News Archive
Thursday, September 17 2009
News
Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill tries biofeedback. Photo by Bob Elbert
Biofeedback Center newest stress-buster for Iowa State University students
Stressed-out college students are nothing new. But at Iowa State University, they have a new option for dealing with stress: Biofeedback. This fall, the university opened a Biofeedback Center that is free and open to all students. Biofeedback uses technologies like video games and guided meditations to teach relaxation techniques, concentration skills and healthy coping responses. Iowa State is the first of the three Regents' universities to offer a biofeedback service to address students' emotional needs.
ISU researchers working to develop, market embryonic test for bovine genetics
A team of clinicians and diagnosticians and genetic researchers at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine are looking to test calves to determine if a bovine is genetically sound when it is still an embryo prior to being implanted in its mother. If successful, this would allow producers to select which embryos are valuable before spending the time, effort and expense of producing a calf only to find out that it has genetic defects that render it of little value.
ISU researchers study insecticide-free method for control of soybean aphids
Two Iowa State University researchers are looking at a way to genetically modify soybeans to prevent damage from aphids. If successful, soybeans will carry in-plant protection from aphids, similar to the way genetically modified corn now keeps the European Corn Borer from destroying corn yields.
Iowa State's seventh bioeconomy conference will be virtual
Iowa State will join 11 other Midwest universities to offer
solutions for sustainability at "Growing the
Bioeconomy," a virtual conference set for Dec. 1. It's
the seventh bioeconomy conference ISU has hosted, but the first
time the university has collaborated with other schools to
simultaneously hold the event. James Lovelock, renowned for his
global environmental science thinking, will be the keynote
speaker.
Researcher hopes to see results through federally funded ISU, UI collaboration
An Iowa State University researcher, Dr. Sinisa Grozdanic, has been named one of the lead investigators and head of animal research for the United States Veterans Affairs Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Visual Loss. Grozdanic will lead ISU's efforts as part of a $5 million federal grant that will focus on preventing and curing visual impairments.
Iowa State joins other leading research universities to launch futurity.org
Iowa State University is among 35 North American research universities that have launched futurity.org, an online news source featuring the latest discoveries in science, engineering, the environment, health and more.
Plant Sciences Institute leader goes to NSF, interim successor named
The director of Iowa State University's Plant Sciences Institute has accepted a position with the National Science Foundation. Agronomy Professor William Beavis, the George F. Sprague Endowed Chair, has been named interim director.
News release - Beavis named PSI interim director.
Solar Decathlon student team prepares Iowa State's solar house for a road trip
How long does it take to disassemble a house, transport it halfway across the country and reconstruct it to exact specifications? For traditional homes, the answer might be months or even years. Thanks to the Interlock House's unique design, the Iowa State University Solar Decathlon Team will accomplish this feat in the span of about three weeks, in time for the Oct. 8 start of the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
As ash borer claims more trees, researcher at ISU works for species survival
Estimates say more than 70 million ash trees have been destroyed nationally by the emerald ash borer insect. Mark Widrlechner, assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture at ISU, is racing the clock to collect seeds from different ash species including green, white, blue, and black ash, and many variations within each species before they are killed by the pest. He thinks he may be about 10 percent there.
It's a record-breaker: Iowa State University fall enrollment nears 28,000
This fall has ushered in Iowa State University's highest-ever enrollment -- 27,945 students, an increase of more than 4 percent compared to fall 2008.
The Morgan twins.
Identical twins come from inner city to Iowa State on Gates Millennium Scholarships
When Iowa State's Derrick Rollins visited the inner-city home of two talented brothers and their family in Kansas City, Mo., he talked with them about the school's great facilities, supportive environment and dedication to success. But Rollins wasn't recruiting athletes. He was recruiting engineering students.
Rollins is assistant dean for diversity affairs in Iowa State University's College of Engineering. And his unique, personal approach to finding high-potential minority students and bringing them into the college has landed two of the nation's top recruits: identical twins Jonathan and Donathan Morgan.
Community Visioning Program applications available
The Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program is accepting applications for the 2010 program. Since 1996, 159 communities throughout the state have benefited from the program, which integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action. The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Extension Landscape Architecture and Trees Forever.
ISU education researcher offers community college policy suggestions in book chapter
Linda Serra Hagedorn, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies and director of Iowa State's Research Institute for Studies in Education, warns community college officials to proceed with caution as they use new federal money to expand their degree options. Hagedorn made policy suggestions on how community colleges could become more effective in their postsecondary education role in a chapter she authored for the annual edition of "Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research."
The Post Carbon Institute's Richard Heinberg to speak at ISU Sept. 24
Keynote speaker for ISU's Live Green! Sustainability Series
Richard Heinberg, a leading author on oil depletion and a post carbon world, will keynote Iowa State University's Live Green! Sustainability Series. Heinberg's lecture, "Toward a Post Carbon Food System," will be at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 in the Memorial Union Sun Room.
Apollo 13 astronaut and space shuttle test pilot Fred Haise to speak Sept. 19
Astronaut Fred Haise, a member of the ill-fated 1970 Apollo 13 space mission who was severely burned while filming "Tora! Tora! Tora!," will speak at Iowa State on Saturday, Sept. 19. His presentation, "Failure is not an Option," will be at 7 p.m. in Stephens Auditorium. The event, which is free and open to the public, is a highlight of Engineers' Week 2009.
Seasonal flu shot clinic for employees under way
ISU employees can get seasonal flu immunizations on campus
weekdays (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) in the Technical Administrative
Services Facility. The clinic will operate weekdays through
Sept. 28 or until the supply of vaccinations is gone. The
immunizations are available to eligible employees at no cost to
them.
More
information.
Engineering without stereotypes
Diane Rover, associate dean for academic and student affairs in
Iowa State University's College of Engineering, says a
record enrollment in the college speaks to diversity.
"Engineering is not an exclusive field that is best suited
for one gender or one race," Rover wrote in an opinion
piece published by The Des Moines Register. "It is not
solely the domain of a particular kind of student with a
particular set of skills. Engineering is for everyone who loves
to solve problems."
Are you an entrepreneur?
Find out what it takes to be an entrepreneur, learn about resources for students and small business owners, and meet nine successful alumni who know the difference between being hired and being inspired.
See story on student entrepreneurs.
In the news
The flu and exercise don't play nice
Los Angeles Times
A small study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2003 found that immune function improved in adults over age 65 who did moderate exercise three times a week, as compared to a control group that didn't change its exercise habits. Marian Kohut was lead author of that study and is an associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.
Funding for community colleges
University Business
Linda Serra Hagedorn, director of the Research Institute for Studies in Education at Iowa State University, says the funds for infrastructure are important because community colleges are at capacity as they attempt to accommodate more traditional-age students, as well as the surge of unemployed workers seeking retraining.
Ames ranked third in national index of college towns
USA Today
Ames was ranked third among college towns (with populations under 250,000) in the College Destinations Index: 2009-10 Edition, compiled by the American Institute for Economic Research. Researchers crunched data on more than 360 metropolitan areas, ranking the top scoring destinations in each tier according to 12 measures that range from student concentration to entrepreneurial opportunities. See story.
Orazem: Ticket into middle class is education
The Des Moines Register
In a Labor Day essay, University Professor Peter Orazem writes that manufacturing is no longer a path out of poverty for the less educated. "Not finishing high school in our economy is the surest path to lifetime unemployment and poverty," Orazem said.