News Archive
Wednesday, September 17 2014
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MEDIA ADVISORY: Iowa State University agriculture experts available to comment on 2014 harvest
As Iowa farmers prepare for the 2014 harvest, Iowa State University agriculture experts are available to comment on what trends they’ll be watching as combines hit the fields.
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Understanding aggressive behavior in chimpanzees will help protect the endangered species
Iowa State University Anthropology Professor Jill Pruetz long suspected that man-made changes influenced the aggressive behavior researchers have observed among chimpanzees. However, her perspective is changing as one of the collaborators of a new study published in Nature that found adaptive strategies better explain the chimp’s aggressive behavior.
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Iowa State joins national alliance to help more low-income, first-generation students to graduate
Senior Vice President and Provost Jonathan Wickert is in Washington, D.C., as Iowa State joins 10 other major public research institutions to launch the University Innovation Alliance. The alliance is an unprecedented effort to share and test ideas, so that more low-income and first-generation college students reach graduation. Iowa State will share best practices in its learning communities program, which has consistently been recognized as one of the best in the nation. High-income students are seven times more likely to attain a college degree than are low-income students. Iowa State and the other founding UIA members are focused on addressing this achievement gap. Joining Wickert in the nation's capital are Alma Marquez, a senior in chemical and biological engineering; and Angie Mallory, a U.S. Navy veteran and English doctoral student -- both of whom are active in Iowa State's learning communities.
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Iowa State GeoFabLab prints 3-D rocks, fossils; advances geoscience research, education
Iowa State's Franek Hasiuk is using 3-D printing to study the pores within limestone reservoir rocks. A better understanding of the pore networks within the rocks could help industry get at the oil in the smallest pores. Hasiuk is also using the scanning and printing technology to engage students in geology classrooms.
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New ISU report shows growing income inequality evidence of shrinking middle class
Job growth in the retail and service sector has not matched the wages of manufacturing and other middle-skill level jobs lost over the past decade in Iowa. The difference has contributed to a growing disparity between low and high income households, which is especially profound in specific parts of the state, according to a new report by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach rural sociologist David Peters.
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Champion boar raised on Iowa State University farm fetches $85,000 at auction
A champion Duroc boar born on Iowa State University’s swine teaching farm and raised by ISU animal science students sold for $85,000 at an auction on Wednesday. The boar’s superior genetics and solid body build accounted for much of his value to buyers.
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The overuse of antibiotics in humans is topic of ISU talk Sept. 18
There are countless theories about what is causing the rise in asthma, food allergies and some intestinal disorders. One of the country's leading experts on the human microbiome — the collection of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes that live in and on the body — argues it is due to the overuse of antibiotics. Martin Blaser will give a free, public presentation, "Missing Microbes: How the overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues," at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in the Memorial Union Great Hall.
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Physicist and television personality Michio Kaku will launch ISU Engineers' Week Sept. 19
When national news media want an expert to explain a science phenomenon, chances are they will call Michio Kaku. The theoretical physicist, who has a knack for popularizing even the most obscure concept, will kick off Iowa State University's Engineers' Week 2014 on Sept. 19. His presentation, "How Science Will Revolutionize Business, Medicine, Jobs and Life," will be at 7 p.m. in Stephens Auditorium, Iowa State Center. It is free, open to the public and tickets are not required.
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Iowa State welcomes 34,732 students this fall
Iowa State’s fall 2014 enrollment of 34,732 is the largest in school history, an increase of 4.5 percent (1,491 students) over the previous record of 33,241 in fall 2013. More Iowans are attending ISU than ever before, and this fall's student body also set records in U.S. multicultural, international and nonresident new freshman enrollment, among other categories.
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U.S. News rankings: Iowa State is 50th among best public national universities
Iowa State comes in at No. 50 among the top national public universities in U.S. News & World Report's 2015 "America's Best Colleges" rankings.
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Iowa State University class will help with crowd-sourcing effort to fight antibiotic resistance
A class of microbiology students at Iowa State University hopes that the next big discovery in the fight against antibiotic-resistant diseases is right below their feet. The students will take part in the Small World Initiative, an effort that allows science students at universities all over the world to seek out novel microorganisms that produce antimicrobial compounds that could become the basis for new antibiotics.
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Adopted ISU student finds her way back to her homeland with study abroad scholarship
It's been Laurelin Haas' lifelong dream to live and study in China. After all, she was born there. Her three sisters were born there. Her family hosted an exchange student from there. At 11 months old, Haas was adopted by a single mother in Muscatine. And thanks to a 2014 David L. Boren Scholarship, the Iowa State junior is back in her homeland for a year of intensive study.
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Officials break ground for new economic development hub at Iowa State Research Park
Iowa State and State of Iowa officials will break ground for a new 49,210-square-foot Economic Development Core Facility at the Iowa State University Research Park. The ceremony will be 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, at the CPMI Event Center at 2321 N. Loop Dr. on the north side of the research park. There will be a short program at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Iowa State's economic development hub is expected to open in mid-2016.
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ISU will host internationally known fantasy coffin artist of Ghana Sept. 15-19
Ghana's leading fantasy coffin artist will be an artist-in-residence in Iowa State's Integrated Studio Arts Department, Sept. 15 -19. Eric Adjetey Anang will give a presentation about this ethnic art on Sept. 15. And he will offer workshop demonstrations of his processes while he sculpts a fantasy coffin. A traditional folk art, fantasy coffins are functional, customized coffins sculpted and painted to be figures or objects that represent the deceased. They are exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. Anang's presentation and demonstrations are open to the public.
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How parents can help their children succeed and stay in school
Students are back in school and now is the time for parents to develop routines to help their children succeed academically. Kimberly Greder, an associate professor and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach family life specialist, says parental involvement, more than income or social status, is a predictor of student achievement.
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Use a rule of thumb to control how much you drink
Sticking to a general rule of pouring just a half glass of wine limits the likelihood of overconsumption, even for men with a higher body mass index. That’s the finding of a new Iowa State and Cornell University study to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy.
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Engaging students through social media is focus of ISU prof’s new book
Contrary to popular belief about the negative effects of social media, Reynol Junco is using Facebook and Twitter to help college students succeed. Instead of seeing social media as a distraction in the classroom, Junco says it helps him engage and connect with students. In his new book, “Engaging Students Through Social Media,” Junco encourages student affairs professionals and other educators to use social media to do the same.
Change Agent: Carolyn Lawrence
An Iowa State University professor is using extreme data management to speed up advances in plant breeding – just don’t call her work “big data.”