News Archive
Tuesday, November 2 2004
News
ISU Pappajohn Center to hold Nov. 10 Entrepreneur Forum
Two Iowa State University alumni and central Iowa entrepreneurs will speak on "Entrepreneurism on the Edge -- Are You Scared Yet?" at noon Wednesday, Nov. 10, in the Pioneer Room, Memorial Union. Peg Armstrong-Gustafson is the owner and founder of Amson Technology and Craig Hiemstra is developing new strategic business relationships and consulting for Phasient Technologies, Ames. The event is free and open to the public. Participants may bring their lunch. The forums are sponsored bimonthly by the ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship. A roundtable discussion follows the speaker presentations.
Symbolic cymbals
Members in the ISU marching band drumline have decorated their cymbal bags with homemade American flags and messages to a former member now serving in Iraq. Adam Storey, a Des Moines resident who majored in forestry during his freshman year, currently is serving as a reservist in the Marine Corps and has been station in Iraq for the past two months.
Gifts of $10 million will endow ISU program that helps developing nations
An Iowa State College of Agriculture program that helps developing nations address rural hunger and poverty received gifts of $10 million from Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky, and the Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation, Inc. The gifts were announced Friday at the ISU Foundation Governors luncheon.
Researcher controls erosion to save the African Sahel
An Iowa State agronomy professor is using erosion control methods to restore the Sahel and Niger River in West Africa, where land degradation threatens the region's economic stability. He will present his findings next week in Seattle at the 2004 international annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America in Seattle.
2004 Inventor of the Year
Edward Yeung Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry has been named 2004 Inventor of the Year by the Iowa Intellectual Property Law Association. He was honored for his development of a DNA sequencer that combines laser microfluorescence with capillary electrophoresis, two analytical chemistry methods for determining the minute components of a substance. The sequencer can detect, monitor and quantify materials 24 times faster than earlier DNA sequencers. The system is a combination of several technologies for which Yeung holds patents.
New x-ray imaging device demonstrated
The College of Engineering will demonstrate a new x-ray imaging device used to study part of the paper recycling process during an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, in the Transport Processes Laboratory, 1121 Black Engineering Building. Mechanical engineering professor Ted Heindel required the specialized industrial imaging device to study the interaction of multiphase flows (gas, liquids and solids) in a contained area. The device has potential uses for everything from food to fuel to pharmaceuticals. The device was funded with $640,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation and Iowa State.
How can GM and organic crops coexist?
That's the subject of a Nov. 6 symposium at ISU. Hosted by the Bioethics Program, the symposium will information and discussion about the coexistence of organic agriculture and genetically modified (GM) crops. The event will be from 2 to 5:30 p.m. in the Gallery of the Memorial Union. It is free and open to the public.
National political parties' influence topic of study
An Iowa State political scientist has received a $90,000 National Science Foundation grant to study the influence of national political parties on local, state and national elections. Robert Lowry, associate professor of political science, said the study, "National Party Committees, Competitive Elections, and State Autonomy Before and After the Bipartisan Campaign," focuses on how national committees and their distribution of large sums of money nationwide affect the competitiveness of elections.
Iowa League of Cities honors two Iowa State faculty members
Two Iowa State University faculty members were inducted into the Iowa League of Cities Hall of Fame recently for their service to local governments. The league is a municipal advocacy and training organization based in Des Moines. Jack Whitmer, emeritus associate professor of political science, and Paul Coates, associate professor of political science, were honored for their roles with the Iowa Municipal Clerks' Institute and Iowa Municipal Clerks' Academy.
On the election
ISU in the news
Tornado team on network TV
ABC's "Good Morning America" featured Iowa State's tornado simulator on Oct. 28. The simulator is a collaboration of ISU faculty Partha Sarkar, Bill Gallus and Fred Haan.
Background on tornado simulator.
Video gaming
comes of age
Christian Science Monitor
Even as video games become increasingly more realistic and violent, their popularity with consumers is edging out movies as pop cultural icons. However, the payoff to children may not be as great says ISU psychologist Craig Anderson. "They learn that there are lots of bad people out there who will hurt them," Anderson says. "They come to expect other to be mean and nasty. They do not learn nonviolent solutions to interpersonal conflicts."
Election Early Birds
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Iowa, like several states, is allowing early voting in addition to absentee ballots in the 2004 election. Both major political parties are aggressively working to "get the vote out" because Iowa's seven electoral votes could be crucial this year, says Dianne Bystrom, director of Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State. Bystrom said early voting is good for young people and single parents. "There are no excuses for not voting," she said.
High-maintenance lotus
The New York Times
Folklore says fuzzy caterpillars can predict the weather. Can they? Iowa State University Extension entomologist Donald Lewis fields a few hundred questions about this every year, and explains the subtle differences between woolly bear caterpillars and other fuzzy species in the same family.