Issue: 563

................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... LOUIS THOMPSON, FORMER COLLEGE ASSOCIATE DEAN, DIES Louis Thompson of Ames died of natural causes on July 24 at Green Hills Retirement Center in Ames. He was 95. A private service will be held on Tuesday, July 28, with internment at the Iowa State Cemetery. A memorial service will be held at a date to be announced. Thompson was a distinguished professor of agronomy who earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Texas A&M University and a doctorate in agronomy from Iowa State in 1950. He served as head of farm operations and as the associate dean of the College from 1962 until his retirement in 1983. CLASS PROJECT EXPANDS WIKIPEDIA'S PLANT PARASITE ENTRIES Felicitas Avendano, a former post-doctoral research associate in plant pathology who took a new position as an assistant professor of biology at Grandview University, returned to Iowa State to teach a graduate course in plant nematology this summer. One of the projects she assigned her students was to create new, scientifically accurate entries about plant-parasitic nematodes in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Each student was asked to research a plant-parasitic nematode of their choice, share the information with the class by giving an oral presentation and finally share their work with the world by creating a Wikipedia entry. Wikipedia is an open source encyclopedia; anyone can access the information, edit the content or create new entries. The available information on nematodes, particularly plant parasitic ones, is rather scarce, she reported. AGRICULTURE FUTURE OF AMERICA SELECTS STUDENTS FOR ADVISORY GROUP College seniors Ryan Hrubes and Brittney Morris have been picked to serve on the Student Advisory Team by the Agriculture Future of America (AFA). AFA is a nonprofit organization created for tomorrow's leaders in agriculture. The organization is dedicated to encouraging and supporting college students who are preparing for careers in agriculture. Hrubes is majoring in agricultural business and Morris is an animal science major. CARVER INTERNS RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM THURSDAY The George Washington Carver interns will give presentations on their research projects Thursday, July 30, from 8:30 to noon in Room 13 Curtiss Hall. The public is invited to join mentors, graduate students and others who have worked with the 14 summer interns. Nine undergraduates and five high school students have worked several weeks this summer with faculty mentors in areas of research interest to them. They also will participate in a university-wide summer intern research poster presentation at Howe Hall Friday, July 31 from 8 a.m. to noon. PROGRAM BRINGS UNDERGRADUATES TO DO RESEARCH The Research Education for Undergraduates program brought 10 students to campus to work on genomics and biotechnology. They are working in the labs of Max Rothschild, Susan Lamont, Chris Tuggle, Matthew Ellinwood, James Reecy and Joshua Selsby, animal science; Pat Schnable, agronomy; Nicole Valenzuela and Jonathan Wendel, ecology, evolution and organismal biology; and Donald Sakaguchi, genetics, development and cell biology. The 10-week program ends Friday, July 31, at a poster session from 1 to 3 p.m. in Howe Hall atrium. It is funded by the National Science Foundation with support from the Center for Integrated Animal Genomics. ANIMAL SCIENCE FACULTY PRESENTED ASAS AWARDS Several animal science faculty members received awards at the annual American Society of Animal Science meeting held in Montreal this month. The Extension Award was presented to Daryl Strohbehn. Doug Kenealy was named the 2009 Fellow in the teaching category. The Meats Research Award was presented to Steven Lonergan. The meeting's program chair and vice chair were faculty members Leo Timms and Dorian Garrick, respectively. LAMONT PRESENTED POULTRY SCIENCE AWARD AND NAMED FELLOW Susan Lamont, animal science, received the Embrex Fundamental Science Award and was named a Fellow of the Poultry Science Association. The awards were presented at the association annual meeting last week in Raleigh, N.C. CARVER INTERN STUDIES SOYBEAN DISEASE Audrianna Marzette, a sophomore at Fort Valley State University, is doing research with Alison Robertson in plant pathology about the soybean disease, Phytophthora root rot. She is one of the 14 students participating in the George Washington Carver Internship Program through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. ALUM NAMED INTERIM DEAN AT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS Robert Hauser has been named interim dean designate of the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. Pending approval by the board of trustees, Hauser will assume his new duties on Aug. 17. He has been serving as head of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural business in 1976 and a doctorate degree in agricultural Economics from Iowa State in 1982. ALUM TO BE FEATURED IN AMERICA'S HEARTLAND SERIES THIS FALL Joe Steffes, a 2001 agricultural business graduate and owner of Iowa Foam insulation, was interviewed for the series America's Heartland by Jason Schoults, a 1996 ISU journalism graduate and producer/reporter for KVIE Public Television in Sacramento. Schoults is doing a series on the different uses of soybeans. Steffes uses soy-foam insulation to insulate homes, offices and commercial buildings. The film crew interviewed Steffes and videotaped the application of soy-foam in the new chemistry building being constructed just north of Davidson Hall. The segment will run this fall on RFD TV. More: http://www.americasheartland.org/ FIRST ALL-HORTICULTURE FIELD DAY SCHEDULED FOR AUG. 6 The first All-horticulture Field Day will be held Aug. 6 at Iowa State's Horticulture Research Station near Ames. This event will showcase research projects being conducted at the station in all areas of horticulture. RESEARCHERS DEVELOP PROCESS FOR 'SURGICAL' GENETIC CHANGES Research led by scientists at Iowa State's Plant Sciences Institute has resulted in a process that will make genetic changes in plant genes much more efficient, practical and safe. The breakthrough allows targeted genetic manipulations in plant DNA. Details: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2009/jul/zincfinger 2009 LEOPOLD CENTER RESEARCH RESULTS RELEASED