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Monday, October 18 2010

News

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

Kazuhide Ishikawa -- envoy extraordinary, minister plenipotentiary and deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. -- will discuss U.S.-Japanese relations and their role in the global economy when he presents the ninth annual Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. in ISU's Memorial Union Sun Room.
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.

News release.

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.

News release.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Co-President Heiden to present Nov. 2 Stafford Lecture

Cara Heiden, co-president of West Des Moines-based Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, who is ranked No. 7 on US Banker magazine's 2010 list of "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking," is the fall 2010 speaker for the Robert Stafford Lecture Series on Banking in Iowa State's College of Business. An ISU alumnus, Heiden will present a free, public lecture, "Managing Market Turmoil from the Inside Out," on Tuesday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m. in Room 0330 of the Gerdin Business Building.

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."

ISU educator addresses community college retention; promotes online transfer calculator

Linda Serra Hagedorn, a professor and interim chair of ISU's educational leadership and policy studies department, was guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of College Student Retention Research, Theory and Practice, on community college retention. In it, she introduced a new downloadable software application she helped create, The Community College Transfer Calculator®, which identifies the course-taking patterns that predict transfer for students.

Bioasphalt® developed at Iowa State to be used, tested on Des Moines bike trail

Bioasphalt® developed by Iowa State University's Christopher Williams and produced by Avello Bioenergy Inc., a company started by three Iowa State graduates, will be tested on a Des Moines bicycle trail. Williams said asphalt mixtures derived from plants and trees could replace petroleum-based mixes. And that could provide markets for Iowa crop residues and business opportunities for Iowans.

News release.

Renowned landscape architect to speak Oct. 19

Andrea Cochran, the principal of Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture in San Francisco, will present the 2010 P.H. Elwood Lecture in Landscape Architecture on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at Iowa State. Her presentation, "Immersive Landscapes," will be at 6 p.m. in Kocimski Auditorium, College of Design. It is free and open to the public. Cochran's work is known for its careful consideration of site, climate and existing architecture. She strives for a seamless integration of landscape, art and architecture that blurs the line between the natural and built environments. The lecture series honors the legacy of professor Philip H. Elwood, who is credited with developing the ISU Department of Landscape Architecture.

News release.