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C O L L E G E N E W S
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WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR LUNCH TODAY?
You’re invited to help support the college’s agriculture ambassador program at its spring barbecue today. Pork burgers, chips and pop for $2.50 will be served on the Curtiss Hall front steps from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
ANIMAL THINK TANK TO COVER EMBRYO MANIPULATION
Embryo splitting, in vitro fertilization and nuclear transfer in farm animals will be among the topics discussed Monday, April 29, at the next Animal Think Tank meeting. Social time begins at 6 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 and discussion from 7-8 p.m. in the Cardinal Room, Memorial Union. Curtis Youngs, animal science, will lead the discussion. RSVP by noon April 26 by e-mailing Jane Linn, jlinn@iastate.edu. The cost of the buffet dinner will be $12, which is payable at the door.
ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABLE AG SUBJECT OF SEMINAR
"Long-Term Agricultural Research in California: Economic Lessons from Alternative Systems" is the title of the Long-Term Agroecosystems Research & Education Station Planning Team’s next seminar. Karen Klonsky, an economist at the University of California-Davis, will speak at 4:10 p.m. Thursday, April 25, in 118 Horticulture Hall. Klonsky has been involved with the economic evaluation of the sustainable agriculture farming systems long-term agroecological research program at UC-Davis since its inception 13 years ago. For more information: Kathleen Delate, kdelate@iastate.edu or 4-5116.
AG ADMINISTRATION GOING TO SUMMER HOURS
Offices of the College of Agriculture dean, associate deans, global agriculture programs, budget & finance, communication services, student services, career services, computer support and research and demonstration farms will change to summer hours May 13. Dean Woteki encourages all departmental units to change their office hours to the summer hours where appropriate as proposed in a memo from Warren Madden. Summer 2002 hours at Iowa State will be in effect from Monday, May 13, through Friday, Aug 16. Summer hours generally run from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a shortened lunch break, but units need to adjust work schedules as needed to take care of business.
AG COMM TO DISCUSS AG BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Barb Lykins of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Rob Meade of GROWMARK Inc. will share information about communication skills expected by agri-industry at the Ag Comm Workshop on Thursday, April 25. It will begin at noon in Room 8 Curtiss Hall and includes a light lunch. Contact Cheryl Abrams, cabrams@iastate.edu, 4-5872 if you plan to attend. Contact Robert Martin, drmartin@iastate.edu, 4-0896 with questions.
PROMOTED FACULTY RECOGNIZED FOR DISTINCTION
During the 2002 ISU Spring Convocation and Awards Ceremony on April 10, 11 faculty members were recognized for distinction in their recent approvals in the promotion and tenure process. From the College of Agriculture, faculty members included Jack Dekkers, animal science; Xun Gu, agronomy/zoology and genetics; Michael Daniels, statistics.
MICKELSON NAMED VEISHEA FACULTY OF THE YEAR
Steven Mickelson, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, was named the 2002 Veishea Faculty Member of the Year and participated in Saturday’s parade.
COURSE TAKES STUDENTS ON VIRTUAL FARM TOUR
Agronomy faculty and staff have created a virtual field trip that lets students visit an Iowa family farm without leaving their computer. The virtual trip was created for a course offered in the master of science in agronomy distance education program. Get the details in this week's Agriculture in Action.
LEADERSHIP CLASS BRINGS NEVADA GRADE SCHOOLERS TO CAMPUS
Students in the Ag Education 315 Leadership Programs course organized an agricultural learning day last Thursday for Nevada fourth graders. The grade school students visited stations at ISU’s dairy and beef teaching farms where they participated in activities that were linked to the Nevada school district’s life science, social studies and health curricula. The stations dealt with swine, agronomy, beef, machinery and dairy. The learning day was conceived of and developed by 26 students in the class facilitated by Cary Trexler, ag education and studies.
MORE THAN 100 PARTICIPATE IN SCIENCE IN AG DAY
Science in Agriculture Day attracted 90 high school students from 28 schools. The students participated in 19 sessions. New this year were separate sessions for the 15 teachers who accompanied their students. The following faculty and staff served as volunteers for the event: David Acker, Cary Trexler, Robert Martin, Larry Trede, Chuck Steiner, Edward Braun, Brooke Edmunds, Doug Stokke, Monlin Kuo, Tom Isenhart, Richard Schultz, Steve Jungst, Will Goudy, Kathleen Delate, Steve Mickelson, Carl Anderson, Ramesh Kanwar, Jenni Briggs, Kristen Carnagey, Douglas Kenealy, Colin Scanes, Alan Myers, Aubrey Mendonca, Anne Oldham, Cheryll Reitmeier, Russ Mullen, Kerry Taylor, Elwynn Taylor, Thomas Loynachan and Mike Zeller.
