LINK Fall 2011 by Iowa State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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Helping students to reach their potential

Chemist Malika Jeffries-EL knows the importance of reaching out to students who face obstacles in their quest for a college education.

Making sense of the data

Dan Nettleton swishes the net when he applies his statistical know-how to life sciences research at Iowa State.

An international university

A record number of foreign students, a bustling study abroad program and global research make ISU an international university. Iowa State students, left, participated in a recent Brazil study tour, led by Luiza Dreasher (kneeling), college multicultural liaison officer.

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Link is published in the fall and spring each year by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University for alumni and friends of the college.

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES ADMINISTRATION Interim Dean David Oliver Associate Dean Arne Hallam Interim Associate Dean Martin Spalding Associate Dean Zora Zimmerman LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT TEAM Senior Director of Development Michael Gens Senior Director of Development Stephanie Greiner Progam Assistant Erin Baumann

Writeâ&#x20AC;Śthen write some more

Author and English faculty member Benjamin Percy spends a lot of time at his keyboard, but the fruits of his labors are getting top reviews.

A role model on campus

Samantha Edwards simply wants to be known as an Iowa State journalism student, but she is a role model and leader for disability awareness.

Eyewitnesses and the usual suspects

A new report by psychologist Gary Wells provides hard evidence that there is a better way for eyewitnesses to identify crime suspects.

We want your opinion on Link, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni magazine. Send us your thoughts: las@iastate.edu or 515-294-0461 We want to hear from you! â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Steve Jones, editor

More than one way to stay connected. www.las.iastate.edu/social

LINK STAFF Editor Steve Jones Writers Laura (Engelson) Wille Steve Jones Graphic Designer Sheena Green Cover Photo/Illustration Sheena Green

Link College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 223 Catt Hall Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 515-294-0461 las@iastate.edu

Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, 3280 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.

A record year in many ways Greetings. I am David Oliver. I am a professor in the Genetics, Development and Cell Biology Department and taught freshman biology at ISU since 1996. For the last seven years I have been the associate dean for research and graduate studies in the college. When Mike Whiteford retired this summer, I agreed to stand in as interim dean until a permanent replacement is named. So while I am new to this letter, I have been around the college for a few years now. Let me tell you, a lot is happening in the college. The 2011-2012 academic year started with a bang. Actually there were 29,887 pops that added up to a really big bang. This year ISU has 29,887 students – over 1,200 more than the previous record. The college was in a frenzy getting ready for the biggest freshman class and the biggest transfer class on record. We were renovating lecture rooms and laboratory classrooms to provide the facilities needed, and hiring lecturers and teaching assistants to teach all the extra sections. Tremendous efforts from the departments, the faculty, and the staff have accomplished wonders, and all of those students are in the classes they need. These increased student numbers have brought a lot of excitement to campus. They also are essential to the college as the increased tuition dollars they bring help offset the nearly 45 percent decrease in state funding we have experienced in the last three years. We have also set other records. Our faculty have had the best year ever in

research productivity. They have published more papers in the best journals, authored more award-winning books, captured more research grants, and in general had a broader impact on the quality of life in Iowa and across the nation and world than ever before. For example we had three professors in English release smash novels. Benjamin Percy’s The Wilding is on its way to becoming a movie, David Zimmerman’s The Sandbox is described as the first serious novel on the war in the gulf, and Dean Bakopoulos’ An American Unhappiness was an Oprah choice. This type of scholarly success has been recognized nationally. In the recent National Research Council evaluation of graduate programs, four LAS programs were among the best in their discipline. They are Chemistry and Physics as well as Statistics and Plant Biology, which we share with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Our friends and alumni have also set a record year in fund raising. LAS completed the recent Campaign Iowa State with contributions that exceeded all expectations. The generosity of our supporters has resulted in 111 new scholarships for students, 14 new professorships for our faculty, and two new buildings, Hach Hall, a state-of-the-art research and teaching center for Chemistry, and Troxel Hall, a new lecture hall in central campus. The next year has many big events in the future of the college. By the time you read this ISU may have named a new president to replace the retiring

The college was in a frenzy getting ready for the biggest freshman class and the biggest transfer class on record.

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Gregory Geoffroy. Greg will be joining our Chemistry faculty teaching the next generation of young chemists. By the end of the semester, we also hope to have a new dean named. I hear rumors that the pool of applicants is outstanding as would be fitting for a college with faculty and students of this quality. Yes, it has been quite a year and next year promises to be even better. I thank you for all your support and for the support I know you will offer the new dean. If you are on campus, I hope you have a chance to swing by your old departments or even to stop by Catt Hall and say hi. But watch out, the sidewalks in central campus are full of students.

David J. Oliver Interim Dean

Record enrollment just misses 30K Iowa State’s record fall enrollment of 29,887 marks five consecutive years of growth, and includes all-time high numbers of new (direct from high school) and transfer students. Overall enrollment is up 4.2 percent (1,205 students) over the previous record of 28,682 in fall 2010. The student body represents every Iowa county and 106 countries. Iowa State has attracted its largest freshman class ever – 5,048 – and 61.5 percent of them (3,105) are Iowans.

