Issue: 470

................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... DUPONT PARTNERS WITH IOWA STATE ON NEW CENTURY FARM DuPont has pledged $1 million to the New Century Farm, the first research effort in the United States to focus on producing cellulosic ethanol on the farm. The research efforts also will focus on enhancing the production, processing and utilization of feedstocks for biofuels and biomaterials. IOWA STATE PLAYING ROLE IN REBIRTH OF STATE'S WINE INDUSTRY Murli Dharmadhikari is a key leader in the recent growth in Iowa's wine industry. He's director of the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute and extension enologist for Iowa State. You can learn more about Dharmadhikari and Iowa's grape and wine industries online. AGRICULTURE EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTED IN POINTS OF PRIDE Learn about the contributions of Floyd Andre, Louis Thompson and William Murray, plus the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies and the Ag 450 Farm in this week's Points of Pride. As part of Iowa State's sesquicentennial celebration, 150 points of pride related to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are being posted online to coincide with 150 days of the 2007-2008 academic year. CARVER INTERNSHIP MENTORS RECOGNIZED Diane Birt and Aubrey Mendonca, both food science and human nutrition, have been recognized for mentoring interns in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' George Washington Carver summer internship program for five of the last seven years. Prior recipients of the five-year recognition were Richard Hall and Sande McNabb, both natural resource ecology and management, and Pamela White, food science and human nutrition. The internship is a recruitment effort for traditionally under-represented students. College faculty who wish to serve as a mentor should contact Mary de Baca, mmdb@iastate.edu. FORTIFYING FEED WITH BIODIESEL CO-PRODUCTS Two scientists with the USDA Agricultural Research Service worked with Kristjan Bregendahl, animal science, to study whether crude glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production, can be used to supplement the feed of laying hens, broilers and swine. Read about their research results here: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070920.htm BIOECONOMY CONFERENCE SET FOR NOV. 5 AND 6 The fifth annual Bio-based Industry Outlook Conference will be held Nov. 5 and 6 at Iowa State. It will bring together leaders from industry, government, academia and the nonprofit sector to share information about: producing and handling biomass feedstocks; processing, manufacturing, and marketing biobased chemicals, fuels and energy; economic outlook for biobased products, and policies that impact the bioeconomy. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is a Gold Sponsor of the event. More: http://www.bioeconomyconference.org RODEO TIME THIS WEEKEND The 45th annual Cyclone Stampede Rodeo will feature two shows on Saturday, Sept. 29, at 1 and 7 p.m. and one show at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30. The Iowa State Rodeo Club sponsors the rodeo, which is held on South State Street, just east of the Iowa State Beef Teaching Farm. Tickets for children five and under are free, children ages 6-12, students are $7 and adults are $8. Contact Chelsey Messerschmidt at cmonkie@iastate.edu. ISU RESEARCH IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, POLISH EDITION The Polish edition of National Geographic this month quotes Jacek Koziel, agricultural and biosystems engineering, on his collaboration with Matthew O'Neal, entomology, and postdoc Lingshuang Cai on the smell of the multicolored Asian ladybeetle. The ladybeetle is a predator of the soybean aphid, but also a pest in the home and vineyards. The adults produce an offensive odor that can render wine undrinkable when the beetles are harvested with grapes. COLLEGE SPONSORS PART OF POLITICAL ACTION WEEK The College helped sponsor last Tuesday's Agriculture, Energy and Environment Day of the ISU Government of the Studen Body's Political Action Week. Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Tom Brumm, agricultural and biosystems engineering, spoke. PLANT PATHOLOGISTS CO-AUTHOR JOURNAL EDITOR'S PICK Forrest Nutter, plant pathology, and Paul Esker, his former graduate student, were among the authors of the journal paper selected as the Editor's Pick for September's Plant Disease journal. Nutter was involved in planning, analyzing and carrying out the study and Esker applied specialized statistical analyses. Esker now is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin. The paper is titled Quantifying Loss Caused by Ray Blight Disease in Tasmanian Pyrethrum Fields. More: http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PDIS-91-9-1116 ECONOMIST SPEAKS AT INTRAGENICS PROGRAM Wally Huffman, economics, presented "Economic Impact of Intragenics: Traits, Labels and Diverse Information,” Sept. 10 at a program arranged on the subject at U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's offices in Riverdale, Md. Intragenics is defined as being or occurring within a gene. EEOB FACULTY MEMBER'S PAPER ON COPING WITH CHANGE Stephen Proulx, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, was the lead author of a research paper posted Sept. 19 on PloS One, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication published by the Public Library of Science, a nonprofit organization. Proulx's paper, “Direct Selection on Genetic Robustness Revealed in the Yeast Transcriptome,” examines how animals and plants cope with external change (environmental robustness) and internal changes due to mutations (genetic robustness). A running scientific debate centers on whether the same cellular mechanisms that reduce the impact of environmental change can be used to reduce the effects of mutations, or whether the ability to buffer genetic mutations has evolved independently. The paper can be found at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000…. