College News
Students Awed by Iowa Farm Experiences
On two weekends this month, eight students in the College of Agriculture experienced Iowa agriculture first hand as participants in a pilot program called Agriculture Weekend Experience (AWE). AWE gives students in the College of Agriculture with minimal prior farm experience a chance to learn more about Iowa agriculture by staying the weekend with Iowa farm families. Students stayed with host families on farms across the state and learned about many aspects of farm life including decision-making, farm management and machinery maintenance. AWE was co-sponsored by the ISU Agricultural Endowment and the College of Agriculture and was coordinated by Alyx Bigelow in Communications Service. More information and photos on the students' experience will soon be posted on the College website.
Horticulture Club Puts Plants on Sale
The Horticulture Club's spring plant sale kicked off over the weekend. It continues this Wednesday through Friday at the Horticulture Building. A variety of annuals and perennials are for sale from noon to 5 p.m. each day.
College Students Collecting Items for Soldiers
College of Agriculture students are asking faculty, staff and students to donate items to send overseas to Iowa soldiers. The Public Service and Administration in Agriculture (PSA) Club, Collegiate FFA, Agriculture Education Club, Collegiate 4-H and the AgEdS 315 class are collecting, packing and shipping snacks, cards and other items to three Iowa National Guard units stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The student-run collection drive -- Military Mail Call: Care Packages from Campus -- has set a goal of collecting 1,000 pounds of daily items such as sunscreen, playing cards, letters and disposable cameras. Club members and other volunteers will collect donations until Wednesday, April 20, in 303 East Hall. From Wednesday to Friday, April 20 to 22, the group will be stationed at each campus dining center to collect items from students, faculty, staff and Ames residents. Students are requesting: jerky, sunflower seeds, nuts, sports bars, gum, drink mix, magazines, cards, poker chips, disposable cameras, prepaid phone cards, unsealed personal cards and letters, travel-size foot powder, SPF 15 lip balm, deodorant, sunscreen, ponytail holders, Beanie Babies (gifts for local children) and packets of moist towelettes. Contacts: Becky Jacobs, 641-799-1284 or bjacobs@iastate.edu; Alicia Clancy, 712-830-2130 or aclancy@iastate.edu; Rachel Hecht, 712-898-9513; and Kristin Hammen, 515-572-7898 or kjhammen@iastate.edu.
NREM Sends Items to Four Students Serving Overseas
The natural resource ecology and management department has been collecting items for four NREM students serving overseas. One large box has been sent to a student in Iraq and the other students' boxes will be sent this week. Sara Maniscalco, animal ecology senior, is in Kosovo; Shannon Osterholm, animal ecology senior, Kuwait and Iraq; Mel Brandenburg, forestry senior, Afganistan; and Matt Dicks, forestry senior, Iraq.
Plant Pathologists Deliver Keynote Lectures at Workshop
Iowa State scientists recently presented two of 10 keynote lectures during the Ninth International Workshop on Plant Disease Epidemiology held last week in Landereau, France. Forrest Nutter presented "Disease Assessment Concepts and the Role of Psychophysics in Plant Disease Epidemiology," about the way disease injury will be quantified in the future. X B. Yang presented an address, titled "Framework Development of Plant Disease Risk Assessment and its Application in Soybean Rust Study."
Research Farm Field Days to Begin June 23
Summer field days on the Research and Demonstration Farms begin June 23 at the Southeast farm near Crawfordsville. The rest of the summer field days are: June 24 at the Armstrong farm, June 28 at Northern, June 29 at the Northwest Sutherland location and June 30 at the Northeast farm. Times and topics will be announced when plans are finalized. Most of the fall field days have been scheduled. They will begin Aug. 24 at Neely-Kinyon, followed by Aug. 31 at the Northwest Doon location, Sept. 1 at Northern, Sept. 8 at Northeast, Sept. 14 at Southeast. Field days at the Western, McNay and Muscatine farms are planned for fall, but have yet to be scheduled. Demonstration garden field days are set to begin July 25 at the Northwest Sutherland farm. The complete schedule:
Northwest, Sutherland, 6:30 p.m., July 25,
Northwest, Rock Rapids, 6 p.m., July 26
Armstrong, Lewis, 6:30 p.m., July 27
Southeast, Crawfordsville, 6:30 p.m., July 28
Muscatine, 6:30 p.m., July 29
Horticulture Station, Ames, 6:30 p.m., Aug. 1
Northern, Kanawha, 6:30 p.m., Aug. 2
McNay, Chariton, 6:30 p.m., Aug. 4
Northeast, Nashua, 4 p.m., Aug. 6
ISU Researchers Coordinates Early Warning System for Rust
X.B. Yang, plant pathology, has received $389,000 to coordinate sentinel soybean plots in 20 states. The funding will be used to plant and monitor soybean plots and provide an early warning system for Asian soybean rust. Eleven of Iowa's plots are located on Iowa State research and demonstration farms.
