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Wednesday, November 12 2014

  • ISU’s graduate planning program ranks fourth nationally in its category

    Iowa State University’s graduate program in community and regional planning earned high marks in the latest survey by Planetizen, the leading online network for the urban planning, design and development community. For 2015, Iowa State is ranked fourth in the nation among programs that do not grant a doctoral degree in planning. This is up from 13th place in 2012.

  • Media Advisory: Iowa State Hunger Dialogue and meal-packaging event

    Iowa State University students will help fight hunger on campus and in the Ames community during the first ISU Hunger Dialogue on Thursday, Nov. 13. The event is part of the Outreach Inc., Hunger-Free Iowa Initiative. The purpose is to raise awareness about food insecurity in Iowa.

  • Iowa State University graduate student searches for plant extracts to treat devastating river blindness in Cameroon

    An Iowa State University graduate student is on a quest to identify plant extracts to combat a devastating parasitic disease in Cameroon and other African countries. The answers may lie in a pair of plants Cameroon residents use to make herbal remedies to treat the disease.

  • Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins will speak at Iowa State University Nov. 17

    Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and secularist, will present "An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist­ — A Conversation with Richard Dawkins" at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, in Stephens Auditorium, Iowa State Center. No tickets are required for the general admission seating. Doors will open at 7:15 p.m. Dawkins' presentation is part of Iowa State University's National Affairs Series on Innovation and is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow his talk.

  • ISU’s landscape architecture program ranks in top 15 nationally

    Iowa State’s undergraduate program in landscape architecture is ranked in the top 15 in the nation, according to a new survey of practitioners by DesignIntelligence. The survey placed Iowa State’s program 11th in the United States. In addition, Rob Whitehead, assistant professor of architecture, and Hale Selek, lecturer in industrial design, were named two of the 30 most admired design educators in the nation for 2015. 

  • Beware of phone phishing scam

    ISU Police and the Ames Police Department have received several reports of scam phone calls to students, their parents and other community members. The callers have posed as government, university and utility company officials and demand payment, threatening arrest for those failing to comply. These unsolicited calls are examples of phishing. Thieves claiming to represent legitimate agencies attempt to get personal and financial information from unsuspecting victims. As a reminder, please be vigilant about any unsolicited calls or emails. Do not release bank account or Social Security numbers, date of birth or any other information that could compromise your financial security or result in identity theft. If you are the victim of a phishing scam, contact local police and the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov.

  • ISU’s School of Education overcoming challenges to place record number of student teachers

    Iowa State University's Educator Preparation Program is growing. It's preparing to place a record 270 student teachers this spring in schools across Iowa and the country. There are several reasons for the growth, but it also comes with the challenge of finding more than 450 classrooms for student teachers to gain experience.

  • Iowa State engineer helps Army Lab study the fundamental physics of diesel engines

    Iowa State University's Song-Charng Kong is working with engineers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to study the fundamental physics of fuel spraying into diesel engines. Understanding the fundamentals should lead to better predictions of engine performance and could lead to better fuel economy and power. The Defense Department is supporting the work with a five-year grant of $500,000 and one billion supercomputer hours.

  • NPR’s Mara Liasson to give election analysis for Mary Louise Smith lecture

    The outcome of the midterm elections will set the stage for the 2016 presidential election and signal the direction of Congress for the next two years. National Public Radio political correspondent Mara Liasson will analyze the election results and explain what it all means in her public lecture, “What Just Happened? The 2014 Elections and Beyond” at Iowa State University.

  • Iowa State University virtual reality system simulates the International Space Station

    A virtual simulation of the International Space Station takes Iowa State University faculty and students out of this world to test how humans make decisions in stressful situations. The simulation also helps to train students in space-flight operations.

  • Veterinary research on lambs leads to advances in treatments for respiratory disease in human infants

    Veterinary research involving lambs at Iowa State University is helping to advance new treatments to a common virus in humans that sometimes poses a serious threat to newborns. Respiratory syncytial virus infects the vast majority of humans, and it usually results in nothing more serious than cold symptoms in healthy adults. But in infants, especially those born prematurely, the virus can lead to pneumonia and serious health complications.

  • No silver bullet: ISU study identifies risk factors of youth charged with murder

    News of a school shooting or a homicide involving a teenage suspect always leads to the question of why? It is human nature to want an explanation or someone to blame, and policymakers try to pinpoint a cause in an effort to prevent it from happening again. But too often, the speculation or rush to judgment clouds reality, said Matt DeLisi, a professor of sociology at Iowa State University.

  • Mock campaign gives Iowa State students new perspective on political process

    Voters only get a glimpse of the operation behind a political campaign, even with all the negative ads and 24-7 news coverage. And a textbook or class lecture cannot replicate the pressure of giving a stump speech to voters, answering questions from reporters, or responding to a crisis. To expose students to that environment, Kelly Winfrey turned her campaign rhetoric class into a mock U.S. Senate campaign.

  • Center for Biorenewable Chemicals helps Iowa State researchers launch startup companies

    The Biobased Foundry established by the Center for Biorenewable Chemicals based at Iowa State has helped nine startup companies. The foundry combines teaching and mentoring to help graduate students and postdoctoral researchers create technologies and businesses that meet the needs of customers.

  • Bullies in the workplace: ISU researcher examines the struggles for victims to tell their story

    The stories are shocking and heartbreaking, but they are often disjointed and hard to follow. In severe cases, the narratives are even more chaotic. This is reality for victims of workplace bullying and a major reason why they stay silent, said Stacy Tye-Williams, an assistant professor of communications studies and English at Iowa State University.

  • ExxonMobil supports Iowa State research in biofuels science and engineering

    ExxonMobil is beginning an advanced biofuels research program at Iowa State University by supporting two research projects. The projects focus on the fundamental scientific and engineering questions of the fast pyrolysis of biomass. Fast pyrolysis is rapidly heating biomass (including corn stalks) without oxygen to produce liquid bio-oil, which can be upgraded to transportation fuels.