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Sept. 24: Think Tank on Animal Agriculture, Provost Elizabeth Hoffman, presentation on the impact of the new budget model on animal agricultural research, 6 p.m., Pioneer Room, Memorial Union Oct. 1: Deadline for submitting concept papers describing the next generation of undergraduate academic programs for the College, contact: David Acker, dacker@iastate.edu Oct. 15: Borlaug Lecture, Monty Jones, executive secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and the 2004 World Food Prize winner, 8 p.m., Sun Room, Memorial Union Oct. 23: Ag Career Day, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Great Hall and Campanile Room, Memorial Union Oct. 23: College United Way drawing, enter by donating nonperishable items (food and toiletries) or a cash donation with a suggested value of $3 or more, contact: Carla Persaud, 4-1823 or cpersaud@iastate.edu. Nov. 20: Deadline for award nominations for the College and most University awards ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... LOOKING FOR YOUR ISU VISUAL IDENTITY? Looking for the correct way to represent your department, division or project? Look no more. The Office of University Marketing's visual identity system web page explains the importance of using Iowa State's nameplate in all your materials and provides guidelines on fonts, placement and colors. These guidelines help the branding of departments, centers and the entire university. For more go to: http://www.marketing.iastate.edu/identity/ ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... CONTINUING AND DISTANCE EDUCATION FINALISTS THIS WEEK Faculty and staff are invited to public lectures by the two finalists for the position of associate vice president and director of continuing and distance education. Stephen Gilbert will present “A Vision of Continuing and Distance Learning” from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26, in 305 Carver. At the same time on Thursday, Sept. 27, Karen Pedersen will present “The Future of Continuing and Distance Education: Evolution or Revolution?” in the Howe Hall Auditorium. CAMPUS CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS WEBSITE The Department of Public Safety has established a campus Continuity of Operations plan. Its purpose is to establish procedures for the maintenance of minimum and essential operations during and after natural or human-made disasters, civil disturbances and other unusual occurrences that may disrupt normal service. PEDOMETER CHALLENGE REGISTRATION THIS WEEK Registration will take place this week, Sept. 24 to 28, for faculty and staff to participate in October's Pedometer Challenge. The program is designed to encourage teams of three to five people to work together to have the highest average daily step count. Participants will log their steps on a customized website. Departments and colleges also will compete to be the most active. The first 500 participants to sign up will receive a free, high-quality pedometer to monitor their step counts. The program is organized by students in the Department of Kinesiology. If you are interested in participating, please send the team name, the members' names, the college or department, pedometers needed and a contact e-mail for your team to isuwellnessworks@gmail.com. ................................................... INTERNAL VOICES ................................................... PAYNE: GREEN REVOLUTION A NEVER ENDING JOB “So after we've moved the dirt and put the shovels way, we must move on to the bigger story. And the bigger story here today is research - the UNBIASED RESEARCH that comes about because of the partnership of the Experiment Station, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Extension. Field days provide a chance for you to see research projects in progress and talk with the people involved in the experiments. It's also an opportunity to view the latest in modern agriculture. So as you participate in today's field day, take note of all the research that's taking place at the Northeast Iowa Research and Demonstration Farm. Norman Borlaug has called the Green Revolution a success, but notes that it is “a never ending job.” Much work remains to be done. It is very fitting that this new learning center be named for Borlaug. It will be a fine place to carry on the “never ending job” of the Green Revolution.” --Jack Payne, vice president for extension and outreach, at Sept. 6 groundbreaking at Nashua for Borlaug Learning Center ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... BORLAUG CENTER GROUNDBREAKING MAKES USA TODAY USA Today's Across the USA section Sept. 11, that highlights news from each state, featured the groundbreaking for the Borlaug Learning Center at the ISU Research and Demonstration Farm near Nashua. It read: “Nashua - Work is underway on a new learning center at an Iowa State University research farm near here that will be named after state-native Norman Borlaug, a pioneer of the Green Revolution. Borlaug, 93, is the founder of the World Food Prize. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for developing a wheat variety that helped fight starvation in India and Pakistan in the 1960's.” ........................................................ AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE ........................................................ EDITOR Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/ SUBSCRIBE Ag and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag and Life Sciences Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag and Life Sciences Online unsubscribe." Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.