KILDEE, FOOD SCIENCE AND BESSEY HALLS NAMED ‘ENERGY HEROES’
Facilities Planning and Management recently recognized people around campus as "Energy Heroes" for their efforts in making ISU’s energy conservation program work. Kildee was one of five buildings that used at least 20 percent less electricity in March compared with usage in March 2001. Also honored were the occupants of four buildings, including Bessey Hall, that have saved more than $40,000 in energy so far this year. Food Science saved more than $12,000 on its electric bills so far this fiscal year.
RESEARCHERS PRESENT FINDINGS ON AIR QUALITY MONITORING
Recent research by Dwaine Bundy and Steven Hoff, agricultural and biosystems engineering, illustrates the complex nature of an issue that is generating plenty of public debate — the effect livestock production has on air quality. They presented two papers April 13 on a project that involved monitoring for hydrogen sulfide and odor at five swine production facilities. The project shows most Midwest livestock production facilities probably wouldn’t have much trouble complying with proposed standards under discussion in Iowa for hydrogen sulfide or odor.
AWARDS PRESENTED BY ISU AGRICULTURE HONOR SOCIETY
Awards were presented April 8 to Iowa State University College of Agriculture faculty members and others by the Iowa Chapter of the Honor Society of Agriculture, known as Gamma Sigma Delta. New officers also were installed.
WORLD FOOD PRIZE LEADER WRAPS UP LECTURE SERIES AT IOWA STATE
The president of the World Food Prize Foundation will be the final speaker in a spring lecture series on campus. Kenneth Quinn will talk about the World Food Prize at 4 p.m. on April 29 in the Ensminger Room, Kildee Hall. The lecture series honors Wise Burroughs, a former faculty member in animal science who performed critical research that led to the use of implants for growth promotion in cattle.
CONSUMERS WARMING UP TO IRRADIATION
Food scientists at Iowa State are testing consumer attitudes toward the flavor and acceptance of irradiated apple cider. Apple cider taste tests were conducted with 600 consumers at four locations in central Iowa last fall. At two of the test sites, participants had no preference between irradiated or pasteurized apple cider. At the remaining two locations, the taste testers preferred irradiated cider.
PLANT SCIENTISTS PROVIDE NEW INSIGHT INTO EVOLUTION
The basic cellular machinery that generates the genetic diversity central to evolution does not operate quite the way scientists have thought, says a team of Iowa State plant scientists. Their 10-year investigation of recombination events on a section of a maize chromosome showed that not all recombination occurs in genes and not all genes are active sites for recombination. "Our research certainly changes the way we look at how recombination occurs in complex genomes like those of crop plants," said Patrick Schnable, a professor of agronomy and of zoology and genetics, who led the research team.
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
May 5: Family Day celebrating spring at the Farm House Museum, 1 to 4 p.m., free, 4-7426
May 11: College of Agriculture undergraduate convocation, 9 a.m., C.Y. Stephens
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C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
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KEEPING UP WITH COLLEGE CHANGES
Ag Communications has updated its phone and e-mail directory of offices in the College of Agriculture, including departments, centers and extension. The organization chart for the college also has been updated. You can find both on the Web as PDFs.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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UNDERGROUND GROUPS' 'ACTIONS' HARMING COLLEGES
In 2001, colleges suffered more than $6 million in damage from "illegal direct actions" taken by underground groups that say they are fighting to protect animals, the environment and the human race. The most damaging incident occurred last May when a building at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture was destroyed by fire. While the number of actions has dropped since September 11, the groups have not become inactive. In January, a fire was set at the University of Minnesota's genomics facility. (Chronicle for Higher Education, Feb. 15)
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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COLUMNIST: ISU PROFESSOR'S NEW BOOK ON LAWN CARE 'GREAT'
The following excerpt is from Annie Calovich's "A Bit of Earth" lawn and garden column, which appeared in the March 23 Wichita Eagle newspaper: "This winter -- when it was all theoretical -- I enjoyed looking at a new book on grass put out by The Scotts Co. "Scotts Lawns: Your Guide to a Beautiful Yard" (Meredith Books, $19.95) is written by Nick Christians, a professor at Iowa State University, with the help of Ashton Ritchie of Scotts. It's great. It has good pictures of the weeds that can invade. It has pictures of thatch at various levels. It has charts that direct you through lawn symptoms to the right cause and solution. It has a test for telling how much of a product your spreader is putting out."
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M A R G I N A L I A
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VAT-GROWN FLESH TO FEED ASTRONAUTS?
A scientific breakthrough has opened the possibility that the meat in your future might originate in a vat of nutrients. Scientists at Touro College, N.Y. were commissioned by NASA to grow just the edible muscle for which animals are slaughtered. They cut slices of muscle from goldfish and washed them in alcohol before immersing the flesh in a nutrient-rich liquid. Lead researcher Morris Benjaminson reported in the New Scientist magazine that the flesh pieces grew 14 percent in one week, and that they looked and smelled like conventional fish meat when fried in olive oil, lemon, garlic and pepper. The scientists don’t yet know how the vat-grown flesh tastes. They need approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before they can see if the product they say looks and smells like fish also tastes like fish.