................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... ACKER AND STUDENTS TELL REGENTS ABOUT GLOBAL SUCCESSES David Acker, Raymond and Mary Baker Chair for Global Agriculture and associate dean for academic and global programs, and two College students spoke to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, at its meeting Oct. 29 at Iowa State. Acker described the success of the College in expanding the number of undergraduate students participating in global experiences. He drew upon the experiences of agronomy undergraduates Leslie Freehill and Emily Eggleston, who provided a perspective on their international activities during the presentation, which was titled “Global Engagement of Undergraduate Students.” LIVESTOCK JUDGING TEAM HAS GOOD SHOWING IN TWO CONTESTS The Iowa State Livestock Judging team competed against 15 teams for individual honors at the Premier Stockman in October, finishing with four team members in the top 10. Animal science senior Morgan Core was second high individual overall; Dustin Smith, agricultural business senior, was third; Matt Mensing, agricultural business junior, was sixth; and Andy Platner, agricultural studies senior, was eighth. At the American Royal judging competition, the team finished seventh out of 25 teams. Smith was eighth overall, while Core and animal science junior Jake Rouse finished in the top 25. The team's final competition of the season will be at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville on Nov. 17. COLLEGE STUDENTS' NAMES TO BE ADDED TO GOLD STAR HALL Twenty-one Iowa Staters who died in the line of duty will be added to the Gold Star Hall in the Memorial Union during a ceremony from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Five of the veterans were students majoring in agricultural fields. William Franklin Hedges, the only veteran from World War II to be honored, was a Chicago native who majored in animal husbandry in 1942 and 1943 and served in the Army Air Force as a technical sergeant in the South Pacific. The remaining four were Vietnam veterans: Dennis Lynn Ahrendsen of Oxford Junction, animal science in 1966 to 1967, Army specialist fourth class; David Glenn Lovitt of Bedford, agriculture special in 1966 to 1967, Army specialist fourth class; Roger Eugene Carroll of Avoca, agriculture special in 1968, Army specialist fourth class; and Donald Ralph Ledlie of Des Moines, agricultural business in 1966 to 1967, Army corporal. COLLEGE FACULTY PART OF PRESIDENT'S ASIAN TRIP THIS MONTH President Gregory Geoffroy will travel to Asia this month to recognize and strengthen Iowa State's overseas recruiting and alumni connections. College faculty Max Rothschild, C.F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences and M.E. Ensminger International Chair, and Ramesh Kanwar, professor and chair of agricultural and biosystems engineering, will be in the group accompanying the president. CARVER SCULPTURE TO BE UNVEILED NOV. 18 The Seed Science Center and the Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products will host the dedication of a sculpture of George Washington Carver Nov. 18. The installation of the sculpture at the south entrance to the Seed Science Building marks the completion of a $2 million, 5,000-square-foot expansion project. The work of art is the only life-sized sculpture of Carver in the world from a maquette sculpted by Christian Petersen in 1949. A luncheon and open house will follow the noon program. GROW IOWA VALUES GRANTS GO THE COLLEGE RESEARCHERS College faculty are involved in two of the 10 Grow Iowa Values Fund grants awarded to Iowa State this year. The grants are to go to research projects with high potential to boost the state's economic development efforts. IOWA EFFORTS TO REDUCE HYPOXIA EARNS AWARDS A cooperative effort to reduce the loss of nitrate and phosphorus from Iowa farm fields has earned national recognition. Iowa State researchers play a key, supporting role in the ongoing effort to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. FACULTY APPOINTED TO NATIONAL AIR QUALITY TASK FORCE Three members of the College faculty have been appointed to a national air quality task force. ISU CROP GENOMICS LAB LARGEST IN NATION The largest cluster of plant databases in the nation has a new home, the Crop Genome Informatics Laboratory, a USDA-Agricultural Research Service and Iowa State facility. The building housing the center was recently renovated and was formerly known as the Agronomy Laboratory. STUDY FINDS TENUOUS LINK BETWEEN SUBSIDIES AND SWEETS INTAKE An Iowa State analysis fails to support claims that farm subsidies for agricultural commodity production are directly implicated in the growing obesity problem in the United States and the increased consumption of sweetened foods and drinks. