News Archive
Tuesday, January 31 2006
News
Residence hall living leads to higher graduation rates
Incoming freshmen who live in university housing at Iowa State for one year are 20 percent more likely to graduate than incoming freshmen who never live on campus.
Widow of former Sudanese VP to speak at Iowa State
Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, widow of John Garang de Mabior, and Pagan Amum, diplomatic affairs adviser to the president of Southern Sudan, will discuss the political situation in Sudan in a Feb. 4 campus talk. Nyandeng de Mabior's late husband, John Garang, died in a helicopter crash last year, shortly after becoming vice president of Sudan. Garang received his doctorate in economics from Iowa State in 1981.
Career fairs draw hundreds of recruiters
Iowa State hosts two separate career fairs this week. The College of Engineering hosts Career Expo 2006 in Hilton Coliseum Tuesday, Jan. 31, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Business jointly host Spring '06 Job Fair, Feb. 1, in Hilton. The first event will be the largest engineering job fair ever held on campus with more than 700 recruiters representing 200-plus companies. Around 4,500 students also are expected. The College of Business and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences expect about 143 companies to be represented and 2,700 students to attend.
Srinivas Aluru
A supercomputer for Iowa State University
Iowa State University's new supercomputer can do 5.7 trillion calculations per second. It's among the top 10 university supercomputers in the country.
Steps to improve child care recommended
A new study finds that high employee turnover and overhead costs may jeopardize continued operation of quality early child care and education programs in Iowa. The study offers four strategies for addressing the problem.
Speakers' talks will be available as podcasts
Many of the talks by visiting speakers on campus this semester will be available as podcasts.
Gartner on universities and economic development
In a recent talk to the Iowa House Economic Growth Committee, Regents president Michael Gartner tackled the "myth" that universities don't understand or participate in economic development. "The brainpower at the universities, the creativity, the inventiveness and the entrepreneurial spirit are second to none," Gartner said.
Presenting the research and development power of Iowa's Regent universities
The Innovation Iowa economic development program sponsored by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, will be 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center at 1200 Grand Ave. in Des Moines.
Bugeja: High-tech gadgets can distract students
Facebook and today's high-tech gadgets are becoming as much a distraction as a tool for learning, says Michael Bugeja, director of ISU's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.
Pollard
Top of the list
Jamie Pollard knew what he was looking for, and he found it in Ames. ISU's new athletics director is profiled in the winter edition of VISIONS, the magazine for members of the ISU Alumni Assn.
African American studies director named
R. Tunde Adeleke, director of African American Studies at the University of Montana, Missoula, has been named director of African American Studies in Iowa State's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The appointment is effective Aug. 16.
ISU Department of Residence will expand student housing options for next fall
ISU's Department of Residence is offering more student housing options for fall 2006. The changes involve Wallace Hall, Schilletter/University Village Apartments (SUV) and Helser Hall.
Cruz-Neira
Eye on virtual reality
Carolina Cruz-Neira, a leader in virtual reality, will present the Spring 2006 Presidential University Lecture Monday, Feb. 6, in the Sun Room of Iowa State's Memorial Union. Demonstrations of virtual reality begin at 7 p.m. The lecture begins at 8 p.m.
In the News
Supercomputing
The Washington Post
Scientists at Iowa State University are using one of the nation's 10 most powerful university computers to help decipher the corn genome, a project that could allow them to expand the plant's uses in plastics, fuel and fiber.
Do the right thing
Juice (Des Moines Register publication)
"When you attempt to do the right thing for the right reasons, you grow -- even if it appears that you have failed or lost," agriculture dean Wendy Wintersteen told would-be up-and-comers in an interview on getting ahead in a career.
Researchers to map pig DNA
CNN.com
Deciphering the pig's genetic code will eventually help breed better pigs, says Max Rothschild, an Iowa State animal science professor who is part of an international research team working to sequence the swine genome.