Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

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COLLEGE NEWS
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STUDENT SELF ASSESSMENT TOPIC OF AGCOMM WORKSHOP
The next AgComm workshop will feature student self-assessment tools. The session is set for noon to 1:15 p.m. Nov. 15 in Room 8, Brenton Center. The workshop includes a light lunch. RSVP Cheryl Abrams, 4-5872 or cabrams@iastate.edu.

BLOCK AND BRIDLE CLUB SELLING SAUSAGE AND CHEESE
Members of the Block and Bridle Club are selling cheese and sausage now until Dec. 7. The club also will be selling items from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Curtiss Hall rotunda. Holiday gift boxes which include blocks of cheese and/or sausage are available from $12 to $18. All sausage is made in the ISU Meat Lab. There is a 10 percent discount on all orders of 25 boxes or more. Order forms are available at 120 Kildee Hall. Contact: ssc@iastate.edu or 4-1865.

AGROECOLOGY ISSUE TEAM AWARDED COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION CERTIFICATE
The White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation Certificate was awarded last month to Agroecology Issue Team members during the Bear Creek National Research and Buffer Site Tour at the Trees Forever Annual Meeting Celebration. The certificate of recognition for achieving results through cooperative conservation was profiled at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in August. The team’s 16-year effort at identifying effective native perennial plant communities for riparian management that lead to sustainable aquatic ecosystems helped the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service develop national buffer standards. The effort also provided the foundation for the Iowa Buffer Initiative.

P & S COUNCIL PRESENTS RECRUITMENT GRANTS
The P&S Council’s Retention and Recruitment Committee recently awarded 15 grants including two proposals from the College of Agriculture. Grants were chosen to help create innovate ways to increase retention and recruitment. Nina Grant, minority liaison officer, was awarded $3,500 for the “Guaranteed 4.0 Workshops.” The workshops will target at-risk upper-class students of color. Beth Foreman, student services specialist, was awarded $3,325 for “This is Agriculture?” The program will be a collaborative effort between field extension staff and the College to expand high school students’ perceptions of agriculture. More: http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/RandRgrants05.html

FOUR COLLEGE FACULTY AWARDED BIOTECH RESEARCH GRANTS
Iowa State's Office of Biotechnology has awarded $500,000 to newly hired biotechnology faculty members who will use the funds to establish research programs at Iowa State. The five awards were made through the faculty recruitment program. Four of the five awards went to faculty with College of Agriculture appointments: Lyric Bartholomay, entomology; Jeffrey Essner, genetics, development and cell biology; Jeanne Serb, ecology, evolution and organismal biology; and Michael Spurlock, food science and human nutrition and animal science.

LECTURE NOV. 29 ON CIVILIZATION’S SUSTAINABILITY
The Canadian researcher who helped develop the ecological footprint analysis will discuss the sustainability of human civilization at a Nov. 29 lecture at Iowa State. William Rees, professor and former director of the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, will present "Is Humanity Sustainable?" at 7 p.m. in 207 Marston Hall. His visit is sponsored by the ISU Bioethics Program and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

RESEARCHERS SOUGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN FUNDING RENEWAL
National Institutes of Health funding for the Iowa Center for Botanical Supplement Research will undergo competitive renewal in fall 2006. Scientists are invited to join with the Iowa Botanical Center’s faculty participants in competing to participate in the renewal. Anyone who is not presently affiliated with the Center, who wishes to participate, is asked to contact Diane Birt, center director, at dbirt@iastate.edu by Dec. 1.

GRAD STUDENT RECEIVES CLUB’S INTERNATIONAL AWARD
The Iowa State University Women’s Club has presented this year’s International Award to Mona Othman, a graduate student in agricultural education and studies. The award is for her contributions to Iowa State and the Ames community and her efforts to advance the welfare of women in the United States and around the world.

