Hello, CALS colleagues,
Looks like winter is finally finding us, but the sunshine is brilliant today! Hope you can get out and enjoy it.
Of late, I have done a lot of thinking about innovation and entrepreneurship, how these efforts are infused all across Iowa State and our college, and how both can transform our many ways forward. All around us there is evidence of both innovation and entrepreneurship. From the Student Innovation Center we should all be making excellent use of, to the student design charrette that Associate Dean for Academic Innovation Carmen Bain organized with the College of Design to help figure out how to innovate in two CALS-owned collaborative learning labs in the building (most of the building is shared space for all colleges). In a much bigger way, Carmen is also organizing the college around more work in these arenas through the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows Program, and the emerging idea for a CALS Advantage - Innovation and Leadership Academy for our students. These ideas are catching fire with our faculty, our students, and our friends and donors.
Similarly, we have had lots of great action of late in the arenas of landscape-level nitrogen and carbon management. Clearly there is a need for innovative and entrepreneurial ideas on how to secure solutions to the challenges both of these critical elements represent. Scientists like Mike Castellano and Sotirios Archontoulis in the agronomy department are coming up with innovative ways to manage nitrogen more efficiently on croplands, and Lisa Schulte-Moore (NREM) and John Crespi (Econ/CARD) have been serving on the Governor’s Carbon Task Force and pushing the boundaries on effective management of carbon going forward for our state. Add to this our long-held programs like Science with Practice, now organized for us by Katie Hartmann, adjunct assistant professor in AgEdS, and so many more, and we’re on a great trajectory in all these regards.
I recently read this article, "Combinatorial innovation and technological progress in the very long run," written by Matt Clancy, assistant teaching professor in economics and member of the CALS Start Something Program (also known as the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative). Check it out – it's an easy, compelling read!
Last week I had the pleasure of taking part in the Iowa Pork Producers #GiveAHam challenge with College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Dan Grooms. We each donated a ham and a turkey to Bethesda Lutheran Church's Community Food Pantry here in Ames. If you haven't already, watch the video of our donation and see who we challenged to #GiveAHam (or turkey) to their local food pantry.
My best for a great week, keep careful of COVID, and watch out for stress amongst our students and colleagues and lend support however you can. My very best - Dan
Nature in Focus
We've had a number of beautiful sunsets lately, including this one on the evening of Dec. 4, as seen over the Ioway Creek valley in Ames, and another on Dec. 1, as seen from Curtiss Hall looking toward Bearshear Hall.
Construction continues at Iowa State's Kent Corporation Feed Mill and Grain Science Complex. Dirk Maier and Tony Ewing, director and manager of the Feed Mill, respectively, provided a progress update to Kent Corporation leadership Nov. 30.
