College News
Opera to Highlight Feorge Washington Carver's Life Feb. 2
The College is helping support the opera scheduled Feb. 2 to celebrate the life of agricultural pioneer George Washington Carver. OPERA Iowa will perform "A Dream Fulfilled: The Saga of George Washington Carver" at 8 p.m. in the Great Hall, Memorial Union. The event is free and open to the public. A reception follows the performance.
Alumni Association Presents Awards to Two College Seniors
Two of the five winners of ISU's Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award announced last weekend are College students. Daniel Fischer and Clark Richardson, both agricultural business majors, were recognized as outstanding seniors by the Alumni Association. The last time two students from the College won the prize was 2002 when Lisa Ahrens, agronomy and agricultural business, and Barry Bradford, animal science and agricultural biotechnology, were among six recipients.
Acker to Speak About Greece's American Farm School
David Acker, associate dean of academic and global programs, is scheduled to speak Feb. 26 at the Consulate General of Greece on "The Future of Our Global Food and Agriculture System and The Role of the American Farm School." Acker serves as a trustee of the American Farm School, a private, nonprofit educational institution founded in 1904. He worked as a volunteer at the school in 1972.
Horticulture Professors to Speak at Conference
Jeff Iles and Nick Christians, horticulture, are on the program to speak at the Tri-state Green Space Conference Feb. 11 in Sioux City. Christians is scheduled to present a session on natural products for weed control in turf selection. Iles will chair a discussion among the speakers about future plans. ISU and the Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension are helping sponsor the conference.
College Researchers Lead Potato Projects
Researchers David Hannapel, horticulture, and Aragula Rao, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology are leading two studies investigating how potato plants respond to their environment with the potential of increasing yields of the world's fourth most important food crop. Grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture worth $3.15 million are funding the studies of how the potato plant sends signals within the plant.
Student-Athlete Chen Featured on Home Page
Julie Chen, a sophmore in microbiology from Appleton, Wis., has been added to the student profiles on the College's home page. Chen is a midfielder on the Iowa State women's soccer team. She received a soccer scholarship and the George Washington Carver scholarship to attend Iowa State. The student profiles offer an opportunity for prospective students to see what students are doing in our college. To view the profiles go to http://www.ag.iastate.edu and refresh the page to see different stories. If you have ideas for outstanding students you think should be featured, contact Barb McBreen, barbmc@istate.edu or 4-0707.
Proposals Sought for Information Technology Projects
The Computation Advisory Committee (CAC) seeks proposals for projects that will have a broad impact on student computing and represent innovative uses of information technology for instruction at Iowa State. Student involvement in the development of proposals is encouraged. Proposals must be reviewed within their administrative units before they are submitted to CAC. Proposals routed through the College should be received by Feb. 27. One printed and signed copy should be routed to Dean David Acker's office and a second electronic copy should be sent to Philip Spike at plspike@iastate.edu for review. All submitted proposals will be forwarded to CAC.
Extension Offers Risk Management Session for Livestock Producers
ISU's Iowa Beef Center and the Iowa Pork Industry Center are hosting a webcast on risk management Feb. 16. Interested individuals can view the webcast from their homes or they can watch it at a nearby host site.
Entomology Releases Corn Rootworm Report
A report summarizing entomology's 2008 corn rootworm evaluations is available on the department's website. The PDF report outlines the performance of insecticides and plant-incorporate protectants on corn.
Weed Science Field Trials Report Online
Agronomy's weed science demonstration field trials report for 2008 is available on the weed science web site. The PDF report is titled "Weed Control Results - 2008."
Summer Intern in Plant Pathology Wins Science Challenge
Brita Kilburg received national recognition in the U.S. Department of Energy's Science and Energy Challenge. She received a third-place award in the Environmental Sciences Division of the competition. Kilburg, a student at Loras College, was a participant in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program this past summer at Iowa State. Kilburg was mentored by Forrest Nutter Jr., plant pathology, and her summer research project involved studying the bean pod mottle virus and bean leaf beetle in soybeans, which was related to her prize.
Deadlines and Reminders
Feb. 2: "A Dream Fulfilled: The Saga of George Washington Carver," 8 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union
Feb. 4: Ag Career Day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union
Feb. 7: Beginning Farmer Network annual conference, Gateway Hotel and Conference Center, http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/beginningfarmer/home.html
Feb. 16: College's Spring convocation, 4 p.m., 127 Curtiss Hall (Curtiss auditorium)
Feb. 19: Agriculture and Life Sciences Distinguished Lecture, Michael Boehlje, distinguished professor at Purdue University, 7:30 p.m., Sun Room, Memorial Union
Feb. 25: Staniforth Lecture, 4:15 p.m., 2050 Agronomy
Communications Kiosk
Split Infinitive Myth
Chief Justice John Roberts re-administered the oath of office to President Obama the day after last week's inauguration after departing from the original text of the Constitution. Steven Pinker, psychology professor at Harvard University and the chairman of the usage panel of The American Heritage Dictionary, says that Roberts might have been following an outdated grammatical prohibition against splitting verbs or infinitives. Pinker said the thinking is that an adverb shouldn't come between an infinitive marker like "to" or an auxiliary like "will" and the main verb of the sentence. "The myth originated centuries ago in a thick-witted analogy to Latin, in which it is impossible to split an infinitive," Pinker says. "Any speaker who has not been brainwashed by the split-verb myth can sense that these corrections go against the rhythm and logic of English phrasing." More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22pinker.html?emc=eta1. (Steven Pinker, New York Times, Jan. 21, 2009)
Infograzing
USDA OUTLOOK FORUM REGISTRATION EXTENDED TO JAN. 30
Early registration for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2009 Agricultural Outlook Forum has been extended to Jan. 30. The event's theme is "Global Agriculture and Rural America in Transition." It is set for Feb. 26-27 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, Arlington, Va. More: http://www.usda.gov/oce/forum/index.htm
Internal Voices
College Student Helps Make a Difference
"The event that keeps playing over and over again is when Aidan Mundy was graduating and at the end said 'Life Is Awesome.' Dance Marathon had gotten him to the point where he had the rest of his life in front of him and I knew that we had done something to make a difference."
-- Clark Richardson, senior in agricultural business and executive co-chairman of Dance Marathon, which raised more than $171,000 last weekend (Iowa State Daily, Jan. 26)
External Voices
University President: Education Infrastructure Needs Help
"The new president and Congress are looking closely at ways to spur economic growth and avoid a deeper economic recession. On the infrastructure side, their challenge is to find the quickest starting projects that have the greatest gain over the long term for our economy and society. As president-elect, Barack Obama proposed equipping tens of thousands of schools, community colleges and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs and libraries as a jump-start for the economy and a down payment on our nation's future economic competitiveness. Minnesota has plenty of worthy, 'shovel-ready' projects in our public education systems."
-- Robert H. Bruininks, president, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis Star Tribune Op-Ed, Jan. 21, http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/38034539.html?elr=KArksD:…)
Marginalia
American Colleges Recruit Students in Iraq
Academics and administrators from 24 American universities went to Iraq last week to lend support to an ambitious planned overhaul of Iraqi higher education and to stage student-recruitment fairs, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The trip was organized by the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is taking steps to rebuild the nation's university system. This week's event is the first college recruitment fair in recent memory in which foreign representatives have participated. (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 23)
Ag and Life Sciences Online
Editor
Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Website: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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