College News
Saturday Convocation to Honor Graduating Seniors
About 400 undergraduates from the College are set to earn their diplomas this weekend. Faculty and staff are invited to help recognize graduating students at the College of Agriculture graduation convocation that will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 6, in C.Y. Stephens Auditorium. Alicia Clancy, public service and administration in agriculture and journalism and mass communication, will deliver the address to fellow graduates and guest. The Agriculture Student Council will present awards to: James Gilbert, environmental science, for academic achievement; Katie Petersen, plant health and protection and international agriculture, for distinguished service; Katie Zumbach, dairy science, for leadership excellence; and Andrew Sponheim, agricultural business, for outstanding senior.
College Honored for VEISHEA Participation
The College of Agriculture was awarded "First Place Overall Participation by a College" by the VEISHEA Executive Board at the closing ceremony. College of Agriculture students were cited for making VEISHEA 2006 a success. A trophy was given to the College for this recognition and is on display in the administration suite in Curtiss Hall. The College was a major VEISHEA Sponsor. The Block & Bridle Club, Collegiate Beef Team and Dairy Science Club members won the VEISHEA Best Overall Display. The display was tops in the four areas of informative, appearance, Cy spirit and popularity. The selection was out of more than 100 other displays set up around campus the Saturday of VEISHEA. The Agricultural Education Club was judged to have the the "Most Informative" exhibit for VEISHEA.
Clubs Send Care Packages to Military Units
The Military Mail Call care packages from campus project collected more than 900 pounds of supplies for the Iowa Army National Guard First Battalion 133rd Infantry Charlie Company and the Iowa Army Reserve 425th Transportation Unit. Items were collected in several department offices on campus, at student housing areas and in the Ames community. On April 8th several members of the Military Mail Call planning committee boxed 126 boxes of supplies. The planning committee consisted of members of several College of Agriculture clubs including the Public Service in Agriculture, Agricultural Education, and Collegiate FFA clubs. The College of Agriculture and several of its clubs contributed to the project as did the admissions office and Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs.
Service Learning Projects on Display
Students in Nancy Grudens-Schuck's Leadership in Agriculture course this semester served Habitat for Humanity; assisted Jim Pease, natural resource ecology and management, in burning the Elwood Prairie; helped the Central Iowa Food Bank in Des Moines; cleaned College Creek; assisted the Military Mail Call; and visited elementary school classrooms. Presentations of their service learning projects are on display on the flat screens in the Curtiss Hall rotunda.
Student Wins Wild Writing Award
Ryan Atwell, graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology and sustainable agriculture, won a 2006 Wild Iowa Essay Award for a creative nonfiction piece. Atwell presented selections from his essay at the Second Iowa Conference on the Wild at the University of Iowa last week.
Partnership Produces VEISHEA Coasters
Iowa State industrial technology students Chad Schneider and John Brinks and assistant professor David Grewell, ag and biosystems engineering, produced plastic Veishea coasters with the help of the Des Moines Area Community College Tool and Die Lab at its Ankeny Campus. The students partnered with DMACC instructor John Neumayer to design the plastic coasters, which were sold at a Veishea open house by the campus chapter of National Association of Industrial Technology.
Iowa State Faculty Member on National Policy Panels
Forrest Nutter Jr., plant pathology, recently served as an adviser on two national policy panels at the Development of Standards for Biodefense Summit held in Washington, D.C. and hosted by the American Type Culture Collection, the Army and the Department of Homeland Security. Nutter also served on a panel on the development of a National Plant Disease Recovery System. The panel was convened in Memphis by the USDA, Department of Homeland Security and the American Phytopathological Society.
Nutrition and Wellness Research Center Open House May 9
The Nutrition and Wellness Research Center will have an open house for faculty and staff from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9. The event will serve as an introduction to the center. It is located at 2325 North Loop Drive. Light refreshments will be provided. Contact: Ruth MacDonald, ruthmacd@iastate.edu or 4-5991.
Spring Brings New Understanding of Ag for Nonfarm Students
Spring is a new and exciting time on a farm. Spring also has been an exciting time for 13 College of Agriculture students who ventured to Iowa farms April 7-9 in the Agriculture Weekend Experience program.
