Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- ISU receives USDA funds to plan new research centers



- Departmental computer plans approved



- Successful teaching grants workshop on Dec. 8



- Call for papers: Int'l livestock/environment conference



- ISU shows off research at national trade show



- Assistantships available for minority grad students



- Comments sought on water-quality action plan



- Dean's International Research Grants to 16 faculty



- Ag Council Senior Awards applications due Dec. 5



- A summer in Greece: One student's story



- Student's sculpture honoring soil to be displayed



- Ag engineers help prepare Iowa FFA ag mechanics team



- Deadlines & Reminders



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Advice from top Cargill reps: Practice communicating



INFOGRAZING



- Seven percent of tenure-track ag faculty are minorities



EXTERNAL VOICES



- Understanding what it feels like not to understand



MARGINALIA



- Does and bucks and smashed up trucks



- A miracle drug to fawn over







C O L L E G E N E W S







ISU RECEIVES USDA FUNDS TO PLAN NEW RESEARCH CENTERS



ISU is the lead institution for three center-planning grants awarded

by the USDA's Fund for Rural America. ISU and Cornell University

were the universities receiving the most planning grants. Plans

resulting from the grants will be evaluated for further funding

as new centers. The ISU awards will help develop plans for centers

on sanitary barriers to meat exports; pork information and technology;

and agro-oceanic nutrient flux. ISU agriculture faculty also are

co-principal investigators for other planning grants on centers

for rural community development, conservation buffers, international

studies, and manure and waste management.



DEPARTMENTAL COMPUTER PLANS APPROVED



The college's Technology Advancement Committee has reviewed and

approved departmental three-year plans. Each year, departments

update their plans (produced with input from faculty and students)

on how they will use funds from student computer fees. The university

allocates these funds to the colleges. This fall, the college

is expected to receive $82,000. The Technology Advancement Committee

distributes funds to departments based on enrollment. It also

awards grants each spring for departmental computer projects.

Last year, $25,000 in grants were awarded. For more information:

Gaylan Scofield, 4-0045 or ggs@iastate.edu.



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING GRANTS WORKSHOP ON DEC. 8



"Hints for Writing a Successful Teaching Grant" is the

title of the next Successful Grantsmanship Workshop, 6:30-9 p.m.,

Dec. 8, Holiday Inn/Gateway Center. The USDA Challenge Grant Program

will be discussed, and a conference link will enable participants

to pose questions to program director Howard Sandberg. An ISU

faculty panel will discuss other teaching grants. RSVP by Dec.

4 to Carla Persaud, 4-9376 or cpersaud@iastate.edu.



CALL FOR PAPERS: INT'L LIVESTOCK/ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE



Dec. 20 is the deadline for submitting abstracts for oral or poster

presentations to be delivered next summer at "Animal Production

Systems and the Environment: An International Conference on Odor,

Water Quality, Nutrient Management and Socioeconomic Issues."

The July 19-22 conference will be hosted by the college and ISU

Extension. For more information: Kay Snyder, 4-4202 or kjsnyder@iastate.edu.

A call for papers form also is on the Web: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/agconf





ISU SHOWS OFF RESEARCH AT NATIONAL TRADE SHOW



ISU's research on degradable plastics, fermentation technology,

ag-based wood products and biodiesel fuel was on display at the

National Marketplace for the Environment Conference and Trade

Show in Washington, DC, Nov. 18-20. Larry Johnson, Deland Myers

and Mon-lin Kuo represented the college and the Center for Crops

Utilization Research at the meeting, which introduces policy-makers,

procuring agencies and industry to new environmentally friendly

products and technologies. The trade show attracted an estimated

4,000 exhibitors and 300,000 visitors.



ASSISTANTSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR MINORITY GRAD STUDENTS



The Experiment Station provides graduate research assistantships

for newly recruited minority students. This quarter-time support

is matched by departmental or investigator funds. For more information:

4-4913 or 4-9376.



COMMENTS SOUGHT ON WATER-QUALITY ACTION PLAN



Through Dec. 5, the Iowa Environmental Council is accepting comments

on its water-quality action plan. Copies of the plan, which covers

monitoring, education and research, are available from Wendy Wintersteen,

132 Curtiss.



DEAN'S INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH GRANTS TO 16 FACULTY



Sixteen faculty members in 10 departments have received Dean of

Agriculture International Research Grants. Total funding this

year: $40,000.