Companion Animal Expert Joins Animal Science Faculty
The road Matthew Ellinwood took to Iowa State is a long and winding one. It began in Arizona, with stops in Massachusetts, Missouri, Colorado, Pennsylvania and France. Last Oct. 1, he settled into Iowa State's animal science department as the first companion animal specialist in the department.
Banquet to Kickoff ISU Ag Engineering Centennial Celebration
A banquet April 24 for students and their families will kickoff a centennial celebration in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. The department's roots are traced to 1905 when Jay Davidson organized the Department of Farm Mechanics, creating the first agricultural engineering department in the world.
Soil Management and Land Valuation Conference May 18
The 78th annual conference on soil management and land valuation will be May 18. Sponsored by the College of Agriculture and ISU Extension, the conference is intended for farm managers, rural appraisers, real estate brokers and others interested in the land market in Iowa.
Conference to Examine Plants for Bioenergy and Biobased Products
The Tailoring Lignocellulosic Feedstocks for Bioenergy and Biobased Products Conference will be held May 16 at the Memorial Union. Sessions will address producing bioenergy and biobased products from plant fiber, breeding plants for bioenergy and biobased products and the opportunities for using plant sciences to modify plants for those uses. Plant Sciences Institute is sponsoring the conference. There is no fee to register, but registration is required. Register at: https://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/ccur/quickregister.html.
Veterinary Medicine is Next Think Tank Topic
The next Think Tank on Animal Agriculture will hear from John Thomson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, on the interactions of the college with animal agriculture in Iowa and elsewhere. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. April 25 with social time, dinner at 6:30 p.m. and discussion at 7 p.m. in the Cardinal Room, Memorial Union. Register by e-mailing Julie Roberts at jrober@iastate.edu by noon on Friday, April 22. Cost of the buffet meal will be $15, which is payable at the door.
Food Safety Expert to Speak April 20
Frank Busta, director of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense and professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, will discuss food safety April 20. "Food Safety and Food Defense -- Similarities and Differences" is the title of his presentation. The food science and human nutrition department is hosting the seminar at 4:10 p.m. in 2050 Agronomy. Busta's talk is open to the public.
Two College Staff Members Elected to P&S Council
Seventeen candidates were elected to fill open seats on the Professional and Scientific Council. Their new terms will begin July 1. Two College of Agriculture staff members were elected to the council’s academic and research section: Thomas Hillson, college computer support, and Brenda Van Beek, natural resource ecology and management administration.
Deadlines and Reminders
April 18: Ag Ambassadors barbecue at State FFA Convention, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Kildee Hall Farm Bureau Pavilion
April 19: Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products second annual symposium
April 20: Science with Practice informational meeting, 1 p.m., Room 8 Curtiss Hall, RSVP to Karen Burdick, 4-6123 or kburdick@iastate.edu
April 22: Deadline to enroll in Introduction to Learning-Centered College Classrooms workshop on May 9-12, contact: Sherri Larson at 4-0598 or selarson@iastate.edu
May 9-12: Introduction to Learning-Centered College Classrooms workshop, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 233 Science II, contact: Steve Jungst at 4-1587 or sejungst@iastate.edu.
