College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
February 15, 2021
Top Stories
$1.1 Million to Support Research on Prairie Strips
The Bia-Echo Foundation has committed $1.1 million to support a faster-paced adoption of prairie strips on farms across the Midwest through Iowa State’s Science-based Trials of Row-crops Integrated with Prairie Strips project (STRIPS). Prairie strips are a proven farmland conservation practice that contributes to climate resilience and soil health, protects water quality and enhances biodiversity, said Lisa Schulte Moore, natural resource ecology and management. (Photo by Omar de Kok-Mercado, natural resource ecology and management.) More
Research
Researchers Studying Losses of Nutrients, Greenhouse Gases from Landscape Wet Spots
Researchers including Steven Hall, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, and graduate student Nate Lawrence, have developed an innovative monitoring system that is refining knowledge of where – and when -- to expect nutrient losses to water and the atmosphere from landscape hot spots. More
Teaching and Students
FSHN Releases Video on Nutritional Science Major
The food science and human nutrition department has released a video on its nutritional science major. Students and alumni share how they have benefited from their degree. More
Agronomy Student Answers Call to Service
Agronomy Student Sokhna Khadija Mbacke was featured in a Feb. 13 news release from the U.S. Army. Mbacke joined the Iowa Army National Guard and is stationed at Camp Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny in Kosovo as a human resources specialist. She is taking six online credit hours at Iowa State from Kosovo and will return as a full-time student in the fall. More
Extension and Outreach
Video Provides Overview of Iowa Pork Industry Center
The Iowa Pork Industry Center has released a video providing an overview of its work. The center focuses efforts across departments and partners with other agencies and commercial entities to fill knowledge gaps through research while providing educational information for the industry.
Around the College
College Administrators and Faculty Part of Advancing One Community Award
ISU’s Aspire Alliance IChange Network Team received one of the university’s five Martin Luther King Jr. Advancing One Community awards. The team, led by associate provost Dawn Bratsch-Prince and assistant provost Tera Jordan, was recognized for its collaborative, university wide work since fall 2019 to improve the success and retention of underrepresented STEM faculty. Team members from CALS include: Dean Dan Robison and Assistant Dean of Diversity Theressa Cooper; Clark Coffman, genetics, development and cell biology; and Dan Thomson, animal science. More
Reddy Receives ISUAA Inspiration Award
Manju Reddy, food science and human nutrition, is a recipient of the 2021 Faculty-Staff Inspiration Award. The ISU Alumni Association established the award in 2011 as a way for former ISU students to recognize current or former ISU faculty or staff who had a significant influence in their lives. More
CALS Community Post Features Jodi Cornell
The latest CALS Community post features Jodi Cornell, director of the CALS Study Abroad office, for his service to international students. More
Meat Lab Open for Shopping In Person
The Meat Lab is once again open for shopping in person. Sale hours are 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays in the Kildee Hall atrium. Payment by check is required (no cash). The online ordering option with curbside pick-up continues. More
Calendar
Feb 18: ILF Virtual Field Day
Matt Helmers, agricultural and biosystems engineering and director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, will discuss using perennial biomass and prairie for renewable natural gas generation for an Iowa Learning Farms Virtual Field Day on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. More
Feb. 24: INRC Spring Seminar
“Evaluation of Best Management Practices to Reduce Nitrate Loads Based on Watershed Characteristics, Baseflow Index and Groundwater Age,” is the second in the Iowa Nutrient Research Center spring seminar series featuring watershed research across the country. The seminar will be held virtually on Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. More
Communications Kiosk
A Verb and its Moods
Mood indicates the manner in which the verb expresses an action or state of being. The three moods are indicative, imperative and subjunctive. The indicative mood is the most common in English. It is used to express facts and opinions and to ask questions: Amethysts cost very little. The botanist lives in a garden cottage. Does that bush produce yellow roses? Part one of three. (Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, pg. 235)
Infograzing
Engineering Receives Diversity Program Recognition
Iowa State’s College of Engineering received a bronze level recognition from the American Society for Engineering Education’s Diversity Recognition Program for its commitment to diversity, and places the college among the nation’s leaders in inclusive excellence. Michelle Soupir, agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the college equity advisor. More
Face Coverings Still Required on Campus, Around Ames
As in the fall, statewide COVID-19 mitigations may periodically change. However, Iowa State continues to require face coverings on campus. The requirement includes university classrooms, laboratories, public and communal work areas, libraries, dining centers and residential spaces, and all other learning spaces. Face coverings also are required on all other university property whenever physical distancing is not possible. The city of Ames also requires face coverings in public settings.
United Nations Extends International Year of Plant Health
Due to COVID-19, the United Nations has extended the International Year of Plant Health to include 2021. The International Year of Plant Health promotes the value of plant resources and the need to safeguard them against destructive invasive pests. Protecting plants helps the U.N. meet many of its sustainable development goals including reducing hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.
Marginalia
Agriculture is Theme of Read Across Iowa Event
Read Across Iowa will launch March 1 and begin a month-long celebration to encourage reading with children. Agriculturally themed Read Across Iowa events will be held across the state. Constance Beecher, family literacy extension specialist, said research shows that one of the strongest predictors of school success is reading to children and having books in the home. More
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Julie Stewart, Editor
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
http://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 Friday.