Issue: 713

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AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
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The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Newsletter
Iowa State University
Aug. 13, 2012 No. 713

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COLLEGE NEWS
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ATTENTION CALS AUTHORS: TEXTBOOKS NEEDED ASAP
One of the displays in the new student services wing in Curtiss Hall will feature textbooks written by the college's faculty. We need more books this week. If you have a textbook or other book you've written for use in the classroom or lab, please contact Barb McBreen at barbmc@iastate.edu, 4-0707 or drop it off in 304 Curtiss.

ATTENTION: ROOM CHANGES IN CURTISS HALL
For advisers, faculty, staff and others directing students and visitors to Curtiss Hall, please note that due to construction several offices have moved. New room numbers include:
Student Services "“ 0020 (formerly 33)
Career Services "“ 0015 (formerly 141)
Research and Demonstration Farms "“ 141 (formerly 32)
Study Abroad "“ 0018 (formerly 111)
Global Programs "“ 0018 (formerly 104)

REGENTS OK DESIGNS FOR HANSEN AG STUDENT LEARNING CENTER
Last week the Board of Regents approved schematic designs for the new Jeff and Deb Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center, located on land south of campus now used by the Department of Animal Science's equine program. The facility will include an indoor 125-foot-by-250-foot arena with seating for 1,000 people, a set of classrooms and a conference room. The center will be used for courses, labs, training programs, student club and judging team activities, and public events. All but $300,000 of the $7.3 million budget is covered by private gifts, including the Hansens' lead gift of $2 million. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 1 and construction could begin in late fall.

RESEARCH ON WATER QUALITY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARD
The Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis will be awarded to ISU faculty members for their work on water quality preservation and restoration at the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association annual meeting, Aug. 12-14 in Seattle, Wash. Joe Herriges, Cathy Kling and Dan Otto, economics; John Downing, ecology, evolution and organismal biology; and Kevin Egan, former ISU economics grad student, will be recognized for their collective work on "Assessing the Value of Water Quality Preservation and Restoration: The Iowa Lakes and Rivers Projects." More: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/releases/1032/

NOE TO SPEAK AT 140 CHARACTERS CONFERENCE, AUG. 17
Stacey Noe, Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative, will present at the 140 Characters Conference on Friday, Aug. 17, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Scheman Building. The 140 Characters Conference provides a platform for the worldwide twitter community to listen, connect, share and engage with each other while collectively exploring the effects of the emerging real-time internet on business. Cost is $10. More: http://140conf.com/AgIowa

AUG. 21 WEBINAR LOOKS AT GRAIN QUALITY DURING DROUGHT
Iowa crop and livestock producers are invited to attend an Iowa State University Extension and Outreach webinar Aug. 21 to learn about grain quality issues and marketing options related to drought. County extension offices will be hosting the webinar, which begins at 1 p.m. There is no charge to attend. More: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/aug-21-webinar-looks-grain-qual...

FARMER ENTREPRENEUR PANEL DISCUSSION, SEPT. 12
A Farmer Entrepreneur Panel Discussion will be held Sept. 12 in the Memorial Union Campanile Room. Organized by CALS and the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative and sponsored by the Farm Credit Bank of Texas and the Nancy Pellett Fund, the panel will bring together successful farm operators, agricultural business owners and students to create a unique dialogue regarding the future of production agriculture, the opportunities for value creation and innovation in operations, and the family dynamic that is a part of Midwest farming. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a reception for guests and entrepreneurs, followed by the panel discussion. Registration is free but limited. Interested students, faculty and staff should contact Carly Cummings (carlyc@iastate.edu) by 4 p.m. on Sept. 5.

