SEEKS VOLUNTEERS Volunteers are sought to participate in an exercise and nutritional supplement study in the Department of Health and Human Performance. Men and women, ages 40 to 60,will be selected based on the following criteria: healthy, untrained to moderately trained, able to perform seated knee flexion and extension exercises, and at least 12 weeks since major surgery or six weeks since minor surgery. If you are interested in participating or would like more information, email bcaastudy@iastate.edu. USDA UPDATES STATE FACT SHEETS The USDA’s Economic Research Service recently released Fact Sheets for each state and for the nation that includes agriculturally related data. The State Fact Sheets have been updated to include per capita income and earnings per job estimates for 2004. More: http://www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/ CENTURY OF MEAT INSPECTION FEATURED The centennial of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, FMIA, is celebrated at the USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service website. Visit the FMIA Centennial anniversary page for more information. ........................................................ EXTERNAL VOICES ........................................................ STUDENT BAKE SALE HELPS LOWER SULFUR DIOXIDE One ton of nothing: $425. Reducing pollution: priceless. A University of Iowa environmental law student group used $425 raised at a bake sale to buy one-ton sulfur-dioxide pollution allowance in an annual Environmental Protection Agency auction. Sulfur dioxide gas is regulated by an EPA cap and trade system that allows manufacturers to buy rights to pollute. The purchase is miniscule compared with those by such companies as Morgan Stanley Capital Group, which spent $10 million for 39,000 tons of pollution credits. But, says Harmony Mappes, co-president of the Iowa student group, “every little bit helps keep the air cleaner.” (Chronicle of Higher Education, May 12) ........................................................ MARGINALIA ........................................................ ENGLISH SCIENTIST SIDES WITH THE EGG, NOT THE CHICKEN British experts recently argued that the egg came first, not the chicken, Agence France-Presse reported. The key to the age-old question apparently lies in the fact that since genetic material does not change throughout an animal's life, the first bird that evolved into a chicken must have initially existed as an embryo inside an egg. John Brookfield of the University of Nottingham concluded that because of this, the living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it turned into. The specialist in evolutionary genetics was quoted in several newspapers as saying: "Therefore the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg. The egg came first." (Agence France-Presse, May 25) Next issue: June 5 ........................................................ AG ONLINE ........................................................ EDITOR Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/ SUBSCRIBE Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe." Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3680 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.
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