Issue: 315

................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... USDA TO ANNOUNCE RURAL DEVELOPMENT GRANT TUESDAY The U.S. Department of Agriculture will announce a grant to Iowa State at a news conference at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, in the Campanile Room, Memorial Union. The grant will help improve rural economic conditions through cooperative and producer-owned business development. Peter Thomas, administrator of Business and Cooperative Programs with USDA Rural Development will award the grant. Dean Catherine Woteki will participate. NEW COLLEGE FACULTY TO CONNECT WITH IOWA The third in a series of Connect with Iowa community visits will take place Friday, Sept. 17. Dean Catherine Woteki will lead a group of eight new members of the College of Agriculture faculty on the trip to Warren County. Stops will include Agri-Tech Aviation, Iowas largest and oldest aerial crop-dusting company; Summit Farms, a three-generation family farm; and the Summerset Winery. The group will have lunch with the Indianola Rotary Club, where Woteki will be the guest speaker. A listening session also will be held with area agriculture and business leaders. These Connect with Iowa visits are held twice each year, with the fall trip focused on including new faculty. Previous trips have been made to Greene and Carroll counties. HOOP CONFERENCE ATTRACTS MORE THAN 200 PARTICIPANTS Seven countries besides the United States are represented among the 224 participants registered for tomorrows, Sept. 14, National Conference on Hoop Barns and Bedded Systems for Livestock Production. The conference is scheduled for all day at the Gateway Center. On Wednesday, Sept. 15, an international scientific symposium will take place at Kildee Hall with many of the conference speakers talking about their hoop research. FAMILY WEEKEND RECEPTION TO BE HELD SATURDAY The College of Agriculture will host a Family Weekend reception from 9 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 18, in 220 and 240 Scheman Building. Representatives from college departments will be present to meet with families. A short program will be held with a drawing for door prizes. Light refreshments will be served. STUDENT SERVICES TAKING COLLEGE SHIRT ORDERS The Student Services Office is coordinating an order of College of Agriculture shirts. Several styles are available including long-sleeved dress shirts, short-sleeved dress shirts, denim shirts and polo shirts in mens and womens sizes. Prices range from $15 to $20. A Cyclone logo will be on the shirt along with College of Agriculture. Department or unit names can be added. Samples can be seen in the student services office, 23 Curtiss, this week, Sept. 13 to 17. The order deadline is Friday, Sept. 17. Payment is by cash or a check made payable to Agriculture Student Services. FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT AT NEXT THINK TANK MEETING Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau, will speak about Iowa's agriculture future at the Sept. 20 Think Tank on Animal Agriculture meeting. Lang will talk about enhancing the animal industry of Iowa. Social time begins at 6 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m. and discussion at 7 p.m. in the Cardinal Room, Memorial Union. Register by noon Friday, Sept. 17, by e-mailing Julie Roberts, jrober@iastate.edu. Cost of the buffet will be $15, which is payable at the door. INTERNATIONAL FUNDING PROPOSALS DUE OCT. 15 October 15 is the deadline for the 2004-05 Dean of Agriculture's International Research Grants Program for faculty and staff and 2004-05 International Funding for Graduate Students and Postdocs. Guidelines for proposals can be found online. Contact Shelley Taylor, 4-5393 or sztaylor@iastate.edu. STUDENTS INVITED TO ENTER BORLAUG POSTER CONTEST Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to enter the Third Annual Norman Borlaug Lectureship Poster Competition in conjunction with the 2004 Norman Borlaug Lecture. September 27 is the entry deadline. The topic is world food issues. Students should submit the poster title and a short abstract or summary to Patricia Murphy, pmurphy@iastate.edu. The undergraduate and graduate student competitions each include prizes of $50, $75 and $100. The 2004 Borlaug Lecture will be given on Oct. 13 by Catherine Bertini, the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate and United Nations under-secretary-general for management. The lecture begins at 8 p.m., Oct. 13, in the Sun Room, Memorial Union. STEM CELL PUBLIC DISCUSSION SET FOR THURSDAY A public forum will discuss stem cells in conjunction with Thursdays, Sept. 16, symposium on "Stem Cell Biology: Development and Plasticity." The forum will allow participants to ask questions about stem cells and directions of current research on this topic. Some of the invited speakers at the symposium will take part in the forum. It will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, in Room 179 Scheman. Admission is free. The symposium is sponsored by the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology at Iowa State and the Cell Biology Program of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. LEOPOLD CENTER WEB SITE LISTS SEMINARS The Leopold Center Web site was omitted from a list of Web sites that announce academic seminars. Seminars the center supports are listed at: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/events.htm. The site also lists events the center does not support at: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/otherevents.htm. COLLEGE BUILDINGS MAKE ENERGY HEROES LIST Energy conservation at Iowa State saved $1,522,510 on the universitys energy bill during FY04. Occupants of Agronomy and Molecular Biology were among those in fully metered benchmark buildings who collectively saved $35,549. Occupants of Curtiss Hall used at least 10 percent less electricity,compared to the buildings three-year average electric bill. Also, occupants of Curtiss Hall, Food Sciences and Horticulture each saved at least $5,000 on their