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Thursday, September 29 2011

News

ISU's Pease Family Scholar to address physical fitness and mental health on Oct. 13

Bradley Hatfield (left) -- a professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also has an affiliate appointment with the university's neural and cognitive sciences program -- will give a talk as ISU's Pease Family Scholar on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. His presentation, "Physical Fitness and Mental Health: Understanding Exercise and Sport Psychology through the Study of Brain Processes," will take place in the Campanile Room of ISU's Memorial Union.

Iowa State researchers produce cheap sugars for sustainable biofuel production

Iowa State researchers have developed technologies to efficiently produce, recover and separate sugars from the fast pyrolysis of biomass. That's a big deal because those sugars can be further processed into biofuels. Robert C. Brown and other Iowa State researchers will present their findings to the International Conference on Thermochemical Conversion Science in Chicago Sept. 28-30.
News release.

ISU-led group awarded $25 million grant for land use, biofuel production study

Ken Moore, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agronomy

The USDA awarded an Iowa State University-led group a $25 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop the blueprint for using marginal farmlands to grow perennial grasses that will, in turn, provide a biomass source for a drop-in biofuel-based fuel over the next five years. The multi-state, interdisciplinary team is lead by Ken Moore, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agronomy.

News Release.

Steven Leath named Iowa State's next president

The Iowa Board of Regents has named Steven Leath the 15th president of Iowa State University. Leath's appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2012. Leath will be paid an annual salary of $440,000. Leath has been vice president for research and sponsored programs for the University of North Carolina system since 2007.
Announcement.

Iowa State seeing student returns from investment in financial literacy offerings

It's been two years since Iowa State announced plans to offer greater financial literacy resources for students. And the numbers -- both in terms of enrollment in financial literacy classes and student use of ISU's Financial Counseling Clinic and its resources -- suggest that the university is seeing a return on investment in terms of greater student access.
Stanley Harpole

Stanley Harpole

New approach challenges old ideas about plant species and biomass

It is no longer hump day, according to new research in the current issue of the journal Science. Research that included Stanley Harpole of Iowa State University challenges a widely-accepted idea from the 1970s showing as plant biomass produced in a system increased, so did the number of plant species, to a point. After that point, the number of plant species is thought to decline. When plotted on a graph, the result is a hump shape, with maximum species richness occurring at the point of intermediate productivity. But, now it's time to get over the hump.

News release.

Babcock named Iowa State’s Cargill Chair and leader of the Biobased Industry Center

Bruce Babcock will be Iowa State's next Cargill Endowed Chair in Energy Economics and director of the university's Biobased Industry Center. Babcock has been with Iowa State's economics department since 1990 and has directed the university's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development since 1998.

World Food Prize laureate to kick off new ISU One Health lecture series

The Iowa State University-based international One Health Commission will sponsor a lecture with ISU by 2010 World Food Prize Laureate David Beckmann. "One Health: World Health Through Collaboration," will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the Des Moines Marriott, Salon D, 700 Grand Ave.
News release.

Gov. Branstad will speak at Biorenewables Complex groundbreaking, phase two

The groundbreaking ceremony for phase two of ISU's Biorenewables Complex is set for Friday, Sept. 30, at 3:30 p.m. Gov. Terry Branstad will speak. Phase two includes Virgil B. Elings Hall and a second agricultural and biosystems engineering building, funded through $60.4 million in state appropriations and $14.1 million in private support.

ISU Foundation news release.

ISU's Wells leads study finding sequential photos more accurate for eyewitness IDs

A study led by Gary Wells, an ISU Distinguished Professor of Psychology, that gathered data from police criminal investigations from four cities has found that sequential photo lineups -- those in which witnesses view one suspect photograph at a time -- produce fewer mistaken eyewitness identifications than simultaneous photo lineups.