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The College of Agriculture Newsletter
Iowa State University
February 9, 1996 No. 37

C O N T E N T S

COLLEGE NEWS
- Convocation canceled; honorees recognized in fall
- Feb. 21 breakfast for college FFA students
- Register for successful grantsmanship workshop
- Spanish/Latin American culture class offered
- In-country coordinator sought for Ukraine
- Growing percentage of female ag undergrads
- Sustainable agriculture seminar series
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Transformation of the Web coming
INFOGRAZING
- Problem solvers taking cues from nature
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Reach the high-water mark each day
MARGINALIA
- Something fishy

C O L L E G E N E W S

CONVOCATION CANCELED; HONOREES RECOGNIZED IN FALL
The College of Agriculture spring convocation, which was canceled last month due to a snowstorm, will not be rescheduled. Awards that would have been announced at the convocation will be presented during an Ag Cabinet meeting. Recognition of others who received awards or honors during the year will be made at the fall convocation.

FEB. 21 BREAKFAST FOR COLLEGE FFA STUDENTS
National FFA Week is Feb. 17-24. To recognize the College of Agriculture's FFA students, faculty and staff are invited to the FFA Breakfast at 7:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 21, second floor of Curtiss Hall.

REGISTER FOR SUCCESSFUL GRANTSMANSHIP WORKSHOP
Register by Feb. 21 for the "From Theory to Measurement: Hypothesis Development and Research Design" workshop, scheduled for Feb. 26, 7-9 p.m. in the Campanile Room, Memorial Union. Space is limited. To register, contact Carla Persaud (cpersaud@iastate.edu or 4-9376) or Kathy Kuehl (kkuehl@iastate.edu or 4-1242). The workshop is part of the Successful Grantsmanship Series sponsored by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

SPANISH/LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE CLASS OFFERED
ISU's colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine and the Institute for International Cooperation on Animal Biologics are offering a Spanish language and Latin American culture class for their faculty and staff. The beginning-level class will be held 4:30-6 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, March 19 - May 9, at the College of Veterinary Medicine. For an application and more information, contact Mary de Baca, 4-1851 or mmdb@iastate.edu. Application deadline is Feb. 29.

IN-COUNTRY COORDINATOR SOUGHT FOR UKRAINE
International Agriculture Programs is seeking a graduate student or faculty member to be the in-country coordinator for the ISU/National Agriculture University of Ukraine Linkage Project in Ukraine. The position will run 3-6 months. For more information, contact Mary de Baca, 4-1851.

GROWING PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE AG UNDERGRADS
Of the College of Agriculture undergraduates enrolled last fall, 36 percent were women -- 963 of 2,654. (For all of ISU, 43 percent were women.) Ten years ago, women made up about 19 percent of college undergrads. Since 1988 there has been a cumulative increase of 759 undergraduates in the college; 542 of them have been women, according to Agriculture Student Services.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE SEMINAR SERIES
The College of Agriculture and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture are presenting a semester-long seminar series on Iowa's role in food production in the year 2020. See "Deadlines & Reminders" for upcoming topics. For more information, contact Jim Russell, 4-4631.

DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Feb. 15: National Food Production Concerns: Stable Food and Stable Agriculture - Dennis Keeney, Leopold Center, 4:10 p.m., 2050 Agronomy (sustainable agriculture seminar)
Feb. 21: FFA Breakfast, second floor, Curtiss Hall, 7:30 a.m.
Feb. 22: What Does the Iowa Public Want from the State's Agricultural Industries in 2020? - Paul Lasley, sociology, 4:10 p.m., 2050 Agronomy (sustainable agriculture seminar)
Feb. 26: From Theory to Measurement: Hypothesis Development and Experimental Design, a Successful Grantsmanship workshop, 7-9 p.m., Campanile Room

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K

TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEB COMING
Futurist Paul Saffo predicts the transformation of the Web in the next 12 months: "The Web as we know it today is dead. It's dead in two ways: because it's going to mutate into something else very quickly and be unrecognizable within 12 months, and secondly, it's dead because all it's got on it is dead information . . . Sure, there are links, but the links just lead to more dead information. It's a big information mausoleum . . . If you think about it, it's really quite bizarre. You dial into a Web page. There may be a thousand other people at that page. But the only way you even know anyone else is there is that the server is slow. The next big change is going to be finding ways to put qualities that we associate with MUDs (interactive computer games) today into Web pages so that you can interact with people." (Upside, February)

I N F O G R A Z I N G

PROBLEM SOLVERS TAKING CUES FROM NATURE
Scientists are looking to nature-based models for new ideas on problem-solving. An example: most computer virus detection programs do their virus-scouting by checking against a database of known viruses, but new viruses are being created all the time. A University of New Mexico computer scientist decided to take a lesson from the human immune system, which uses a process to develop T-cells that are highly sensitive to foreign cells invading the system. The computer program does the same thing, resulting in strings of computer code that are ultra-vigilant against the introduction of "foreign" code. When the software encounters something unfamiliar, a window pops up on the screen that says, "A change has been detected." The software then identifies the file where the suspected virus is located. "I really believe that our computer systems are so complicated, we can't use them effectively till we make them look more like biological systems," says the program's creator. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 16)

E X T E R N A L V O I C E S

REACH THE HIGH-WATER MARK EACH DAY
"I believe that any man's life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragements if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day of his life; that is, if he tries to make each day reach as nearly as possible the high-water mark of pure, unselfish, useful living." Booker T. Washington. (From the winter issue of the USDA's Office of Small-Scale Agriculture newsletter.)

M A R G I N A L I A

SOMETHING FISHY
A new mind-soothing concept from Japan: laser disc images of goldfish that glide around a high-definition screen, while a thin water tank and air pump attached to the front and sides of the monitor provide the illusion of reality. NEC will market the system to hotels, hospitals and other facilities. (Popular Science, January)

AG ONLINE

Ag Online is a biweekly newsletter for ISU College of Agriculture faculty and staff. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to bmeyer@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe: Send "Ag Online unsubscribe" to same address. Comments? Contact editors Brian Meyer (bmeyer@iastate.edu) and Ed Adcock (edadcock@iastate.edu), Agriculture Information Services, 304 Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50011. Phone: 515-294-5616. Fax: 515-294-8662.

Next issue: Feb. 23. Deadline: Feb. 19.