News Archive
Wednesday, October 20 2010
News
MIT blackjack team player who inspired a book and movie will speak Nov. 3
Jeffrey Ma, strategy expert and subject of the best seller "Bringing Down The House" and "21," the movie about the MIT Blackjack Team, will speak at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Ma is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Citizen Sports, the sports media company that is changing how businesses use numbers and metrics to build their brand and retain customers. His talk, "The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business," is free and open to the public.
Timothy Stewart
ISU researchers get drenched to study wetland health in the Upper Midwest
Two researchers at Iowa State University are collecting physical, chemical and biological data from 37 wetlands in northern Iowa which are part of the Prairie Pothole Region. They hope to identify the most reliable indicators of a healthy wetland ecosystem.
Iowa State, USDA researchers discover eye test for neurological diseases in livestock
Iowa State University's Jacob Petrich and his collaborators
have discovered that the eyes of sheep infected with scrapie
return an intense, almost-white glow when they're hit with
blue light. That finding suggests technologies can be developed
to quickly and noninvasively test for transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies, progressive and fatal neurological diseases
such as mad cow disease.
News
release.
Japanese diplomat Kazuhide Ishikawa to give Manatt-Phelps Lecture Oct. 26
News release.
Panel of national experts will discuss repairing financial markets Oct. 28
Three experts with distinguished careers in the financial sector will discuss the future of the mortgage market and financial regulation in a panel discussion, "Fixing Financial Markets: Views from Freddie, Finance and the Fed," at 8 p.m Thursday, Oct. 28, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. The panelists are Donald Bisenius, executive vice president of the single family credit guarantee business at Freddie Mac; author Dan Laufenberg, former chief economist and vice president of Ameriprise Financial; and Kevin Moore, senior vice president in charge of the supervision and risk management division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The presentation is part of Iowa State's National Affairs Series. It is free and open to the public.
New grant to improve quality seed access in sub-Saharan Africa
Iowa State University seed scientists are partnering with
regional and national organizations in Malawi, Zambia and
Nigeria to conduct a pilot study in Africa called the Seed
Policy Enhancement in African Regions (SPEAR) project that will
enable better access to improved seed varieties with the help
of a new $1.45 million three-year grant from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Co-President Heiden to present Nov. 2 Stafford Lecture
Fitting launch for new facility
A little chemical wizardry cooked up by a student group provided a fitting launch Friday for Hach Hall, Iowa State's new chemistry facility. The three-story building provides lab space and technology to perform research and improve undergrad learning. The facility was funded with a state appropriation and private gifts and is named after Kathryn Hach Darrow, her late husband, Clifford Hach and the extended Hach family, who joined the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, Muscatine, and many others in providing gifts. Tending to the fire are (from left): Bruce Hach, Troy Ross (of the Carver Trust), Dean of the Liberal Arts and Sciences College Michael Whiteford, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and Kathryn Hach Darrow. The Society of Chemistry Undergraduate Majors (SCUM) concocted the flashy "ribbon-cutting."
Dianne Bystrom
Women's election hopes better than forecast, says Catt Center director
In the news
Pediatricians group wants sexy TV spots pushed back until after 10 p.m.
And you thought gambling pigeons were bad: 4 other animal sins
Gamers fight for first amendment rights
The Schwarzenegger v. EMA case could cost the video game industry its First Amendment rights by criminalizing violent game sales to minors, but how valid is the argument that a violent video game will spur violent behavior in real life? Iowa State University Associate Professor Douglas Gentile offers up a third-party opinion on the validity of the arguments.