electric bills. SUMMIT SEEKS TO GROW IOWA'S DAIRY INDUSTRY There were 7,800 dairy herds in Iowa in 1990. By 2002, that number had dropped to 3,200. A recent meeting in Clear Lake organized by Iowa State was an important step towards reversing that downward trend. Learn more in "Agriculture in Action." ISU EXTENSION EXPERTS ANALYZE AG LENDER BUYOUT PROPOSAL A proposed bank buyout that would affect one of the largest agricultural lenders in the nation is the topic of a review by Neil Harl, Robert Jolly and Roger Ginder in the Department of Economics. Rabobank, a Dutch financial institution, has announced its intentions to purchase Farm Credit Services of America, headquartered in Omaha. In response to a steady stream of requests for information about the buyout, Iowa State has established a website containing background information and analyses of the transaction. Learn more: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/newsrel/2004/sep04/sep0403.html CONDENSED DISTILLERS SOLUBLES SHOWN TO LOWER COSTS Recent research by Allen Trenkle in animal science shows that condensed distillers solubles, a co-product from the manufacture of ethanol from corn, can be fed to finishing cattle without reducing performance or carcass value. Details: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/newsrel/2004/sep04/sep0405.html DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Sept. 14: Conference on Raising Livestock in Hoops, Gateway Center Sept. 15, International scientific symposium on alternative swine housing systems, Ensminger Room, Kildee Hall, contact: Mark Honeyman, 4-4621 or honeyman@iastate.edu Sept. 15: Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm field day, 1 p.m., near Crawfordsville, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings Sept. 24: Deadline for online registration, Third Biennial All-Iowa Virology Symposium, Oct. 22-23, Reiman Gardens Sept. 25: Fun run and walk to benefit Alison Ciancio Memorial Scholarship, 9:30 a.m. Oct. 5: Sue Lamont portrait unveiling, 3 p.m., Kildee Hall ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... AN AUTHOR WRITES THE PREFACE, BUT NOT THE FOREWORD A foreword (not forward) is a book's introduction written by someone other than the book's author. An introduction written by the author is called a preface. (The Chicago Manual of Style, 2003, 15th edition) ........................................................ INFOGRAZING ........................................................ NATIONAL RESEARCH INITIATIVE RFA ANNOUNCED The National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program for fiscal year 2005 has opened a request for applications. CSREES anticipates that approximately $150 million will be available for support of this program. The NRI will use no more than 20 percent of available funds to support integrated research, extension and education grants and the remaining funds will be used to fund research projects. The RFA is available online or through the CSREES website. BIOTECH OFFICE AWARDS 21 GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS The Office of Biotechnology at Iowa State has awarded fellowships to 21 incoming graduate students working toward careers in biotechnology research. The fellowships, totaling $253,000, help the university attract outstanding graduate students by providing financial support to departments and interdisciplinary programs. More: http://www.biotech.iastate.edu/publications/news_releases/Sept_13_2004… ISU WOMENS CLUB OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPS The Iowa State University Womens Club offers scholarships to deserving women students. This year, the awards will be about $400 each. These awards are intended to honor students academic, personal and community accomplishments. The application deadline is Oct. 11. CSREES RELEASES STRATEGIC PLAN The strategic plans for CSREES and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with the Research, Education and Economics Strategic Plan upon which the CSREES plan is based, have been placed online. New to the plan is a Problem Area Classification for Education, Research and Extension, a system proposed for use as an aid to program planning and accountability. ........................................................ EXTERNAL VOICES ........................................................ TAKING THE WORLD INTO ACCOUNT "No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be." -- Isaac Asimov ........................................................ MARGINALIA ........................................................ MULTITASKING AT DINNERTIME COULD COMPROMISE FOOD SAFETY Watching TV, playing with your children or your pet or working on the computer while cooking, could introduce contaminants into food. A survey conducted by the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and the ConAgra Foods Foundation found that 90 percent of Americans say they multitask while preparing meals, and 62 percent are too busy to even sit down and eat most or some of the time. The survey was conducted to mark Septembers National Food Safety Month. The most common mistake made by multitasking cooks was unclean hands. Nearly a third of home cooks do not consistently wash their hands when multitasking while preparing food, the survey found. Safe meat-handling procedures are also compromised during multitasking, including undercooking meat and cross-contamination between raw meats and ready-to-eat foods. Poor refrigeration was cited as a common food safety error, at least in the office. Nine out of 10 respondents allowed perishable foods to sit out for as long as four hours before refrigeration or consumption. The ADA and ConAgra sponsor a consumer website detailing home food safety issues at: http://www.homefoodsafety.org. (Institute of Food Technologists newsletter, Sept. 8) Next issue: Sept. 20 ........................................................ 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 Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3680 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.