Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- Freshman scholarships in agriculture awarded



- More ag students taking study-abroad programs



- What's new in the College of Agriculture?



- Agriculture in Action column available by Web, e-mail



- Microbiology club hosts 60 high school students



- Assistance available for ISU entrepreneurs



- Pre-proposals due on animal, poultry waste research



- Deadlines & Reminders



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Do as I say, not as I do



INFOGRAZING



- UCAP director provides overview of irradiation



- Target biodiversity hot spots, study says



EXTERNAL VOICES



- USDA programs on 'corporate welfare' list



- Decline in federal support for ag research decried



MARGINALIA



- Situation normal, all flubbered up







C O L L E G E N E W S







FRESHMAN SCHOLARSHIPS IN AGRICULTURE AWARDED



The College of Agriculture has awarded 46 freshman scholarships

to students who will be entering ISU next fall. The scholarships

total more than $73,000. They include 10 Scholarships for Excellence

in Agriculture, which provide in-state tuition for four years.

Later this semester, upperclassmen scholarships will be awarded.





MORE STUDY-ABROAD PROGRAMS ATTRACTING AG STUDENTS



In 1995-96, 46 students took part in seven study-abroad programs

offered in the College of Agriculture. In the current academic

year, 89 students have been involved in 17 study-abroad opportunities.

For more information: International Agriculture Programs, 4-8454.





WHAT'S NEW IN THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE?



A recent addition to the college's home page is a "What's

New" section. It will keep Web visitors informed of college

news and activities, and changes on the Web. The page is updated

regularly and provides direct links to Ag Online and the weekly

Agriculture in Action column (see item below). You can find "What's

New" from the college home page: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/

If you have information of interest to a college-wide audience

for "What's New," e-mail it to Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu.





AG IN ACTION COLUMN AVAILABLE BY WEB, E-MAIL



A weekly news column produced by Ag Information Services observed

its first anniversary this month. "Agriculture in Action...Notes

from ISU" was started last February as another way to reach

the public with college news. Each week, writer Susan Anderson

highlights an activity, program or person in the college. The

column is distributed to 160 news media. Each Wednesday it's placed

on Ag Information's Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/

You also can receive it via e-mail by contacting Anderson, sander@iastate.edu.





MICROBIOLOGY CLUB HOSTS 60 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS



Today the undergraduate Microbiology Club is hosting its second

workshop for high school science students. Sixty students from

nine high schools were expected. The club normally holds one workshop

a year, but added a second when response to its fall workshop

was overwhelming. Club members lead lab sessions and presentations,

including a DNA murder mystery. Faculty members also give presentations

and hold mini-workshops for teachers who accompany the students.

The high school students tour campus and leave with an ISU Microbiology

Club "Biohazard" mug. For more information: Joan Cunnick,

club adviser, jcunnick@iastate.edu, 4-2070.



ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE FOR ISU ENTREPRENEURS



The ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship aims to increase

the number, and skills, of entrepreneurial faculty, staff and

students. An overview of the center was presented at a forum for

agriculture faculty and staff last month. A few of the center's

programs: a free practical intellectual property law seminar on

March 21 at the Scheman Building; a summer camp for high school

students interested in agriculture and veterinary medicine; an

entrepreneurship and innovation class taught this semester. If

you have ideas or need information, call Steve Carter or Judi

Nielsen, 296-7828.



PRE-PROPOSALS DUE ON ANIMAL, POULTRY WASTE RESEARCH



March 10 is the deadline for pre-proposals on research projects

focusing on environmental issues in the livestock and poultry

industries. About $100,000 is available from the Animal and Poultry

Waste Management Consortium, of which ISU is a member. The consortium

is based at North Carolina State University. For more information:

Colin Scanes, 138 Curtiss Hall, 4-1823.



DEADLINES & REMINDERS



March 6: ISU Protecting Groundwater Quality Through Management

of Agricultural Practices, Ramesh Kanwar, ag & biosystems

engineering, 7:30 p.m., Brenton Center



March 10: Deadline, pre-proposals, Animal and Poultry Waste Management

Consortium, 138 Curtiss



March 17: Foreign travel grant applications due, 138 Curtiss







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









DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO



Some tongue-in-cheek rules for writing, from Pulitzer Prize winner

William Safire: Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive

voice should never be used. Proofread carefully to see if you

words out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading

a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

A preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with. Place

pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as

of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully,

dangling participles must be avoided. If any word is improper

at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Take the bull by

the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that

sound flaky. Everyone should use a singular pronoun with singular

nouns in their writing. Avoid clichés like the plague;

seek viable alternatives.







I N F O G R A Z I N G







UCAP DIRECTOR PROVIDES OVERVIEW OF IRRADIATION



"Food Irradiation: Methods, Risk, and Food Safety" is

the topic of a new Current Research Information System (CRIS)

theme report and bibliography available on the Web. Included in

the report is an overview of the topic by Dennis Olson, director

of ISU's Utilization Center for Agricultural Products. You can

view the document at the following URL: http://ctr.uvm.edu/cris/theme/theme.htm

Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view or print the document.





TARGET BIODIVERSITY HOT SPOTS, STUDY SAYS



Saving endangered species has often been random and unfocused.

But a new study by Conservation International suggests a big payoff

from targeting a relatively few but species-rich areas: More than

half the earth's species are found in 17 "hot spots"

covering only 2 percent of the land area. (U.S. News & World

Report, Feb. 24)







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







USDA PROGRAMS ON 'CORPORATE WELFARE' LIST



"As a matter of simple fairness, Congress has an obligation

to ensure that corporate interests share the burden of deficit

reduction. This commission will give Congress an enormous, one-time

opportunity to restore fairness (and) plug loopholes . . ."

said U.S. Senator John McCain, announcing plans for a commission

to review "wasteful corporate welfare programs" in the

federal government. The USDA Agricultural Research Service and

Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service were

included on a list of the worst corporate welfare programs. In

total, 16 USDA programs were identified.



DECLINE IN FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR AG RESEARCH DECRIED



"While private contributions [for agricultural research]

have been on the increase, federal support has been eroded by

some 20 to 30 percent during the past five years. This is a trend

that must be stopped . . . In the past, public investments in

agriculture research have paid large dividends to society, and

the global, high-tech, environmentally sensitive era we have now

entered requires support of public research." From a statement

by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture,

announcing it is making support for research programs a number-one

priority.







M A R G I N A L I A







SITUATION NORMAL, ALL FLUBBERED UP



University of California-Berkeley chemistry grad student Jeff

Cruzan is a science consultant on the movie set of "The Absent-Minded

Professor," a re-make of the Disney classic, starring Robin

Williams. In a scene in which Williams, playing an accident-prone

chemist at a small Midwestern college, blows up his basement lab,

the script called for him to exclaim, "What a bang!"

Cruzan was consulted: what do scientists call an experiment that

goes wrong? With the attention of the entire film crew focused

on him, Cruzan looked up from his laptop computer, on which he

was writing his thesis, thought a minute and replied, "Normal."

The movie is due to be released in December. (Reaction Times,

February)