March, 24 - 2023

Aline Sartor Chicowski and Ekkachai Khwanbua, both Ph.D. students under Dr. Steven Whitham were selected for the 2023 IS-MPMI Shimamoto Travel Award. This competitive award is meant to help defray the costs of attending the 2023 IS-MPMI Congress in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

About the A​​​ward

Founding of the 25 Year Club
The 25 Year Club of Iowa State University was informally founded in 1915 when members of the staff who had continuously served at least 25 years were honored at convocation. The organization was formalized in 1934 under the direction of the late Harold E. Pride, former Secretary of the Iowa State College Alumni Association. The Club charter was signed on June 9, 1934 by 43 staff members, including many well-known Iowa Staters.

Name: Erin Healy

Hometown:  West Des Moines, Iowa

Major and Graduation Date:  Microbiology, Spring 2019

Favorite ISU class:  My favorite class at ISU was Marching Band (MUSIC 114A). Although it was more than just a class and was a lot of work, my experience at Iowa State would not have been the same without it.  Practice was Monday-Friday for 1.5 hours, along with individual practice, and football games. Game Day was always my favorite day of the week, getting to perform on the field and in the stands with 61,000 of my closest friends.  My favorite Microbiology class was Food Microbiology (MICRO 420) because of how applicable it was to everyday life.  We learned about many potential foodborne pathogens and how to prevent them.  

The Iowa State University Insect Zoo welcomed 169 baby tarantulas this week after being selected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to receive the confiscated spiders.

Ginny Mitchell, Insect Zoo education program coordinator, said this is the first time the Insect Zoo has received confiscated animals from USFWS. The USFWS only sends confiscated animals to zoos, museums and other established institutions. Mitchell, who is on a listserv for zoos around the country, responded to a request for assistance for the spiders, confiscated Friday at the Port of Los Angeles, which led to Iowa State's selection.  

AMES, Iowa – A new Iowa State University research project will combine traditional and high-tech uses of the sun’s power by studying how to grow crops amid an array of solar panels.

Funded by a $1.8 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, most of the research will be conducted a few miles south of Ames, where Alliant Energy plans to begin construction in April on a 1.35 megawatt solar farm – a partnership with Iowa State announced in fall 2021.

The Gleason lab’s research on advanced IPM options in apple production and IPM tools for organic cucurbit crops has been condensed into two podcast series: The Current Cucurbit, and Smart(er) Apple Spraying. With Dr. Mark Gleason as producer and interviewer and Jose Gonzalez as editor and co-producer, they have published two seasons and a total of 24 episodes. Now, a 3^rd season is coming, with new interviews with growers and researchers. The new season is expected to be out by January 2023 – see flyers below; you can scan the QR code to take you to these podcast series.

On October 15, 2022, Mark Gleason completed a one-month research and lecture visit to the INRAE (The Institut national de la recherche agronomique) research station in Toulouse, France. He discussed a manuscript collaboration with agroecologist Jean-Noel Aubertot and delivered a series of lectures to various INRAE units as well as ENSAT (École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse), a nearby public university specializing in agricultural sciences education.

Ge Zhang was a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Amy Toth and Dr. Matthew O'Neal. Their manuscript, published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, was featured in a summary of 200+ articles on the topic of climate change.

Aline Sartor Chicowski, a doctoral candidate in Plant Pathology with a minor in Genetics, under the supervision of Dr. Steven Whitham, was selected for the 2022 Corteva DELTA Symposium held in Indianapolis (Aug 1-3) at the Corteva world headquarters. Aline is also a recipient of the 2022 DELTA research grant. 

Professor W. Allen Miller has been appointed as the plant virus Editor for the Journal of Virology.

Dr. Miller will be responsible for all manuscripts involving plant viruses, RNA viruses of insects, as well as papers on certain human RNA viruses such as Zika and related viruses.

Journal of Virology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology, is generally regarded as the top virology journal dedicated entirely to original, basic research papers on all types of viruses.

Congratulations, Dr. Miller!

The Iowa Soybean Research Center would like to extend a big thank you to the more than 40 volunteers who showed up to help with the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center to help with the Meals from the Heartland event on Friday, August 5th, and to Cargill for their very generous donation to cover the cost of the ingredients! We couldn’t have done it without you all! Congratulations on packaging 38,000 meals, some of which will be used here locally at ISU’s SHOP and Food at First in Ames and in the Des Moines area. Some of the meals will also be shipped to Iowa’s Ukraine Sister State of Cherkasy Oblast.

Instructors at Iowa State University strive to see the imaginary lightbulbs go off above their students’ heads when they grasp a new concept. To help students have these “lightbulb moments,” Nick Peters and Elizabeth “EB” Wlezien are introducing active learning to their classroom.

Join Plant Pathologist Ed Zaworski as he speaks with researchers from around the world who are pushing the boundaries of crop protection research.

Use this link to access the episodes: "I see dead plants"

AMES, Iowa – A new creative face has joined the Integrated Pest Management program with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

Sebastian Eugene Bartholomew is a fictional but believable phytopoet who muses on mold, ponders plants and bellows bug ballads. He is at the epicenter of the Phytopoetry Project, which has made its debut on the IPM YouTube channel.

Phytopoetry, meaning plant poetry, is written on the subject of plant diseases, insects, weeds, and other pests. The Phytopoetry Project not only showcases poetry about plant pests but points people to relevant extension resources, many of which promote the use of Integrated Pest Management.

The Soybean Cyst Nematode Coalition’s public relations campaign to move more soybean farmers to actively manage the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) was the recipient of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) prestigious Silver Anvil Award in the “Issues Management” category. For more than 75 years, the Silver Anvil has been considered an icon of the communications profession. The award ceremony, held in New York City’s Edison Ballroom on May 19, 2022, recognized and honored the best communications and public relations campaigns from around the country.

Dr. Thomas Baum joins the Sebastian Eves-van den Akker Group at the University of Cambridge as a Visiting Professor supported by the British Society for Plant Pathology and a visiting fellowship at Clare Hall College. Dr. Baum is on a 6-months stay to explore and engage in collaborative research opportunities on cyst nematode biology and genomics with their Cambridge host.  Dr. Baum is based in the Crop Science Centre (https://www.cropsciencecentre.org/), which is a joint effort of the University of Cambridge and NIAB (https://www.niab.com/).  

DES MOINES -Tick season in Iowa starts in March and runs through November. With the weather warming up more people are headed outdoors where they might cross paths with ticks.

Ticks can carry many different diseases, the most notable Lyme’s Disease which causes headaches, fever, and fatigue and can have more serious long-term consequences. While bug spray and wearing long sleeves and pants can help prevent ticks, the best way to stay safe is with a tick check.