Issue: 588

................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... SPRING CONVOCATION SET FOR FRIDAY, FEB. 12 The CALS Spring Convocation will be held Friday, Feb. 12, 4:10 p.m. in the Curtiss Auditorium. The program includes brief comments from Dean Wintersteen and faculty and staff award presentations. Refreshments will follow the ceremony. FORMER SECRETARY OF AG SCHAFER TO SPEAK FEB. 9 Ed Schafer, former governor of North Dakota and former U.S. secretary of agriculture, will present Innovation in Global Agriculture in the 21st Century, Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 8 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union. The lecture is free and open to the public. Schafers visit is sponsored by the CALS Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative. More STUDY FINDS LITTLE EFFECT OF SOY ISOFLAVONES ON BONE LOSS Results from a new multi-center clinical trial of 224 postmenopausal women calls into question the value of consuming soy isoflavone tablets to help lessen bone loss and minimize the effect of osteoporosis. The research team was led by D. Lee Alekel, Nutrition and Wellness Research Center, and included NWRC research staff members Laura Hanson, Jeanne Stewart and Kathy Hanson, along with Kenneth Koehler and Ted Peterson, statistics. DICKSON HELPS DEVELOP NEW PROCESS FOR LIVESTOCK RESEARCH FINDINGS Producers and veterinarians are often asked to provide science-based rationale for recommendations that they make in livestock production. James Dickson, animal science, is part of a research team that has developed a method and process that helps researchers report their findings in a thorough and consistent mannerREFLECT, Reporting Guidelines for Randomized Controlled Trials. REQUESTS FOR BRENTON CENTER CLASSROOMS DUE FEB. 26 Requests for scheduling summer and fall 2010 credit classes and events in the Brenton Center are being accepted through Feb. 26. Courses planned for delivery at a distance will be given first priority. Requests should be made through your department chair and the designated department representative who handles scheduling. ANNUAL FOREST STEWARDSHIP CONFERENCE IS MARCH 13 The department of natural resource ecology and management is a sponsor of the 2010 Tri-State Forest Stewardship Conference, scheduled for March 13 at Sinsinawa Mound Center, Sinsinawa, Wis. This is the 16th year for the conference, which annually draws 550 woodland landowners from Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY EDUCATION WEBCAST ONLINE To help Iowans better understand the proposed climate change legislation and regulations and its expected implications for agriculture, ISU Extension offered a statewide webcast featuring leading economists in energy economics and agricultural policy. The presentations are now available online at the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center website and the ISU Extension Ag Decision Maker website BLOCK AND BRIDLE CAKE AUCTION MARCH 4 The Block and Bridle Club annual cake auction will be on March 4, at 7 p.m., in the Farm Bureau Pavilion in Kildee Hall. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Feb. 10: Sean Carroll lecture, 8 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union Feb. 23-24: Symposium on Sustainability ................................................... EXTERNAL FUNDING ................................................... FUNDING INFORMATION, OPPORTUNITIES AND DEADLINE REMINDERS Dates listed are application deadlines. Contact: Roxanne Clemens, rclemens@iastate.edu. Feb. 16 (letter of inquiry): Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges in Global Health Diagnostics; $30 million total available funding.   March 1: Susan G. Komen for the Cure - Scientific Advisory Council; two-year renewable terms, Full Council Members receive a $250,000 research grant and Associate Council Members a $175,000 research grant annually for the duration of their term, grants must be used to study critical questions in breast cancer. March 12: EPA Region 7 Strategic Agricultural Initiative Grant Program; one to two grants, $30,000 to $93,000, up to two years, $93,000 total anticipated funding. More: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-7-midwest March 17: USDA Biotechnology Risk Assessment; regular research proposals up to $400,000 (including indirect) for two to five years, up to $1 million for priority areas of transformation-associated mutagenesis or environmental impacts of large-scale planting, conference proposals up to $20,000, $4 million total anticipated funding. March 24: ARRA OS: Recovery Act 2009 Limited Competition:  Accelerating Implementation of Comparative Effectiveness Findings on Clinical and Delivery System Interventions by Leveraging AHRQ Networks (R18); applications for new networks will be considered, up to $5 million for three years. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HS-10-014.html March 29 (letter of intent): Science of Behavior Change: Finding Mechanisms of Change in the Laboratory and the Field (R01); support for six to seven new applications, $200,000 to $400,000 per year up to five years, $4 million total anticipated funding. More: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-10-002.html April 6: Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program, standard grants and Educational Enhancement Teams, 25% cash or in-kind match, $18.24 million total anticipated funding.   April 7: FY 2010 NIWR-USGS Water Resources Research National Competitive Grants Program; up to $250,000 for three years, one-to-one matching funds required, $1 million total anticipated funding. April 12: Scientific Meetings for Creating Interdisciplinary Research Teams (R13); size and duration of awards will vary. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-10-106.html   May 10 (letter of intent): Centers of Research Translation (P50); up to $1 million per year (direct costs) for five years, $6 million total anticipated funding for FY2011. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AR-11-002.html ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... CALS ALUMNUS NAMED ADJUTANT GENERAL FOR NEW YORK NATIONAL GUARD Brig. Gen. Patrick Murphy (B.S., agronomy, 1982) has been appointed adjutant general for New Yorks National Guard, the eighth largest in the nation. Murphy will be responsible for the approximately 16,000 members of the New York Army and Air National Guard. Hell also oversee the 2,500 members of the New York Naval Militia and the 700 members of the state-only force, the New York Guard. ........................................................ AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE ........................................................ EDITOR Julie Stewart, jstewart@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 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 jstewart@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.