News Archive
Tuesday, June 30 2009
News
ISURF finalizes licensing agreement with Iowa-based wax company
ISURF has finalized a licensing agreement with a Cedar Rapids-based company to manufacture soy-based wax for candles and other uses. An associate professor in food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University invented of the new wax technology.
Iowa State researchers contribute climate model to study that finds some winds decreasing
Iowa State University researchers contributed their regional climate modeling expertise to a study that found surface wind speeds are decreasing across the country. That could have implications for the wind power industry, agriculture and city air pollution.
Iowa State researchers working to improve performance of firefighter gear
A team of researchers from Iowa State's College of Human Sciences are part of an eight-university project designed to improve the effectiveness of gear for firefighters. The ISU team is currently collecting data from firefighters for the study.
Worlds biggest parsley plant grown by Iowa State University researcher
David Brenner, a plant germplasm curator working for ISU's
agronomy department, has grown a 7 foot 9 3/8 inch parsley
plant, the largest in the world. Brenner is now waiting for the
Guinness Book of World Records to recognize the feat.
News
release.
ISU's Manu (center front) with other members of the Association of African Agriculture Professionals in Diaspora. The group will serve as a resource to advise on agricultural practices and policies in Africa.
Gates Foundation grant will help support African agriculture
ISU Agronomy Professor and George Washington Carver Chair
Andrew Manu is leading a project that will connect African
agricultural experts scattered across North America with the
African continent. The initial project is a Web-based resource
and public database that will link experts and aid in
agriculture and policy recommendation. The project is supported
by a $234,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
News
release.
Iowa State University researcher looks at the future of agriculture
Wallace Huffman, professor in agricultural economics and Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University, presented research to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, France, last month and is very optimistic about the future.
Successful first year for admissions partnerships with Iowa's community colleges
With a full year under its belt, Iowa State's Admissions
Partnership Program with Iowa community colleges is posting
numbers that indicate it is on the right track. The program
makes it easier for community college students to transfer to
Iowa State for their four-year degrees. A year ago, Iowa State
marked the completion of admissions partnership agreements with
all 15 community colleges in Iowa. Now the program boasts
nearly 430 community college students.
News
release.
FY10 budget changes may begin; final approval set for Aug. 5
ISU President Gregory Geoffroy told the Board of Regents June 11 that $38.3 million in state appropriation cuts in FY10 will be distributed differentially to university units, with administrative units taking proportionately larger cuts than academic units.
Iowa State students' FruitSoylicious® finishes second in national competition
The Iowa State Food Science & Human Nutrition Product Development Team finished second at the national Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Product Development Competition in Anaheim, Calif. earlier this month for its new beverage, FruitSoylicious®. News release.
Watch it on "Brink"
The Science Channel's "Brink" show is working on a feature about developmental robotics research at Iowa State University. The show's host, Josh Zepps, left, visits the lab to see the robot in action and talk to Alexander Stoytchev. Stoytchev, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his students are trying to figure out how a robot can learn what children learn over the first two years of their lives. The feature is scheduled to air at 9:30 p.m. (Central) July 13 on the Science Channel.
Photo by News Service.
In the news
Iowans may swat many mosquitoes this summer
Associated Press
Hot weather, combined with last year's flooding and this year's rainfall, could produce a bumper crop of mosquitoes this summer, says ISU entomologist Ken Holscher.
Study shows U.S. winds are slowing
The New York Times
ISU Professor Gene Takle is the author of a new study that finds wind speeds across the country are declining -- potentially bad news for wind power developers and farmers. Takle tells The New York Times there may be three possible explanations for the drop in wind speed.