News Archive
Tuesday, April 17 2007
News
ISU's Morrill Hall to be rededicated April 20
The newly renovated Morrill Hall will be rededicated on Friday, April 20, at 11 a.m. The ceremony will be held on central campus, just across the street from Morrill.
Statement from President Gregory Geoffroy in regard to Virginia Tech tragedy
Iowa State, Iowa join two Midwest universities to create high-speed data network
Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created a high-speed optical network that will allow researchers to share massive amounts of data with collaborators around the world.
Iowa State artist: When it comes to inventing furniture, I fold
With help from friends in Japan, Michigan, Florida and Ames, local artist Fumi Ikeshima creates origami chair.
Iowa State's Women's Rugby Club headed to nationals for first time
The Iowa State Women's Rugby club is teeming with confidence as it prepares to travel to Sanford, Fla., to take part in the USA Rugby Women's Collegiate National Championships April 21-22.
Iowa State physicist leads team designing detector for international particle collider
John Hauptman, an Iowa State University professor of physics and astronomy, is leading an international team that's designing a detector for the proposed International Linear Collider. The collider would be about 19 miles long and accelerate electrons and positrons to nearly the speed of light. The particles would collide at the center of the machine at extremely high energies. Collider detectors would record those collisions. Physicists expect the collisions to create new particles and help them understand how the universe works.
Nationally ranked ISU Paintball team heads to nationals with high expectations
Iowa State's nationally ranked paintball team is going to the College Paintball National Championships to be held April 20-22 in Dallas.
White House reporter for Washington Post to speak at First Amendment Day
Peter Baker of the Washington Post will present his lecture "Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and Russian Counter-Revolution" at 6 p.m. Monday, April 16 in the Sun Room, Memorial Union as the opening speaker of the First Amendment Day activities on campus.
Left, ConocoPhillips senior vice president for technology Ryan Lance announces the new program. Right, Board of Regents member Ruth Harkin, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, ISU Biorenewables Program leader Robert Brown and Lance.
ConocoPhillips establishes $22.5 million biofuels research program at Iowa State
ConocoPhillips will establish an eight-year, $22.5 million research program at Iowa State University dedicated to developing technologies that produce biorenewable fuels. The grant is part of ConocoPhillips' plan to create joint research programs with major universities to produce viable solutions to diversify America's energy sources.
Helen Thomas keynotes Iowa State's First Amendment Day activities
In celebration of this year's First Amendment Day activities at Iowa State University, Helen Thomas, former White House Bureau Chief for United Press International and now Hearst Newspapers columnist, will give a presentation in the Great Hall, Memorial Union, Thursday, April 19 at 8 p.m.
New display at Reiman Gardens highlights role of bees, pollination
Reiman Gardens in Ames is opening an exhibit called "Bee-Aware" that explains the role of bees and pollinators in plant-life cycles. The show will run from April 12 through July 1.
Ames Lab researchers rethink zinc
Ames Lab physicists Paul Canfield and Sergei Bud'ko have discovered a new family of zinc compounds that can be tuned, or manipulated, to take on some of the physical properties and behavior of other materials.
Runners, eaters to make strides together during ISU fundraiser
The ISU Triathlon Club is holding its sixth annual Donut Run April 15 at 9 a.m. at Brookside Park, in Ames. The event is a fund-raiser to help defray costs so the club can compete in the Collegiate National Championship Triathlon in Alabama.
First study reporting chimps using caves authored by ISU anthropologist
ISU Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jill Pruetz authored a paper titled "Evidence of Cave Use by Savanna Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Fongoli, Senegal: Implications for Behavioral Thermoregulation," which is the first study to document regular chimpanzee cave use.
Forget 'the talk' -- ISU researcher recommends regular dialogue with kids about sex
ISU Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies Ronald Werner-Wilson studied teens, their parents and sex for his book and two related papers published in professional journals. He advises parents to have an ongoing dialogue with their children about sexuality -- a long process that should begin much earlier than the teen years.
Symposium April 18 to consider risks, benefits and regulations of ag biotech
A USDA official, a Syngenta technical consultant and leading ag biotech researchers will be among the speakers at the fourth annual symposium of Iowa State's Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products (BIGMAP) April 18.
Exercise physiologist to discuss youth obesity prevention as ISU Pease Scholar April 19
Russell Pate, associate vice president for health sciences and professor in exercise science at the University of South Carolina and author of the 2006 book "Physical Activity Intervention for Youth," is the visiting Pease Family Scholar at Iowa State. He will present a free public lecture on Thursday, April 19.
Iowa State to unveil the most realistic virtual reality room in the world
Iowa State University's Virtual Reality Applications Center will unveil improvements to C6, its six-sided virtual reality room, on April 26. The unveiling will be part of this year's Emerging Technologies Conference 07.
Sesquicentennial fun
Iowa State's 150th birthday bash will span an entire year.
The fun starts April 21
Fittingly, the kickoff for Iowa State's year-long birthday celebration begins at Veishea, one of ISU's oldest traditions. Here's what you need to know about the exhibits, fun foods, parade route, kid-friendly stops and more.
In the news
With big money flowing to biofuels research, universities vie to harvest energy from crops
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The brown and black stalks of switch grass, miscanthus and kenaf are not much to look at, having weathered Iowa's winter snows. But Iowa State researchers see these crops as seeds of change in alternative fuels.
Chimps spotted using caves
MSNBC
Savannah chimpanzees, which can make weapons to hunt other primates for meat, can also seek refuge in caves, much like our earliest human ancestors, according to new findings by Primatologist Jill Pruetz at Iowa State University.
Faking it like a man
Wired
Wired magazine features six cool virtual reality simulators, including photographs of the C6 at Iowa State's Virtual Reality Applications Center.
ISU veterinary lab investigates pet deaths
New York Times
Suspicious pet deaths are under investigation at ISU's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Some could have been caused by a toxin, perhaps from recalled pet food, said Patrick Halbur, professor and chair of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.