AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
...................................................
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Newsletter
Iowa State University
Oct. 3, 2011 No. 671
...................................................
COLLEGE NEWS
...................................................
MOORE LEADS $25 MILLION GRANT FOR LAND USE, BIOFUEL STUDY
The USDA awarded an ISU-led group a $25 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop the blueprint for using marginal farmlands to grow perennial grasses that will, in turn, provide a biomass source for a drop-in biofuel-based fuel over the next five years. The multistate interdisciplinary team is lead by Ken Moore, agronomy. More: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2011/sep/cenusa1
Â
SUKUP MANUFACTURING'S GIFT COMMITMENT TO HELP COMPLETE BIORENEWABLES COMPLEX
ISU announced a new gift commitment from Sukup Manufacturing Co. at the Sept. 30 groundbreaking for the second phase of the Biorenewables Complex. Sukup Manufacturing Co.'s gift commitment builds on the firm's initial financial support provided in 2007 and completes the private gift portion of the total project. More: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/releases/975/
CALS RECOGNIZED BY DEPARTMENT OF AG AND LAND STEWARDSHIP
CALS has received a certificate of recognition from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship for its partnership and dedication to the Iowa Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which is an initiative to develop wetlands which are strategically located using advanced computer technology and designed to remove nitrate from tile-drainage water from cropland areas.
SWINE SCIENCE ONLINE GRADUATES FIRST STUDENT
Emily Haugen is the first student to complete the distance education online program offered through the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence. Swine Science Online was launched in 2010 with the goal of having more academically trained students entering the pork industry. More: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/releases/974/
Â
LEOPOLD CENTER LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE
The Leopold Center's website has a new look and features designed to better share what's been learned from the Center's projects and partnerships. More: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/09-28-2011/leopold-center-launches-n...
Â
CALS BOOK SALE FOR UNITED WAY, OCT. 5-6Â
Two separate book sales sponsored by the college will take place on Oct. 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in 142 Curtiss Hall and Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the atrium of the Molecular Biology building. Books will be sold for $1 each, 6 books for $5, and select books 2 for $1. All proceeds go to the 2011 ISU United Way Campaign. Contact Carla Persaud with questions, cpersaud@iastate.edu , 4-1823.
Â
MAP-WORKS USER'S GROUP MEETING, OCT. 6
The CALS MAP-Works user's group has a meeting scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 6, at 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in 124 Kildee Hall. MAP-Works is an online assessment tool that helps first-year ISU students make a successful transition to the university. Contact Curt Youngs with questions, cryoungs@iastate.edu, 4-5541.
DONATE ITEMS FOR CALS UNITED WAY ONLINE AUCTION BY OCT. 7
CALS is collecting items through Oct. 7 for the second annual United Way online auction. Contact Carla Persaud at cpersaud@iastate.edu or 4-1823 with a description of your items. The college-sponsored auction will run Oct. 10-20, with proceeds going to the ISU United Way Campaign.
CALS WEEK EVENTS SCHEDULED OCT. 10-15
Students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will celebrate CALS Week beginning Oct. 10 with a Monsanto and Pork Producers luncheon, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on central campus. Iowa FFA will host an "American Meat" movie screening and panel at 5:30 p.m. in the Curtiss Auditorium. The Norman Borlaug Lecture will be at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. For a full list of the week's activities: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/features/downloads11/CALSWeek.pdf
WORLD FOOD PRIZE: NORMAN BORLAUG LECTURE OCT. 10
Pedro Sanchez, director of tropical agriculture at Columbia University's Earth Institute and an international leader in the fight against hunger, will present the 2011 Norman Borlaug Lecture on Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Sanchez was awarded the World Food Prize in 2002 for his pioneering use of agroforestry to restore fertility to some of the world's poorest and most degraded soils. More: http://www.event.iastate.edu/event/24569
WORLD FOOD PRIZE: INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR SERIES, OCT. 11-12
Two seminars are scheduled for the "Feeding the World: Are We Making Progress?" international seminar series on the ISU campus. Margaret Catley-Carlson, chair of the World Economic Forum Global Advisory Council and United Nations Secretary General Board on Water will speak on "New World of Water" on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. in the Ensminger Room, 1204 Kildee Hall. More: http://www.global.ag.iastate.edu/Fall2011Catley-Carlson.html. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate and currently the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University, will speak on "Urgent and Emerging Food Policy Challenges and Opportunities" on Oct. 12 at 10-11 a.m. in the Memorial Union Gallery Room. More: http://www.global.ag.iastate.edu/Fall2011Pinstrup-Andersen.html. Sponsors include the M.E. Ensminger International Chair in Animal Agriculture, the Raymond and Mary Baker Chair in Global Agriculture and the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods.