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION SUBJECT OF ARTICLE Agricultural and biosystems engineering faculty Brian Steward and Alok Bhandari and graduate student Laura Christianson wrote an article for the October issue of “Resource Engineering and Technology for a Sustainable World,” a publication of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. The article, “Embracing Sustainable Development as a Profession,” reviewed educational efforts at Iowa State and other universities. SOYBEAN VIRUSES DISCUSSED AT SYMPOSIUM The North Central Education/Extension and Research Activity (NCERA-200) meeting held in Ames last week included a symposium Oct. 30 on campus dealing with soybean viruses. Speakers included Forrest Nutter and Chunquan Zhang, both plant pathology, and Michelle Graham, agronomy/USDA-ARS collaborator. RESEARCH FARMS UPDATE: BUSY WITH HARVEST A new large-scale John Deere combine fitted with special equipment that can harvest one soybean plot per minute and collect data automatically is being used at the Ag Engineering/Agronomy Farm near Boone. It is equipped with GPS and computerized automatic weighing plus remote cameras to monitor grain flow. At the Horticulture Station, the Chieftain apple harvest finished up Oct. 27. The Chieftain is a cross of Jonathan and Red Delicious apples developed at ISU. The apple was featured at the Family Weekend brunch. Apples not needed for research are sold to ISU Dining Service, the Hort Club, Ames Kiwanis and Iowa Orchard in Urbandale. Apples also have been donated to local food pantries. BLOCK AND BRIDLE TAKING ORDERS FOR SAUSAGE AND CHEESE The Block and Bridle Club is taking orders for its holiday summer sausage and cheese fundraiser. The sausage is made in the ISU Meats Lab and the cheese is made in Wisconsin. The deadline for orders is Dec. 12. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Nov. 4: Feeding the World: Are We Making Progress? seminar, Montague Demment, professor and director of the Global Livestock CRSP at the University of California-Davis, “Role of Livestock in Building Human, Institutional and Financial Capital in Developing Countries, noon, Ensminger Room, Kildee Hall Nov. 7-8: MANRRS Region V Workshop, campus Nov. 18: College deadline for university award nominations Dec. 10-11: Iowa State Integrated Crop Management Conference and the Agribusiness Association of Iowa Agribusiness Expo ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... CLEANING UP INFORMATION POLLUTION Prioritizing, minimizing interruptions and making information easy to find and manage helps people become more productive, according to usability expert Jacob Nielsen. He says the “knowledge environment” gets more contaminated by information pollution every day and the things we need to know are drowning in irrelevant information. Here are his six steps to regain control of your day: - Don't check your e-mail all the time. Set aside special breaks between bigger projects to handle e-mail. - Don't use "reply to all" when responding to e-mail. Abide by the "need to know" principle popular in the military and send follow-up messages only to those people who will actually benefit from the reply. - Write informative subject lines for your e-mail messages. Assume that the recipient is too busy to open messages with titles like "hi." - Create a special e-mail address for personal messages and newsletters. Only check this account once per day. - Write short. - Avoid IM (instant messaging) unless real-time interaction will truly add value to the communication. A one-minute interruption of your colleagues will cost them 10 minutes of productivity as they re-establish their mental context and get back into "flow." (useit.com, Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040105.html) ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... WELLNESS CHALLENGE ALL NOVEMBER AT IOWA STATE Work Your Way to Wellness offers both a nutrition challenge and activity challenge beginning today to Iowa State faculty and staff. The Wellness Works committee, along with students from Health Studies 380, and the ISU Benefits Department are sponsoring the effort. The campaign features the MyStart! Activity Challenge and the Healthy Choices Nutrition Challenge. You have the option of choosing to participate in either or both challenges at no cost. The campaign consists of four one-week phases beginning Nov. 3 and ending Nov. 30. ................................................... INTERNAL VOICES ................................................... AP STORY: STUDENTS TALK ABOUT ELECTION ISSUES From an Associated Press story on Nov. 2 focusing on college students preparing to vote, and that included College students Correy Rahn, agricultural business, and Chet Hollingshead, agricultural education: “Correy Rahn, an Iowa State University senior, will return to his family's Illinois farm to raise cattle and grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa. 'The main issue I would be concerned about is acquiring financial support at a low interest rate,' Rahn said. With credit tight, he may well have to look to older generations for help getting started. Chet Hollingshead, also an ISU [sophomore], is heading back to his family's 1,500-acre farm in Ogden, Iowa, to raise hogs, cattle, soybeans and corn when he graduates. McCain, he says, didn't make many friends in Iowa with his pledge to cut food prices by eliminating ethanol subsidies and tariffs on imported ethanol. 'Without those important tax credits, the ethanol industry wouldn't have gotten off the ground,' Hollingshead said.” (Associated Press, Nov. 2) ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... AGRICULTURE AND ARTS JOINED AT ISU THROUGH NEW PLAY Mary Swander admits agriculture and the arts don't seem to have much in common. Yet the Iowa State distinguished professor of English has found some similarities -- so many that she's leading an effort to join them together in a new play and related campus group. ........................................................ 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.
-
Research