...................................................
AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
...................................................
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Newsletter
Iowa State University
Aug. 9, 2010 No. 614
...................................................
COLLEGE NEWS
...................................................
PROJECT LEA/RN WORKSHOP OFFERED AUG. 18-19
A Project LEA/RN workshop for faculty and graduate students is being offered on Aug. 18-19 (attendance of both days required). Higher education educators are highly qualified in specific curricular areas, but few have had formal training related to theories of learning and teaching. Even fewer have studied current brain research or explored the potential applications of that research. Through this workshop, you have the opportunity to discuss learning and teaching theories and brain research. You will receive help in applying your new understandings in situations where you lead learning. Your classrooms, meetings, orientation sessions or any other learning situations for which you are responsible will become lab settings where you can purposefully plan to make your leadership even more effective for improving student learning. This workshop is sponsored by CALS and the Department of Agronomy with enrollment limited to 20 participants. Deadline for registration is Wednesday, Aug. 11. To register or for more information contact Jan Wiersema, janw@iastate.edu, 4-4030.
OWEN TESTIFIES ON HERBICIDE-RESISTANT WEEDS
Micheal Owen, agronomy, testified before the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, within the Committee on Oversight and Government reform of the U.S. House of Representatives, on July 28. As a member of the Committee on the Impact of Biotechnology on Farm-Level Economics and Sustainability, part of the National Research Council, Owen spoke on herbicide-resistant weeds in genetically engineered crops.
FARM PROGRESS SHOW DISPLAY ENCOURAGES WORKING TOGETHER TO CARE FOR OUR LAND
The Department of Agronomy, ISU Extension and the College of Design have created an interactive educational display at the Iowa State hoop building for the Farm Progress Show near Boone, Aug. 31 through Sept. 2. Displays will provide sensory experiences around the full crop production cycle as it relates to soil.
BORLAUG LEGACY LIVES ON THROUGH CALS INTERNSHIP
Mary Foell, senior in public service and administration in agriculture, spent her summer creating a curriculum that teaches Norman Borlaug's legacy. Foell is the Borlaug Scholar Award and Internship recipient, made possible by CALS and the ISU Agricultural Endowment.
ALLEE RESEARCH FARM FIELD DAY TO BE HELD AUG. 20
The Allee Research and Demonstration Farm near Newell will hold its annual field day on Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Extension agronomists Mark Licht and Paul Kassel are coordinating the event, which will address pertinent issues of the current crop season as well as ongoing interest in emerging agricultural technologies.
NEELY-KINYON FIELD DAY TO BE HELD AUG. 25
The Neely-Kinyon Research and Demonstration Farm Field Day will be held Aug. 25 at 12 p.m. Presentations will cover corn and soybean production issues, beef and cow-calf management practices, miscanthus production as a biomass crop, and ongoing research projects at the Neely-Kinyon Farm. More: http://www.wallacefdn.org/
WEB FEATURE ON CORN GENOMICS TOUR ON CALS HOMEPAGE
On July 1, the Iowa Corn Growers Association visited campus as part of a "Biotech Tour" of ISU corn genetics research organized by maize geneticist and ISU Baker Professor of Agronomy Patrick Schnable. A web feature on that tour is now available on the CALS homepage. Ten ICGA members attended the tour, which Schnable said he organized to highlight corn genomics research at Iowa State and speak on the importance of funding new work to help interpret corn DNA. The day included research presentations; visits to campus labs and a corn genetics greenhouse; and a field trip to the USDA North Central Regional Plant Introduction station in Ames.
HORTICULTURE PROFESSOR PRESENTED NATIONAL TEACHING AWARD
Ann Marie VanDerZanden, horticulture, received the 2010 Outstanding Undergraduate Educator Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science at its annual conference Aug. 2.
TWEDT HONORED AT ALL HORTICULTURE FIELD DAY
Gary Twedt received the Distinguished Service to Iowa Horticulture Award at the second annual All Horticulture Field Day on July 29. Twedt is the golf superintendent at the Ottumwa Country Club where he has worked for the past 18 years. He received the award for his work with Iowa horticulture and the Iowa State Horticulture Society.
AG DISCOVERY PROVIDES SCIENCE EXPERIENCE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Iowa State became a learning lab for 12 high school students from across the United States for two weeks in July. Rebecca Christoffel, natural resource ecology and management assistant professor, helped coordinate activities that introduced students to bacteriology, hematology, embryology, wildlife ecology and veterinary diagnostic procedures. This is the first year Iowa State has hosted the Ag Discovery program in partnership with the U. S. Department of Agriculture Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service. More: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/agdiscovery/
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
Aug. 16: Pre-proposal deadline for Leopold Center's 2010 RFP, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2010/062810_rfp.html
Aug. 25: Register for ISU tours to be held during Farm Progress Show
Sept. 7: CALS Fall Convocation, 4 p.m. in the Sun Room, Memorial Union.