WORLD FOOD PRIZE: IOWA HUNGER SUMMIT OCT. 11
The fifth annual Iowa Hunger Summit will be held on Oct. 11 at the Downtown Marriott in Des Moines. The event features a hunger luncheon at noon and seminars by various groups involved in fighting hunger. The Iowa Food Access and Health Working Group, supported by the Leopold Center, will present at the event.
WORLD FOOD PRIZE: FOLLETT TO SPEAK AT ISU OCT. 11
Ron Follett, with USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Fort Collins, Colo., will speak about greenhouse gases and their relationship to crop and livestock production on Oct. 11 at 1:10 p.m. in 2020 Agronomy Hall. Follett is co-chair of a 22-member task force responsible for writing the latest task force report for the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, titled "Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities." The report will be released at the World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines on Oct. 12. More: http://www.event.iastate.edu/event/25916/
WORLD FOOD PRIZE: RELATIONSHIP OF U.S. FOOD SYSTEMS TO GLOBAL HUNGER, OCT. 13
Michael Hamm, the 2011-2012 Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Endowed Chair, will lead an open forum discussion on the relationship of U.S. food systems to global hunger on Oct. 13, 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Memorial Union Pioneer Room. Hamm is the C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at Michigan State University and head of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU.
iPAD SUBJECT OF LUNCH AND LEARN, OCT. 12
iPads will be the topic of the Brenton Center's Lunch and Learn Oct. 12, 12 p.m. in 8 Curtiss Hall. Cynthia Haynes, horticulture, will discuss her use of the iPad in the classroom. Michael Koenig, an agricultural education student, will demonstrate ScoutPro, a prize-winning iPad app his team developed for an agricultural entrepreneurship class. Pizza and refreshments will be provided. If you plan to attend, please email Amy Pilcher at apilcher@iastate.edu or 4-1862.
ERRINGTON LECTURE TO ADDRESS WORWLD FOOD ISSUES, OCT. 21
Jonathan Foley will present the Errington Memorial Lecture on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, will speak on "Feeding the World, Sustaining the Planet." Sponsors include CALS, the Department of Agronomy and the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology. More: http://www.lectures.iastate.edu/lecture/24938
CALS FACULTY, STAFF HONORED AT FALL CONVOCATION
CALS faculty and staff were honored at the University's Fall Convocation and Awards Ceremony held Sept. 26. The honorees included:
* Joel Coats, entomology, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor
* Jay-lin Jane, food science and human nutrition, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor
* Kenneth Moore, agronomy, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor
* Mary Wiedenhoeft, agronomy, Award for Academic Advising Impact
* Jesse Randall, natural resource ecology and management, Award for Early Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice
* Nicholas Howell, research and demonstration farms, Carroll Ringgenberg Award
* Mark Hoffmann, horticulture, P&S Excellence Award
* Melea Reicks Licht, agriculture and life sciences communications, P&S Excellence Award
* Michael Retallick, agricultural education and studies, Award for Early Achievement in Teaching
* Lester Wilson, food science and human nutrition, James Huntington Ellis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Introductory Teaching
* Martin Spalding, genetics, development and cell biology, Award for Departmental Leadership
* Susan Carpenter, animal science, Regents Award for Faculty Excellence
* John Downing, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, Regents Award for Faculty Excellence
* Robert Martin, agricultural education and studies, Regents Award for Faculty Excellence
* Michael Kaiser, animal science, Regents Award for Staff Excellence
* Charles Sauer, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, Regents Award for Staff Excellence
* Phil Dixon, statistics, University Professor
* W. Robert Stephenson, statistics, Louis Thompson Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award
* Tsing-Chang (Mike) Chen, geological and atmospheric sciences, and agronomy, International Service Award
* Joel DeJong, extension field agronomist, ISU R.K. Bliss Extension Award
ENDOWED POSITIONS RECOGNIZED AT FALL CONVOCATION
Faculty appointed in the past year to named professorships, chairs and deanships were recognized at the University's Fall Convocation and Awards Ceremony last week. They included:
* Christina Campbell, food science and human nutrition, Sandra S. and Roy W. Uelner Professorship
* Robert Horton, agronomy, Pioneer Hi-Bred Agronomy Professor
* Steve Mickelson, agricultural and biosystems engineering, Charles R. and Jane F. Olsen Professorship in Engineering
* Jodi Sterle, animal science, Eldred and Donna Harmon Professorship for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
OCTOBER ISSUE OF LEOPOLD NEWSLETTER ONLINE
The October issue of Notes from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture is available online at http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/notes.