TWO STUDENTS NAMED FEED ENERGY EXCELLENCE IN AG SCHOLARS
Feed Energy of Des Moines has named two ISU students as scholarship recipients in its 2012 Excellence in Ag Scholarship Program. Bethany Olson, agricultural business and international agriculture with a minor in agronomy,Â and Colin Hurd, agricultural studies with a minor in general business,Â will each receive a $2,500 scholarship from Feed Energy for the 2012-13 school year. More: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/releases/1031/

NORTHEY FEATURED IN IOWA LEARNING FARMS AUG. 15 WEBINAR
The Iowa Learning Farms' Aug. 15 webinar will feature a conversation with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey at 11:30 a.m. at the Iowa State Fair. The interview will cover a variety of issues including the state of agriculture today and what the future holds for Iowa farmers.Â More: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/iowa-learning-farms-august-webi...

SAFETY NETS WON'T HELP LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS
Some of the key safety nets that benefit crop farmers dealing with this year's scorching drought won't help livestock producers who have been saddled with high feed costs and growing uncertainty, according to Chad Hart and Lee Schulz, economics. Crop insurance doesn't help cattle or swine producers while high corn prices make it more expensive for farmers to feed their herds. More: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/08/08/livestockdrought

SCHWAB ON MINIMIZING RISK OF HARVEST TIME FIRES
Harvest is a prime time for agricultural fires, even when the weather has not been warm and dry. Chuck Schwab, agricultural and biosystems engineering, said there are several ways farmers can minimize the risk of harvest time fires. More: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/focus-fires-2012-harvest

DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
Aug. 14: 16th Century North American Agriculture, 7 p.m., 1148 Gerdin Auditorium, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/releases/1029/
Sept. 4: CALS Convocation, 4:10 p.m., Memorial Union Sun Room.

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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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TRAVEL SUPPORT TO ATTEND GENOMICS CONFERENCE
Genomics research trainees (graduate students, postdocs and clinical fellows) are invited to submit poster abstracts for the conference Genomics: The Power and the Promise, Nov. 27-28, in Ottawa, Canada. Individuals whose abstracts are selected for presentation will receive travel awards to cover the cost of travel, hotel and registration. Poster abstracts are due by Sept. 4. More: http://goo.gl/9ncIe

BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR 2013 FELLOWSHIPS
Bioversity International is offering two Fellowships, for up to $20,000 each, for research on a wide range of biophysical, economic and social themes related to the conservation and use of genetic resources in developing countries. Multi-disciplinary research is particularly encouraged. Applicants should be nationals of low and medium income countries, and the research can be carried out in any country in the world. Applications are due by Nov. 11. More: http://goo.gl/hXUyu

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/

Aug. 29 (letter of intent): NOAA Climate Program Office FY 2013 Climate and Atmospheric Research. More: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=190933

Aug. 31 and Dec. 31: Iowa Energy Center Technology Demonstration and Education Grants; $25,000. More: http://www.iowaenergycenter.org/grant-funding/competitive-grants/

Aug. 31: State Soil Conservation Committee Research and Demonstration Grant Program; up to $75,000 per award over three years. More: http://goo.gl/8IIh7

Sept. 1: Abe Fellowship for International Multidisciplinary Research on Topics of Pressing Global Concern; U.S.-Japan, social sciences. More: http://www.ssrc.org/fellowships/abe-fellowship/

Sept. 12 (letter of intent): NSF Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research. More: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504790&WT.mc_ev=click

Sept. 13 (white paper): Semiconductor Research Corp. Global Research Collaboration Emerging Technologies in Materials, Processes and Devices; Design and Tools for Future Systems and Technologies. More: http://www.src.org/compete/grc/

Oct. 5: NIH Functions of Skeletal Muscle beyond Contraction (R01). More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-208.html

Oct. 12 (letter of intent): NIH Understanding the Functions of Uncharacterized Genes in Infectious Disease Pathogens (U19); three to five awards, $7.1 million total funding. More: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AI-12-028.html

Oct. 17: 2013 NIH Director's New Innovator Award Program (DP2); 33 awards, $300,000 direct costs over five years. More: http://goo.gl/cL19f

Oct. 19 (letter of intent): NIH Development and Application of Systems Approaches for Analyzing the Impact of Genomic Variation on Tissue Transcriptomes (R01). More: http://goo.gl/rPQzj