EXTENSION COMMUNICATIONS UNIT AHEAD OF THE CURVE
ISU Extension is podcasting video from its Gardening in the Zone programs, one of the first educational units in the nation to do so. The podcasts started in September and include topics about hydrangeas, flower judging, sunflowers, winter strawberry care and bats. Other programs include a feature program about eagles in Iowa and a look back by Stan Johnson, the retiring vice provost of extension. Podcasting offers a tool to reach a broader audience and promote Iowa State Extension programs. To view the video or audio podcasts, go to iTunes and search for Iowa State University. (For more on podcasting, see Communications Kiosk below)

FINALISTS IN EXTENSION VICE PROVOST SEARCH ON CAMPUS THIS WEEK
Two finalists in the search for the next vice provost for extension at Iowa State will be in Ames this week. They are Jack Payne, vice president for university extension at Utah State University, Logan, and Frederick (Ted) Stilwill, director of learning for The Environmental Project, Coralville. A third finalist, Linda Jo Turner, director of 4-H Youth Development programs for University of Missouri Extension, Columbia, withdrew her name from consideration last week. Stilwill will be on campus Nov. 8 and Payne on Nov. 10. Details: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2005/oct/122601.htm

DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
Nov. 9: Daniel Householder, National Science Foundation program director, “Technologists in a Flat World,” Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Centennial Distinguished Speaker Series, 4 p.m., 101 Industrial Education II
Nov. 14: Fifth Annual Iowa Organic Conference, Scheman Building, more: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2005/oct/031201.htm
Nov. 15: Deadline for applying for most College of Agriculture and university awards, more: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/agcoll/awards.html
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COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
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PODCASTING YOUR MESSAGE
Podcasting is a means of distributing audio and video programs via the Internet that lets users subscribe to a number of files, also known as "feeds", and then hear or view the material anytime they choose. A feed is usually in the MP3 audio format. Podcasting became popular in late 2004 with the spread of free software that enabled automatic downloading of audio MP3 files onto computers and mobile MP3 players. "Podcasting" is distinct from other types of online media delivery because of its subscription model, rather than one-time delivery. A series of files are delivered because subscribers want to get the information regularly. The word "Podcast" is often incorrectly used to describe any Web link to a media-player-compatible audio file. Some radio personalities post MP3 versions of their shows and call them podcasts even though they offer no subscription feed.

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INFOGRAZING
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PRE-PROPOSALS SOUGHT FOR NSF COMPETITION
The College of Agriculture seeks pre-proposals for the internal competition for the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation Program. The pre-proposals should be submitted to Joe Colletti, senior associate dean, by 5 p.m. Nov. 14. The college will select three pre-proposals to be forwarded to the Office of Vice Provost for Research for further review to select the ones that will be submitted to NSF. Program solicitation is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=NSF05515. Contacts: Colletti, 4-1823 or colletti@iastate.edu, and Elena Polush, 4-8493 or elenap@iastate.edu.

SENIORS SOUGHT FOR ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARD
The ISU Alumni Association seeks nominations of Iowa State seniors for the 2006 Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award. The deadline to receive nominations is by 5 p.m. Dec. 1. The Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award was established in 1968 to recognize outstanding ISU seniors who display high character, outstanding achievements in academics and university/community activities and promise for continuing these exemplary qualities as alumni. Two to five awards are granted annually and will be conferred in the spring at the Student Scholars and Leaders Recognition Ceremony. Nomination forms for the Barron award are available online at: http://www.isualum.org/services/AWARDS/nominate.html#barron. Contact: Breck Breitsprecher, 4-1955 or bbreitsp@alumni.iastate.edu.

RURAL AMERICA REPORT RELEASED
“Rural America At A Glance” has been released by the Economic Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. It looks at current indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural people and their communities. A high and low resolution PDF of the report are available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB4/EIB4_lowres.pdf and http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB4/EIB4.pdf.

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EXTERNAL VOICES
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PRAISE FOR COLLEGE’S STUDENTS
“These students have outstanding work ethic and understand personal responsibilities. I know the work will get done and it will get done well.”
--Rich Armstrong, Steuart and Armstrong Consulting Inc., in a story about Iowa State’s Ag Career Day in Farm News

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MARGINALIA
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AVOID PHARMING AT ALL COSTS
Pharming is a relatively new term that joins phishing to describe methods used to steal personal information from unsuspecting people over the Internet, according to the New York Times. Pharming tampers with the domain-name server system so that traffic to a Web site is secretly redirected to a different site altogether, even though the browser seems to be displaying the Web address you wanted to visit. Phishing typically involves fraudulent bulk e-mail messages that guide recipients to legitimate-looking but fake Web sites and tries to get them to supply personal information like account passwords. To help avoid pharming, make sure the Web site has a valid certificate of authority, from a service like VeriSign, that matches the site's name before you enter any personal data. (New York Times, Nov. 3)


Next issue: Nov. 14

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AG ONLINE
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EDITOR
Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/

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Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."

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