CALS Online and Dean’s Message
September 26, 2022
Dean’s Message
Hello CALS – I hope you all had a good weekend and are finding time to enjoy this emerging fall weather! Just a few quick notes for today. Please watch out for our students and help them along as best you can, or refer them to others who might be able to. There is plenty of stress and concern among our students given the nature of these times… As you have heard before, and will be presented at our upcoming CALS Town Hall Oct. 10, there is an effort underway for college strategic planning…
Top Stories
America Runs on CALS – Celebrating CALS Week
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council is celebrating “America Runs on CALS” during 2022 CALS Week, Sept. 26 to Oct. 2. Activities include the following. More
- Monday – Block and Bridle Club Hunger Fight, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Iowa Farm Bureau Pavilion, Kildee Hall; free lunch on central campus, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (representatives from NEW Cooperative available); speaker on central campus, 11:30 a.m.; ISU Creamery tours, 2:30 p.m., Food Sciences Building; Mr. CALS competition, 7 p.m., Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center.
- Tuesday – Free lunch on central campus, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (representatives from the Iowa Soybean Association and POET available); speaker on central campus, 11:30 a.m.; CALS Olympics followed by ice cream, 6-8 p.m., central campus; lecture by Antoine Alston, 7 p.m., Leonard and Evelyn Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall.
- Wednesday – Free lunch on central campus, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (representatives from Landus Cooperative and Land O’Lakes available); speaker on central campus, 11:30 a.m.; Dairy Science Club ice cream sales, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., central campus; Iowa Corn Education Trailer, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., location TBD; Deal Lecture presented by Ernie Shea, 7 p.m., Leonard and Evelyn Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall.
- Thursday – Free lunch on central campus, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (representatives from Seaboard Foods and River Valley Cooperative available); speaker on central campus, 11:30 a.m.; ISU Creamery tours, 2 p.m., Food Sciences Building; Block and Bridle Club dodgeball, 6-10 p.m., Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center.
- Friday – Fun Run/Walk, 8 a.m., central campus; free breakfast on central campus, 8-10:30 a.m.
- Sunday – Antique Tractor Show, noon to 4 p.m., Lot 29 north of the Molecular Biology Building.
CALS Week: Block & Bridle Hunger Fight, Sept. 26
The Block & Bridle Club’s annual Hunger Fight will be held today, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Iowa Farm Bureau Pavilion, Kildee Hall. Sign up to volunteer for a shift. Walk-ins are also welcome. The club works with Meals for the Heartland on this project. Contact Logan Schmitt (lms1@iastate.edu), Kynzi Cole (krcole@iastate.edu) or Ellie Moser (moserell@iastate.edu) with questions. More
CALS Week: Students Add Speakers to Agenda
The CALS Student Council has arranged speakers to be part of the activities during CALS Week on Monday through Thursday, Sept. 26-29, at 11:30 a.m. on central campus.
- Monday, Sept. 26 – Dave Krog, founder and CEO, Salin 247 (autonomous planter)
- Tuesday, Sept. 27 – Deanna Kovar, vice president, John Deere production and precision agriculture systems
- Wednesday, Sept. 28 – Land O’ Lakes representative
- Thursday, Sept. 29 – Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture
CALS Week: Mr. CALS Competition, Sept. 26
Sigma Alpha, the professional agriculture sorority, is hosting its annual Mr. CALS competition today, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. Tickets are $5. Contestants represent student organizations within the college and will be competing for four titles: Top Fundraiser, Mr. Congeniality, Reserve Champion Mr. CALS and Grand Champion Mr. CALS. Proceeds go to Food at First in Ames, a nonprofit organization that provides a free meal program and perishable food pantry. More
CALS Week: Alumni Lecture, Sept. 27
CALS Diversity Programs is co-sponsoring a lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall. Antoine Alston (’00 PhD agricultural education and studies), College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at North Carolina A&T State University, will present a lecture based on his newly released book, “The Legacy of the New Farmers of America,” a historical narrative about a national organization meant for Black farm boys studying vocational agriculture in high school. More
CALS Week: Deal Lecture, Sept. 28
The William K. Deal Leadership Lecture will be held Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall. Ernie Shea, president of Solutions from the Land, a not-for-profit organization based in Lutherville, Maryland, will present “21st Century Agricultural Renaissance: Solutions from the Land.” More
CALS Week: Dodgeball, Sept. 29
The Block and Bridle Club will be holding a dodgeball event on Thursday, Sept. 29, from 6-10 p.m. at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. All students are welcome to form a 10-person team and sign-up for the event. Funds raised will be used to supply meat to the SHOP food pantry on campus. More
CALS Week: Fun Run, Sept. 30
The CALS Student Council is hosting a one or two mile fun run on Friday, Sept. 30, at 8 a.m. on central campus. The run is free, but donations are encouraged. All proceeds will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. More
CALS Week: Antique Tractor Show, Oct. 2
The Antique Tractor Club is holding its first Antique Tractor Show on Sunday, Oct. 2, from noon to 4 p.m. in Lot 29 north of the Molecular Biology Building. All tractors are welcome and awards will be given to People’s Choice, Best Restoration and Best Original Tractor. Students will also be showcasing their most recently completed project. More
Research
$80 Million Grant Aims to Make Regenerative Farming Practice a Moneymaker for Farmers
An Iowa State research team, including Lisa Schulte Moore, natural resource ecology and management, is part of an $80 million federal grant to show how generating renewable natural gas from cover crops and prairie grass could give farmers a market-based motivation to use conservation practices that sequester carbon dioxide and improve water quality. More
Researchers Test Nanocarriers to Deliver Drugs to Brain