AG COUNCIL SENIOR AWARD APPLICATIONS DUE DEC. 5



Applications for Senior Awards, awarded by the Ag Student Council

and presented at the college's convocation, are due on Dec. 5.

Application forms are available from Student Services, 23 Curtiss.





A SUMMER IN GREECE: ONE STUDENT'S STORY



At noon on Dec. 2, Karna Burzlaff, sophomore in ag education and

studies, will speak about her internship last summer at the American

Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece. The presentation will be

held in 8 Curtiss.



STUDENT'S SCULPTURE HONORING SOIL TO BE DISPLAYED



A clay sculpture entitled "Soil Wealth" will be displayed

in the rotunda on the ground floor of Curtiss Hall, Dec. 1-5.

Nicole Lehnertz-Schwake, senior in agricultural studies, created

the sculpture as an appreciation of soil for a ceramics class.





AG ENGINEERS HELP PREPARE IOWA FFA AG MECHANICS TEAM



The Riceville FFA's ag mechanics team placed fifth out of 44 teams

at the National FFA Ag Mechanics Career Development Event, Nov.

12-13 in Kansas City. Ag and biosystems engineering professors

Mort Boyd and Steve Mickelson helped prepare the team for the

contest. The annual state contest is held in Davidson Hall.



DEADLINES & REMINDERS



Nov. 21: Deadline, Ag Foundation study-abroad scholarships, 4-3972.



Dec. 2: International agriculture seminar on Greece, 8 Curtiss.



Dec. 5: Deadline, applications for Ag Council Senior Awards, 23

Curtiss.



Dec. 8: Writing Successful Teaching Grants, Gateway Center, 6:30

p.m. (RSVP by Dec. 4)



Dec. 20: College convocation, 9:30 a.m., C.Y. Stephens Auditorium.



Dec. 20: Deadline, oral and poster presentation proposals, 1998

international conference on animal production systems and the

environment, 4-4202.







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









ADVICE FROM TOP CARGILL REPS: PRACTICE COMMUNICATING



At a recent Cargill informational meeting, ISU students asked

some of the company's vice presidents for advice about entering

the workplace. The officials emphasized the importance of practicing

and using writing and presentation skills. They said oral, visual

and written communication skills are crucial to the future of

agriculture. (AgComm newsletter, October)







I N F O G R A Z I N G







SEVEN PERCENT OF TENURE-TRACK AG FACULTY ARE MINORITIES



There are 21 minority faculty members in the College of Agriculture,

which is 7 percent of the college's tenure-track faculty. Thirteen

are Asian/Pacific Islanders, five are Hispanic, two are African

American and one is Native American. This fall, 3 percent of the

college's undergraduate and graduate enrollment are minorities.









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







UNDERSTANDING WHAT IT FEELS LIKE NOT TO UNDERSTAND



" . . . An acre is slightly smaller than a football field

without the end zone. Now that's something you can't forget. And

when you learn something you can't forget, when you learn it in

such a way that it touches something you really understand, that's

a terrific moment -- as is the terror of realizing that you don't

understand things. I describe the ability to communicate as being

able to understand what it is like not to understand. And in order

to pass a piece of information to somebody else I have to understand

what it is like not to understand that piece of information."

Richard Saul Wurman, author of "Information Anxiety."

(Educom Review, November/December)







M A R G I N A L I A







DOES AND BUCKS AND SMASHED-UP TRUCKS



The number of traffic accidents caused by

deer has gone up each year since 1978, and is expected to go up

again this year. The Iowa DNR reported 12,276 deer-car accidents

in 1996, a third more than in 1992. Drivers are particularly at

risk in November and December -- mating season and hunting season.

(Associated Press)





A MIRACLE DRUG TO FAWN OVER



When Humboldt State University chemist William

Wood studied the glands between the hooves of black-tailed deer,

he found E-3-tridecen-2-one (rhymes with easy-try-to-rent-to-own)

-- a compound that fights microbes responsible for acne, dandruff

and athlete's foot. That it fights athlete's-foot fungus -- and

the fact that it doesn't wash off -- may be its greatest value

to deer. Wood has synthesized the compound and has applied for

a patent for potential pharmaceutical products.