...................................................
EXTERNAL FUNDING
...................................................
FUNDING INFORMATION, OPPORTUNITIES AND DEADLINE REMINDERS
Dates listed are application deadlines. Contact: Roxanne Clemens, rclemens@iastate.edu
Aug. 30: Brookdale Leadership in Aging Fellowship Program; $125,000 per year for two years.
Sept. 1 (center preproposals), Sept. 3 (team preproposals): NSF Materials Research Centers and Teams; limited submission "“ one proposal as lead institution, 16 to 22 awards, $36 million total anticipated funding. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5295&WT.mc_id=USNSF_39
Sept. 1: Children, Youth and Families at Risk 4-H Military Partnership; $500,000 per year for three years.
Sept. 1: Research on the Economic Impact of Cooperatives; one award, $492,000.
Sept. 7 (concept papers to Dorothy Pimlott dpimlott@iastate.edu): Burroughs Wellcome Fund "“ Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease; $100,000 per year for five years.
Sept. 30 (white papers): Dept. of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative; $1 to $1.5 million per year, $230 million total anticipated funding over five years.
Sept. 27 (letter of intent): NIH Common Fund Transformative Research Projects Program (R01) Grant; $1 million in direct costs for projects up to five years, $25 million total anticipated funding for FY 2011. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-10-010.html
Oct. 1: NSF Sensors and Sensing Systems. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13349
Dec. 6 (letter of intent): Effects of the Social Environment on Health: Measurement, Methods and Mechanisms (R01); eight to nine new projects totaling approximately $24 million over the next five years. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DA-11-003.html
...................................................
INFOGRAZING
...................................................
INTERNAL SEARCH FOR DIRECTOR OF PLANT SCIENCES INSTITUTE
The ISU Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development is conducting an internal search for the director of the Plant Sciences Institute. The position is open to appropriately qualified tenured faculty at ISU. The proposed start date is Sept. 15. Bill Beavis, agronomy, has been serving as interim director since September 2009. See the vacancy announcement on the ISU jobs website, with vacancy identification number 100496.
SAUER PROVIDES KEYNOTE FOR TREES FOREVER SYMPOSIUM, SEPT. 9
Tom Sauer, research soil scientist for the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment on campus, will provide the morning keynote at the 2010 Trees Forever Trees and Water Quality Symposium on Sept. 9 at Moline, Ill. He will present on the importance of integrating trees into agriculture.
COLLEGE STUDENTS "“ AGRICULTURE NEEDS YOUR VOICE
The Animal Agriculture Alliance is again offering College Aggies Online, a program developed in partnership with American National CattleWomen, Inc. to help college students become confident advocates for the agriculture industry. Students who join will discuss current and emerging issues facing farmers and ranchers with other young agriculturists from across the country. More
BURNS BEGINS NEW POST AS UT EXTENSION ASSISTANT DEAN
Robert Burns, a former professor in ISU's agricultural biosystems engineering department, has been named assistant dean for University of Tennessee Extension. He will oversee seven departments within UT Extension and will work with the Tennessee Center for Profitable Agriculture and the Soil, Plant and Pest Center located at the Ellington Agricultural Center.
...................................................
INTERNAL VOICES
...................................................
INTERN WORKS ON CURRICULUM TO CONTINUE BORLAUG LEGACY
"This is an important internship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I can share Borlaug's important lesson of giving to others without recognition, which is something I hope to do in my personal and professional life. Borlaug's legacy will continue to live on though he is no longer with us." Mary Foell, senior in public service and administration in agriculture, and recipient of the Borlaug Scholar Award and Internship, has been living in Cresco this summer, approximately 15 miles north of the Norman Borlaug Childhood Farm, and is working out of the Howard County Extension office. Foell is creating a curriculum to teach students about Borlaug's work before they visit his boyhood farm.
...................................................
MARGINALIA
...................................................
A BLENDED LIBRARIAN TALKS INFORMATION LITERACY
It will surprise very few people to learn that having grown up in a computer age does not make today's students automatically savvy consumers of electronic resources. Mark McBride, a "blended librarian" at Buffalo State College of the State University of New York, says, "If they find a need for it, they don't really evaluate it, they just start using it." A blended librarian combines traditional reference skills with hardware and software know-how and an interest in applying them to curriculum development and teaching. McBride teaches a course where the goal is not just to teach college students how and where to find information, but how to weigh it"”what counts as a reliable source and what doesn't.
........................................................
AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
........................................................
EDITOR
Julie Stewart, jstewart@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 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.