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
Oct. 11: Open forum to review governance document, 10 a.m., Memorial Union Campanile Room, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/facultystaff/governance/
Oct. 11: Tom Vilsack to speak on global food insecurity, 5 p.m., Memorial Union South Ballroom, http://www.lectures.iastate.edu/lecture/26096
...................................................
EXTERNAL FUNDING
...................................................
FUNDING INFORMATION, OPPORTUNITIES AND DEADLINE REMINDERS
Dates listed are application deadlines. Contact: Roxanne Clemens, rclemens@iastate.edu
Additional information is posted at CALS Funding Resources, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/research/fundingResources/
Nov. 8: EPA Environmental Education Sub-Grants Program, one $150,000 award in each EPA region to administer $5,000 sub-grants, 25 percent cost share. More: http://www.epa.gov/education/grants.html
Nov. 16: Migratory Bird Conservation in the Upper Midwest, $3,000 to $50,000. More: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=124573
Nov. 17: USDA NIFA Community Foods Projects Competitive Grant Program; three types of grants, $25,000 to $500,000 over three years, lead PI must be a private nonprofit entity, universities can partner. More: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=123793
Nov. 17 (letter of intent): Discovery Research K-12 (DRK-12). More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=500047
Nov. 22: USDA-NIFA Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program; $250,000 per year over three years. More: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=124393
Nov. 22 (letter of intent): Small Business Innovation Research to Develop New Methods and Technologies able to Identify Individuals at Risk of Developing Type 1 Diabetes [T1D] (R43). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-11-024.html
Dec. 5: DOE Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing: Scientific Computation Application Partnerships in Earth Systems Science (climate modeling); two to five partnerships, $6.5 million total anticipated funding. More: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=123413
Dec. 12 (letter of intent): NIH Director's Transformative Research Awards (R01). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-006.html
Feb. 1: Sustainable Energy Pathways (limited submission, three per organization). More: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2011/nsf11590/nsf11590.htm?WT.mc_ev=click
...................................................
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
...................................................
PUBLISHER TO REVIVE OUT-OF-PRINT BOOKS
Bloomsbury Publishing has announced a new digital global publisher called the Bloomsbury Reader. E-book and print-on-demand versions of books out of print will be offered, including titles by or of interest to scholars. The publishing director said they are open to suggestions by readers. More: http://chronicle.com/blogs/pageview/bloomsbury-debuts-new-imprint-to-rev...
Â
...................................................
INFOGRAZING
...................................................
KRISS TO SPEAK AT P&S OPEN FORUM, OCT. 5
A P&S open forum will be held Wednesday, Oct. 5, 12 to 1 p.m. in the Memorial Union Gallery. Cathann Kress, vice president for ISU Extension and Outreach, will speak on how Extension can support and manage the impact of the university across the state of Iowa and what this means for P&S staff throughout the university. More: http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/
Â
NEW NAME FOR DIETETICS ASSOCIATION
The American Dietetic Association will change its name effective January 2012 to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. They work to improve the nation's health and advance the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. More: http://www.eatright.org/Media/content.aspx?id=6442465361
OCTOBER IS AMERICAN ARCHIVES MONTH
The ISU Library's Special Collections Department (which includes the University Archives) is a resource for the ISU community and beyond. The rare collections, which are open and available to all visitors, include photographs, manuscript materials such as diaries, and artifacts and records documenting university history. The papers of George Washington Carver, the original letter by Jack Trice and suffrage buttons belonging to Carrie Chapman Catt are included. There is also a special emphasis on the history of agriculture, with collections documenting ISU Extension and 4-H, organizations such as the Center for Rural Affairs, and the personal papers of the Garst family. The department receives more than 700 visits and requests per month, and is working to digitize high priority collections and make materials available online:
http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/index.html.
...................................................
INTERNAL VOICES
...................................................
SCHWAB ON STAYING SAFE DURING HARVEST SEASON
"Safety is a decision. Accidents usually happen when you're in a rush and do something you normally wouldn't do." Charles Schwab, agricultural and biosystems engineering, offers suggestions for staying safe during harvest in the Sept. 28 issue of the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman.
...................................................
EXTERNAL VOICES
...................................................
THE DOWNSIDE OF EXPERIENCE
"No doubt I am in the process of becoming my father and grandfather. I just wish it weren't happening in full view of my students." Rob Jenkins, associate professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College, in a column on teaching for The Chronicle of Higher Education. More: http://chronicle.com/blogs/onhiring/the-downside-of-experience/29559?sid...
........................................................
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."
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IowaStateU.AgLifeSciences
Twitter: http://twitter.com/iastate_cals
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, 3280 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.