...................................................
COLLEGE NEWS
...................................................
FORUM SET TO DISCUSS STRATEGIC PLAN
A draft of the College's strategic plan will be discussed at an April 15 forum. It will be held at 4 p.m. in the CCUR Theatre (1951 Food Sciences). Refreshments will be included. Please plan to attend this meeting. The College of Agriculture's draft strategic plan is posted on the Web, following the link provided on the College home page: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/. The strategic plan committee welcomes comments at the forum or by sending them by April 30 to Manjit Misra, mkmisra@iastate.edu or 102A Seed Science Center.
LAWNMOWER SERVICE DAYS SET FOR THIS WEEKEND
The Agricultural Systems Technology Club offers pick-up and delivery in Ames for its annual lawnmower service days. The cost for pick-up is $13 for push mowers and $18 for rider mowers. Call 4-0462 by 2 p.m. Thursday, April 3, to arrange for a pick-up. Or you can drop off your lawnmower from noon-5 p.m. Friday, April 4, or from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 5, at the Davidson Hall Courtyard, across from Molecular Biology. Service costs $27 for a push mower and $32 for a rider mower. Contact: 4-0462.
AG COUNCIL PICKS AG MAN AND WOMAN OF YEAR
The 2003 winners of the Ag Man and Woman of the Year are Wade Edwards and Stephanie Vinton. Both are seniors. Vinton is majoring in public service and administration in agriculture and Edwards is an agricultural business major. Judging was based on an essay about their opinions on the future of agriculture, past activities and an interview. Ag Council presented the awards Friday to conclude its celebration of Ag Week.
VIDEOCONFERENCE APRIL 24 TO FOCUS ON OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN
Overweight Issues in Childhood, Role of Environment and Community is the title of a satellite videoconference originating from Iowa State on April 24. The program features researchers and experts who will discuss various aspects of overweight issues in childhood. For further information and a brochure, please refer to the website (http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/403/nutrition.htm). Iowa State students may attend this conference free of charge; ISU faculty and staff may register at a reduced fee of $20. Lunch for faculty, staff and students is available for $11. Registration the day of the conference is available if space permits, but advance registration is strongly recommended. Faculty, staff, and students must be registered to receive the registration packet on April 24. Contact: Dee Baker at dlbaker@iastate.edu. The videoconference is being sponsored by the Nutritional Sciences Council at Iowa State.
PUBLIC FORUM TO CONSIDER FEDERAL RULES PROPOSED FOR PHARMACEUTICAL CROPS
A public forum on proposed federal rules for field-testing pharmaceutical crops will be held at noon April 7 in the Gallery, Memorial Union. The USDA's draft document for public comment titled "Field Testing of Plants Engineered to Produce Pharmaceutical and Industrial Compounds" is online. The deadline for public comment is May 9. The one-hour forum is being organized by the Office of Biotechnology and is co-sponsored by the colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Family and Consumer Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences and Veterinary Medicine. Contact: 4-9818 or biotech@iastate.edu.
FOOD SCIENCE CLUB SPONSORS SILENT AUCTION
The Food Science Club and Nutrition Club will hold a silent auction and potluck dinner from 5-8 p.m., Thursday, April 3 in the LeBaron Lounge. Bidding lists are posted next to the departmental offices in 220 MacKay Hall and 2312 Food Sciences Building. Everyone is welcome to donate or bid on an item. Proceeds go to charity.
IOWA STATE-LED TEAM DEVELOPS GENETIC RESEARCH TOOLS
Swine breeders and medical researchers have some new tools for genetic research, thanks to a multi-state team of scientists led by an Iowa State University animal scientist Christopher Tuggle. The group created a library of 21,499 pig gene sequences and mapped the locations of 727 of those genes on pig chromosomes. Researchers can access the sequences to further identify and map pig genes.
ISU ANIMAL SCIENCE PROF CELEBRATES 30 YEARS AS AUTHOR
A book by an Iowa State University animal science professor is observing its 30th year and ninth edition. The textbook now is used in more than 80 colleges and universities in the United States and around the world. Marshall Jurgens was a graduate teaching assistant for an animal nutrition course at the University of Nebraska when he began assembling material for Animal Feeding and Nutrition. Details in "Agriculture in Action."
RESEARCHER TO DISCUSS GULF OF MEXICO HYPOXIA "DEAD ZONE"
Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium will present a seminar titled "Beyond Science Into Policy: Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia" on campus Wednesday, April 2. The seminar will begin at 3 p.m. in 1010 LeBaron Hall. Rabalais, a professor at the consortium, will present a second seminar on related water quality issues at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 3 in the same location. Rabalais' research has documented the existence and impact of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone.
LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS TO BE TOPIC OF SHIVVERS LECTURE
The Impact of Local Food Systems in Central Iowa: Concept, Use and Supply is the title of the 2003 Shivvers Lecture, scheduled for April 14. Three presentations will cover the concept of local foods, institutional food acquisition and a farmer’s perspective. The lecture is set from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Gallery Room, Memorial Union. It is sponsored by the ISU chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the Shivvers family and the Leopold Center.
KELLOGG FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANT FOR FOOD PROJECT
Iowa State University has received a $559,990 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that will help build new food supply networks for sustainably raised Iowa foods. The grant will continue work on developing new niche markets for Iowa pork, and launch research and development activities to market local and regional foods as well as products for a new bio-based economy in Iowa. The project will be directed by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Other partners are Practical Farmers of Iowa, ISU Extension, ISU College of Agriculture and the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU. Learn more: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/kellogg_032503.html
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
March 31: Deadline for 2003 Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture nominations, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu
April 4: Deadline for abstracts, Plant Sciences Institute Symposium on Transposition, Recombination and Application to Plant Genomics to be held June 5-8, more information online
April 7-8: Iowa FFA Leadership Conference, Ames
April 8: Ag Comm workshop, Room 8, Curtiss Hall, RSVP to cabrams@iastate.edu
April 21: International Symposium, Rivers of Life: Water, People and Global Development
April 22: Science in Agriculture Day
May 12: Iowa State registration deadline, Plant Sciences Institute Symposium on Transposition, Recombination and Application to Plant Genomics to be held June 5-8, more information: http://www.bb.iastate.edu/~gfst/sp433p.html
...................................................
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
...................................................
MISUSED CAPITALIZATION LOSES EMPHASIS
Many writers capitalize words to emphasize the message but lose meaning in doing so. The example shows how nothing stands out because of too much capitalization compared to the preferred sample. Example: At Noon on April 27, Student organizations will Host the First Annual Tree Planting Day. Preferred: At noon on April 27, student organizations will host the first annual Tree Planting Day. (“Spiral: The Students' Guide to Style at Iowa State University,” David Jay Collins, 1996)
...................................................
INFOGRAZING
...................................................
PICK A BETTER SNACK CAMPAIGN RECEIVES AWARD
A social marketing campaign to encourage consumers to eat fruits and vegetables won an award at the USDA's Food and Nutrition Services National Nutrition Education Conference held Feb. 24-26. The Partnership and Collaboration: Synergy for Excellence award recognized the collaborative efforts of Iowa State University Extension, the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Public Health in producing the Pick a Better Snack campaign. The award presented for the first time this year was one of three presented in the category of Leadership Innovation and Nutrition Collaboration.
GRANT WRITING PROGRAM APPLICATION DEADLINE APRIL 15
Applications are due by April 15 for the second Mentored Summer Grant Writing Program, which provides an opportunity for summer funding and grant building through the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Survey Science. Program participants will be provided with individual mentoring as they proceed through the process of developing a grant proposal. Applications should be sent to Carolyn Cutrona, interim director, Institute for Social and Behavioral Research, 2625 N. Loop Dr., Suite 500, Ames, IA 50010.
NSF GRANT INFORMATION AVAILABLE
Copies of presentations are available from the National Science Foundation Regional Grants Conference that was held last week at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The presentations by 23 NSF staff members covered a variety of topics about preparing NSF grant proposals. The materials are available from Elena Polush, 4-8493 or elenap@iastate.edu. Many of the presentations also are available online.
USDA & DOE SEEK RFP ON BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The USDA and Department of Energy jointly ask for biomass research and development proposals for a new funding opportunity to stimulate research, development and demonstration of technologies to produce and convert biomass into biobased products and energy. The RFP can be accessed from USDA's Biobased Products and Bioenergy homepage.
...................................................
EXTERNAL VOICES
...................................................
KASS SEES SCIENCE AS PRACTICAL ART
“Science becomes not the representation and demonstration of truth, but an art: the art of finding the truth -- or, rather, that portion of truth that lends itself to being artfully found. … In short, modern science contains manipulability at its theoretical core; and this remains true even for those great scientists who are themselves motivated by the desire for truth and who have no interest in that mastery over nature to which their discoveries nonetheless contribute, and for which science is largely esteemed by the rest of us and mightily supported by the modern state." Bioethicist Leon Kass ("Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity,” 2002)
Next issue: April 7 Deadline: April 4
........................................................
AG ONLINE
........................................................
EDITORS
Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu, and Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
SUBSCRIBE
Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 1031 Wallace Road Office Building, Room 101, (515) 294-7612.