Iowa State and Nanovaccine Institute researchers, including Donald Sakaguchi, genetics, development and cell biology, are working to develop nanocarriers that deliver drugs across the blood brain barrier, a high hurdle created by the body to protect the brain from pathogens. Successful nanocarriers could lead to treatments for brain disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ischemic stroke, epilepsy and seizures. More
Teaching and Students
Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The Bee & Wasp Squad
Amy Toth, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, once again offered the Bee & Wasp Squad summer internship program this year to introduce undergraduate students to hands-on field work and research. Three students spent the summer learning how to study pollinators and carry out experiments alongside their graduate student mentors. Funding for the program came from Toth’s involvement in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows Program, sponsored by the CALS Dean’s Office of Academic Innovation and Start Something College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. More
Campbell Studies Public Policy at Summer Boot Camp
Julia Campbell, senior in agricultural business and economics and former study body president, recently attended the Hoover Institution Summer Policy Boot Camp in California. The immersion program gives college students and recent graduates insight on different aspects of United States public policy. More
Culinary Science Club to Host Cookie Decorating Workshop
The Culinary Science Club is hosting a Cookie Decorating Workshop on Oct. 20 from 6-7:30 p.m. in 2379 Food Sciences Building. Participants will learn several royal icing decorating techniques and decorate six cookies to take home. Registration fee is $30. The workshop is open to faculty, staff, students and community members. More
Extension and Outreach
Surveys Show Historic Increases in Farmland Values and Cash Rents
The annual land value survey and cash rent surveys from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service confirm what many in Iowa’s agriculture industry already expected: land values and cash rents are up significantly. According to an article in the September edition of the Ag Decision Maker newsletter, a publication of ISU Extension and Outreach, Iowa cropland values rose 19.7% on average over the past year, from $7,810 per acre to $9,350 per acre. Pastureland is up 9.3%, now averaging $3,300 per acre. More
Developing Reliable Perennial Groundcover Systems Topic of Webinar
Raj Raman, agricultural and biosystems engineering and project director at Regenerating America’s Working Landscapes to Enhance Natural Resources and Public Goods through Perennial Groundcover, will speak at the Iowa Learning Farms conservation webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at noon. Raman will present “Developing Large-Scale, Reliable Perennial Groundcover Systems - Challenges and Approaches from RegenPGC.” More
Around the College
Event to Focus on Preparing the Next Norman Borlaug
A panel of CALS faculty, staff and students will share three different, time-tested models of youth development focused on preparing the next generation of hunger fighters, global problem solvers and international development specialists at a World Food Prize International Borlaug Dialogue side event on Oct. 18 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. The panel will run 5:15-6:15 p.m., followed by a networking reception hosted by Dean Robison. There is no cost to attend. Registration is not required, but preferred.
Leopold Center’s Spencer Award Goes to Mark Quee
Mark Quee, a farmer and educator from West Branch, Iowa, has been selected as the 2022 winner of the Spencer Award, presented by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Quee manages a small, certified organic farm at Scattergood Friends School that helps feed the community, and he helps lead multidisciplinary courses that center around the farm. He is also known as a master on-farm researcher. More
Statistics Department Celebrates 75 Years
The Department of Statistics will be celebrating 75 years of education, research and engagement on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 30-Oct. 1. More
Calendar
Sept. 27: Asia Networking Event
CALS Global Programs is hosting an Asia networking event on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 4:10-6 p.m. in the Memorial Union Pioneer Room. The event is geared toward connecting faculty, staff and graduate students that are interested in or currently are conducting research in Asian countries. CALS faculty and a visiting scholar currently conducting research in Asian countries will present. Attendees will then have time for networking. More
Oct. 10: George Fuller Memorial Lecture
The George Fuller Memorial Lecture will take place Oct. 3 from 3:40-5 p.m. in 368A Heady Hall. Oleg Itskhoki, Venu and Ana Kotamraju Endowed Chair in Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, will present “Optimal Exchange Rate Policy.” More
Oct. 11: Fall Career Day
The Agriculture and Life Sciences Career Day is scheduled as an in-person event on Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center. So far, 262 organizations are signed up and it is on track to be one of the college’s largest fairs ever. Career Day is the official kick-off to the recruitment season and many companies will remain on campus for interviews Oct. 12 and Oct. 13. More
Infograzing
As Election Day Nears, Review Political Expression Guidelines
With congressional, state and county offices on the ballot in the Nov. 8 election, faculty and staff may find it helpful to review how constitutional protections, state law and university policies apply to political activity and expression on campus – whether in their office or in a classroom. The office of general counsel and the senior vice president and provost's office offered some guidance in the Sept. 22 issue of Inside Iowa State. More
UN Holds International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste will be observed for the third time on Sept. 29 and will make a clear call to action for public and private entities from across the food system, and consumers, to work together to cut food loss and waste to enhance the efficient use of natural resources, mitigate climate change, and support food security and nutrition. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is holding a global virtual event this Thursday. More
Marginalia
Colorful Fall Harvest at the Horticulture Farm
Peppers, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and kale were picked last week to share at the Local Food Festival held on central campus, Sept. 21. Produce also is sold through the farm's community produce sale, in which online shoppers (with ISU Net IDs) may order fruits and vegetables grown at the farm. They pick up their orders on campus during the Friday lunch hour. 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 Thursday.