Oct. 20 (letter of intent): NSF Small Business Technology Transfer Program Phase I (STTR); applicants must qualify as small businesses, 25 awards, $225,000 per award. More: http://goo.gl/hDtJJ

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COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
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EXPLAIN YOUR STRATEGY FOR COMMUNICATING WELL
The problem many people have with communication platforms and devices is one of managing expectations "“ our own as well as others'. Jason B. Jones, a professor of English at Central Connecticut State University, offered some suggestions in an article for the August 5 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Have an email strategy and explain that strategy and your expectations to students and others. "Students abhor a communication vacuum. If you don't tell them how you manage email or social media, they will have no way of guessing. Include in your syllabus a statement about how best to communicate with you, and when they can expect to hear back." More: http://chronicle.com/article/Youve-Got-MailBetter/133305/?cid=at&utm_sou...

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INFOGRAZING
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ISU A CHARTER SUBSCRIBER TO AGRICULTURE DIGITAL COLLECTION
The Parks Library is one of the charter subscribers to ACSESS Digital Library, a full-text collection related to agriculture. The collection is still partially in development. The plans are for it to contain all publications (books, journal articles, data sets and conference proceedings) from the Soil Science Society of America, the Crop Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy. The Journal of Animal Science will also be added in the next few months. More: http://www.lib.iastate.edu/news-article/2025/100680

A FARMERS GUIDE TO PICK-YOUR-OWN OPERATIONS
The University of Tennessee Extension Center for Profitable Agriculture published "A Farmer's Guide to a Pick-Your-Own Operation" this spring. PYO operations have recently benefited from food industry trends including consumers seeking a greater sense of connection to their food, and perception of self-harvested crops as affordable and high quality. More: https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1802.pdf

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INTERNAL VOICES
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WINTERSTEEN ON AG RESEARCH AS A GAME-CHANGER FOR ECONOMY
"Investing public and private resources into agricultural research can be a game-changer for the state and national economy. Although dry conditions are a threat to crop fields this summer, the perennial number-one threat to the Iowa Soybean industry is cyst nematodes. A recent and dramatic example demonstrates how science is combating this yield-robbing menace," said CALS Dean Wendy Wintersteen in a letter in the Aug. 8 edition of the Ames Tribune. More:Â http://www.amestrib.com/sections/opinion/letters/letter-ag-science-confr...

HARL ON DROUGHT, HEAT WAVE OF 1936
The 2012 drought is severe and will be an economic hardship. But to know the true struggle against relentless cruelties of Mother Nature during drought, we must look back 76 years to find the worst summer in Iowa history. "Weather was the dominant feature of our existence. We were just trying to survive," said Neil Harl, 78, an ISU professor of agriculture and economics who was just shy of three years old in the summer of 1936. More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-08-12/iowa-midwest-drough...

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MARGINALIA
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A WHOLE LOT OF BACON
"There will be bacon. A whole lot of bacon. I'm telling you this now so that you'll be ready. When the Iowa State Fair kicks off, you'll witness all manner of handwringing about the eating habits of my people, the Iowans, and this year's most noteworthy debutante, the Double Bacon Corn Dog. But she is a fine, fine baby. And we don't really [care] what other people say. We don't. Because we get to eat a weenie wrapped in bacon, then dipped in corn-dog batter infused with more bacon. And they don't." Jennifer Wilson, a native Iowan, writing in an Aug. 7 blog for Esquire. More: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/double-bacon-corn-dog-iowa-114...

A WHOLE LOT OF HEALTHY FAIR CHOICES, WITH AN APP
The Iowa State Fair offersÂ aÂ bounty of food choices for 11 days, with many options available fried, on a stick, or a combination of both. But fair goers looking for healthier alternatives, or who want to track their calories and activity to balance their day, can turn to a new app available for the iPhone and as a mobile website. The Food Finder app was developed by the Des Moines Register and sponsored by ISU Extension and Outreach. More: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/food-finder-app-helps-fair-goer...

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AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE
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EDITOR
Julie Stewart
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/

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