The key findings and lessons learned from 20 recent Iowa-based research projects funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture are now available on the Web. The on-line-only publication of the Center's research results replaces the paper version of the Center Progress Report, which had been issued annually since 1992. More: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2009/072409_results.ht… JOINT ISA-ISU FIELD DAY SPOTLIGHTS ISU SOYBEAN RESEARCH A field tour of Iowa State soybean research, sponsored by the Iowa Soybean Association and co-organized through the ISU Corn and Soybean Initiative, was held July 24 at several ISU research farms near Ames. Dean Wendy Wintersteen gave opening remarks at the event, which showcased the ISA-funded research of several ISU Extension specialists working on topics ranging from soybean pests and diseases to soil fertility, crop rotation and weed management. Participants heard talks from ISU experts and received hands-on, in-field training in soybean aphid speed scouting and soybean cyst nematode identification and saw a demonstration of a state-of-the-art soybean root scanner used to assess plant health. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS July 31: Enhance Your Iowa Plate has been postponed until June 2010 ................................................... EXTERNAL FUNDING ................................................... NSF STEM SCHOLARSHIP PRE-PROPOSALS DUE JULY 31 Pre-proposals for College submissions to the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program are due July 31 to Senior Associate Dean Joe Colletti (colletti@iastate.edu). This program makes grants to institutions of higher education to support scholarships for academically talented, financially needy students, enabling them to enter the workforce following completion of an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level degree in science and engineering disciplines. Faculty split between colleges may only submit to one college. The College pre-proposal chosen will be notified by 5 p.m. on Aug. 7. The letter of intent is due to NSF on Aug. 11 and the full proposal is due to NSF by Sept. 14. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5257 ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... WHEN TO USE YOU'RE OR YOUR “You're” is the contracted form of "you are." This form is used in sentences using "you" as the subject of the sentence with the verb "to be" used as either the helping verb, as in You're going ..., You're watching ... or the principal verb of the sentence. Examples: You're going to have a great time! You're much better at tennis than Jim. “Your” is the possessive pronoun form. This form is used to express that something belongs to "you." Examples: Your wife is a kind woman. I think your skills are outstanding. About.com, Common Mistakes in English Kenneth Beare. More: http://esl.about.com/od/grammarintermediate/a/cm_your.htm ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... CAST UPDATES REPORT ON PRODUCE AND FOOD SAFETY The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology has issued a commentary titled Food Safety and Fresh Produce: An Update. It brings together the current scientific research and recommended practices at the consumer level that will reduce the risk of produce-borne illness. More: http://www.cast-science.org/ NEW REPORT DETAILS PROPER HANDLING OF SCIENTIFIC DATA The National Academies has released a report on handling scientific data. The report, "Ensuring the Integrity, Accessibility and Stewardship of Research Data in the Digital Age," calls on researchers, their universities, and publishers of academic journals to consider new policies for compiling, tracking, storing and sharing data. Otherwise, the report says, the flood of data coming out of scientific research could be lost, misinterpreted or misused. (Chronicle of Higher Education, July 22, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12615) ................................................... EXTERNAL VOICES ................................................... COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER CALLS FOR INTELLECTUAL INTEGRATION “If the 20th century was the century of the specialist, I argue that the 21st century has ushered in the age of the integrationist, of people who can synthesize information and insights from across many fields. … Driving this need for integrationists and intellectual emulsifiers is the nature of the problems we face, problems that have few boundaries of their own, that are, indeed, global in scope. … Everywhere the call is out for the crossover dreamers - judges and lawyers who understand genetics to help sort through DNA evidence, policy makers who have a grasp of physics to help set guidelines for the storage of nuclear waste. I believe that the newfound fashionableness of intellectual ambidexterity bodes well for the coming decades, and for you who are about to jump into them. You, too, must never stop learning, and while you're at it, why not try reaching far afield? If you majored in business, learn something about ecology. If you studied engineering, try your hand at economics. Do it for your career, to win yourself a place in the situation room. But above all, do it for yourself.” --Natalie Angier, science writer, in a commencement address at Washington and Jefferson College (Chronicle of Higher Education, July 27, http://chronicle.com/article/Excerpts-From-Graduation/47446/) ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... TRUMPETER SWAN PAIR PRODUCES OFFSPRING ON ISU FARM WETLAND A free-flying pair of trumpeter swans nested in a wetland on Iowa State's Kelley Farm this spring, and is raising six offspring there. Todd Burras, outdoors editor for the Ames Tribune, reported that they're believed to be one of the first two pairs to nest in Mid-Iowa since as far back as the Civil War in a feature story about the swans. ........................................................ AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE ........................................................ EDITOR Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/ SUBSCRIBE Ag and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag and Life Sciences Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag and Life Sciences Online unsubscribe." Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.