May 15: Application deadline for Hooked on Science workshop on June 16-17, contact: Lani McKinney, 4-4432 or mckinney@iastate.edu
Communications Kiosk
An Ecormity of Errors
The South Asian tsunami last December exposed a misunderstanding of the difference between the words "enormity" and "enormousness," according to Clint Rainey, a journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin. In his article in The Daily Texan, Rainey wrote about the difference between enormity and enormousness. Enormity refers to something "morally reprehensible" or "morally evil," while enormousness is much more innocuous and simply means "huge" or "very great in size." Rainey performed a search for the words "tsunami" and "enormity" in articles on CNN's Web site. Of the nine pairings returned, only one demonstrated the proper use of enormity. When he searched for "enormousness" and "tsunami," he came up empty-handed. He speculated that speakers and writers tend to avoid enormousness because it seems fictitious -- like "irregardless." (Copy Editor, April-May 2005)
Infograzing
Grant Writing Workshop Set for May 12 and 13
Karen Piconi of Persuade and Publish will present the final grant and proposal-writing workshop for this academic year on May 12 and 13. The deadline for registration is May 2. Contact Piconi at 232-2195 or kpiconi@msn.com for information about the workshop, possible partial funding from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and a registration form. Cost per participant is $270.
Borlaug to Receive Cast's Charles Black Award
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) has named Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug as the recipient of the 2005 Charles A. Black Award. Borlaug will receive the award at a banquet on April 21 during the organization's board meeting in Alexandria, Va. The award is presented annually by CAST to a food or agricultural scientist actively engaged in research, who has made significant scientific contributions to science and who communicates the importance of food and agricultural science to the public, policymakers and news media. The award is named for the late Charles Black, professor emeritus of agronomy at Iowa State and a past president, executive vice president and member of the founding committee of CAST.
Teleconference Thursday on Engaging New Students
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching will host a teleconference April 21 titled "First Encounters: Creating Purposeful Strategies to Engage New Students." It will be held from noon to 2 p.m. in 1230 Communications Building. A light lunch will be provided. Register at 4-5357 or celt@iastate.edu.
Cloned Beef and Milk Meet Industry Standards
According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have shown that meat and milk from cloned bulls and cows meet industry standards. American and Japanese scientists cloned a Japanese Black beef bull and Holstein dairy cow and compared the meat and milk from the clones to that of animals of similar age, genetics and breed created through natural reproduction. An analysis of protein, fat and other variables routinely assessed by the dairy industry revealed no significant differences in the milk. The researchers also examined more than 100 meat quality criteria. While 90 percent showed no noteworthy variations, eight variables related to the amount of fat and fatty acids in the meat were significantly higher in the meat from the cloned animals. More: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0500140102
Foodborne Illness Prevention Goals Closer
Merle Pierson, USDA acting under secretary for food safety, credited the attention to science-based policies and effective enforcement strategies for making meat, poultry and egg products safer. He pointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recently reported reductions in foodborne illnesses. The CDC's 2004 report on the incidence of infection with pathogens commonly transmitted through foods noted significant declines from the 1996-98 baseline in illnesses. Examples: E. coli O157, down 42 percent; Listeria monocytogene, down 40 percent; Campylobacter, down 31 percent; and Yersinia down 45 percent. Overall, Salmonella illnesses have fallen by 8 percent. Reductions in illnesses from E. coli O157 means the U.S. is below the Healthy People 2010 goal of 1.0 case per 100,000 persons and is close for Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter.
External Voices
A Humorist's Take on Professors' Earnings
"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week."
- Evan Esar (1899-1995), American humorist
Marginalia
ISU Microbiology Senior: Can I Buy a Vowel?
Mike Vogt, a senior from Dubuque majoring in microbiology, says he's been watching the Wheel of Fortune TV game show since he was three years old. So he was excited when he was picked as a contestant at a Big 12 Wheel of Fortune tryout. In March, Vogt taped a show in Los Angeles that aired last week, April 12. When introduced by host Pat Sajak, Vogt told about his microbiology major at Iowa State, that he's a member of the Ag Student Council and wrapped up with a "Go Cyclones!" Unfortunately, the wheel wasn't kind to Vogt. He brought home the $500 minimum rather than the $10,000 cash price he had in front of him at one point. Vogt says while he found the experience nerve-racking, he found Vanna White to be "the nicest women you will ever meet." Does he have advice for other Wheel of Fortune devotees who want to get on the show someday? "Be yourself, but only if you are not afraid to be a dork. Be loud, be fun and be social."
Next issue: April 25
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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