Iowa State Crops Team Places Third at National Competition
The Iowa State University crops team placed third at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture crops contest held in Macomb, Ill. April 21.
Iowa Beef Center Marks 10th Anniversary
ISU's Iowa Beef Center is celebrating its 10th year of service to Iowa's cattle industry. The center was formed to enhance the vitality, profitability and growth of the Iowa beef industry.
Institute will Address Bringing Ethics into Life Science Classes
Animal welfare specialist Temple Grandin and agricultural ethicist Paul Thompson will speak at the 2006 Bioethics Institute at Reiman Gardens June 5-9. Hosted by the ISU Bioethics Program, the institute aims to help life sciences faculty and extension personnel introduce ethics into their classes and activities.
Faculty Contribute to Report on Animal Agriculture
The Farm Foundation has issued an analysis of the future of animal agriculture in North America. More than 150 people from the Farm Foundation, government agencies, industry groups, nonprofit organizations and foundations and the academic community were involved in its creation including several Iowa State faculty: Anna Johnson and Wendy Powers, animal science; Mike Duffy, Patricia Batres-Marquez, Helen Jensen and John Lawrence, economics; and Steve Sapp and Jan Flora, sociology. More: http://www.farmfoundation.org/projects/04-32Reportrelease.htm
Deadlines and Reminders
May 9: Ag Entrepreneur "Cooks Tour" workshop, contact: Steve Nissen, nissen@iastate.edu
June 19: Research and Demonstration Farm Field Days begin, Horticulture Station, near Ames, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
Communications Kiosk
Celebrating May Day Shouldn't Include a Mayday
May Day is today, May 1, and is often observed as a festive or political holiday. Mayday is the international distress signal, from the French "M'aider," meaning "help me." (The Associated Press Stylebook, 39th ed., 2004)
Infograzing
New ISU Extension Web Site Unveiled Today
Iowa State University Extension today launched a new client-focused web site (http://www.extension.iastate.edu). "The new web site takes advantage of content management technology to market programs and services; brand the organization, disseminate information and build community with clientele and stakeholders," said Jack Payne, vice provost for extension. He added that feedback is welcome to extensiononline@iastate.edu.
Viral Simulation Tracks its Million Atoms
Researchers have visualized the changing atomic structure of a virus for the first time, by using powerful computers to calculate how each of the virus' one million atoms interacts every femtosecond, or one-millionth-of-a-billionth of a second. The National Science Foundation-funded simulation revealed physical properties of satellite tobacco mosaic virus, a simple, plant-infecting virus. A better understanding of viral mechanisms helps researchers design improved strategies to combat viral infections in plants, people and other animals. The University of Illinois research team used high-performance computing power at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to run the simulation. Still, it took about 100 days to generate just 50 nanoseconds of virus activity. (NSF Current, http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=106791)
Internal Voices
Planning for the Next VEISHEA
"We want to stick to the traditions of Veishea. We are figuring out ways to get feedback from students, faculty and community members." --Nathaniel Johansen, senior in agricultural business and general co-chair for Veishea 2007
External Voices
Waiting Game Ends Today
"It's a waiting game. You really do all you can over the course of April to accommodate the interests, the questions and the needs of prospective students and their parents, and then you sort of lie in wait until sometime after D-day." (At Occidental College and many other schools May 1 is "D-day," the deadline to postmark deposits for next fall's freshman class.) --Vince Cuseo, Occidental College's dean of admission (It's White-Knuckle Time for College Officials Too, Los Angeles Times, April 27, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-admit27apr27,0,2123588.story?track=tothtml)
Marginalia
Ripe Tomatoes by Mid-June . . . in Iowa
Nick Howell, superintendent of the ISU Horticulture Station north of Ames, and Bernie Havlovic, superintendent of the ISU Armstrong Research Farm near Lewis, each report planting 180 tomato plants in mid-April. The plantings are part of a high tunnel project coordinated by ISU Extension program specialist Linda Naeve, which includes horticulture faculty Hank Taber, Gail Nonnecke and Paul Domoto. The tomato plants are 8 to 10 inches tall and starting to bloom. The freeze of April 25 caused no damage to the plants in the plastic-covered high tunnel. The farms expect ripe tomatoes by mid-June. An ISU Extension workshop on horticulture crop production in high tunnels will be held in June. Next issue: May 8
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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