Parents prefer media content ratings The current age-based media ratings systems concerning questionable content in movies, video games and television aren’t meeting the needs of parents, according to a new study led by Iowa State psychologist Douglas Gentile. The research found that parents would prefer media ratings that focus on detailed content information. “We have always assumed there was general agreement underlying age-based ratings that a certain type of content is acceptable for a child of a certain age,” said Gentile. “But nobody, to my knowledge, ever attempted to verify that assumption.” Gentile and other researchers compiled a list of 36 content labels and descriptors – listed under four content categories: sexual, violent, offensive language and mature – that Gentile said could be used as a basis for a future content ratings system. “For about half of those 36 different types of content, more than 50 percent of parents said, ‘Yes, I would screen this for my kid if I knew about it,’” he said.

Peterson named interim director of Harkin Institute David Peterson, associate professor of political science, will serve as interim director of the new Harkin Institute of Public Policy at Iowa State. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences interim dean David Oliver said Peterson will focus on developing the structure, direction and activities of the institute. The institute is named for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, an ISU alumnus, who has served more than 35 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The institute will house Harkin’s papers, and serve as the catalyst for research, teaching and outreach on public policy issues. The Iowa Board of Regents approved establishment of the institute on April 28. The institute will report to the dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. An advisory board, which will be appointed by President Gregory Geoffroy, will provide oversight. Eventually, a national search will be conducted to identify a permanent institute director.

A heart for Africa His first trip to Africa was definitely not his last, said Zach Graham. A month-long trip to Tanzania in summer 2011 left an indelible mark on the Iowa State anthropology student. “They say once you go to Africa, your heart stays there,” he said. Graham, a member of Army ROTC at Iowa State, was part of a cultural understanding and language program with the United States Army cadet command. Every day he took two-hour lessons in Swahili. He also learned about gender, health and cultural issues, and Tanzania political and educational systems. After the daily classwork Graham went out into the community and used the language. He worked at a nursery school, located inside a prison compound. He taught Swahili, English and math to the 2- to 6-year olds, who were mostly children of the prison guards.

Go to page 10 to see other examples of internationalism in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

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Zack Graham, middle, in Tanzania with members of the Masaai Tribe.

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Iowa caucuses 101

Ames Piano Quartet produces 14th album

Mack Shelley and reporters from news outlets in Spain and China.

Two dozen members of the international news media “went to school” at Iowa State Aug. 11 to learn about Iowa’s unique presidential campaign and caucus process. Mack Shelley, University Professor of political science, lectured journalists prior to the nationally televised Republican presidential debate, held in Stephens Auditorium. Members of the news media from outlets in China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland attended the session. Patti Brown, director of the Iowa Policy Institute, organized the event through the U.S. State Department Washington Foreign Press Center. It was sponsored by the Polk County Republican Party.

The Ames Piano Quartet, Iowa State’s resident chamber orchestra, has produced its 14th album. “Piano Quartets by Mozart, Hummel, and Beethoven” was released this year by the Virginia recording company Sono Luminus, which describes the CD as a “new take on some famous pieces for winds.” Members of the Ames Piano Quartet, all of whom are faculty members in the ISU Department of Music and Theatre, are William David, piano; Mahlon Darlington, violin; Jonathan Sturm, viola; and George Work, cello. The album was recorded in summer 2010 in a large ballroom in a 42-room, 1912 Edwardian-style mansion on an estate in Upperville, Va. “The large ballroom has ideal acoustics for recording,” David said.

Dean search is under way The search for a new dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is moving forward. A 20-member search committee anticipates a new dean will be named by the end of fall semester 2011. Search committee co-chairs are Jonathan Wickert, dean of the College of Engineering, and David Holger, associate provost for academic programs and dean of the Graduate College. Michael Whiteford, dean of LAS since 2003, retired June 30. David Oliver, associate dean for research, is serving as interim dean.

English prof’s novel earns high praise With war, a slow economy and high unemployment, Americans have had their share of unhappiness. That’s the underlying theme of Dean Bakopoulos’ new novel, My American Unhappiness (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), released in summer to rave reviews, including O, The Oprah Magazine naming it the No. 1 “Title to Pick Up Now” for June. Bakopoulos is an assistant professor of English who is on the faculty of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment. The novel’s main character, Zeke Pappas, “is someone who’s just been battered collectively along with the rest of the country, whose personal bad luck has sort of mirrored the darker moments our country has gone through in the last 10 years,” Bakopoulos said.

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Eyeing the diaspora

Detecting neutrinos

Abdi Kusow, Somalia native. Photo by Bob Elbert

Mayly Sanchez, physicist. Photo by George Joch

The images of starving children and violence caused by famine and political unrest in Somalia painfully hit home with Abdi Kusow, born and raised in the African nation. An associate professor of sociology at Iowa State, Kusow continues to follow the events in Somalia closely as a researcher and author on Somalia and the Somali diaspora. He’s authored or edited three books and numerous journal articles on the topic. “There are two parallel approaches to this kind of a problem, whether it’s in Somalia, or any other place,” said Kusow, who has consulted with several international organizations, including the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. “The first point is to obviously figure out how best to help the people who are in immediate danger. “The second point is really how to make sure that some kind of political and social infrastructure is put in place so that a repeat does not occur,” he continued. “This is even more important than the initial relief operation.” Compounding the famine in Somalia is the fact that the country has been beset by corruption and political instability and is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. All that has attracted the world’s attention again, and Kusow hopes that the global response will go beyond providing only immediate relief. “This awareness will help now, and I’m glad that that’s the case,” he said. “But I think that this international effort then must be turned into an effort that does not only consider itself with the immediate relief, but in resolving the political crisis in Somalia. In fact, that is what I believe is the interest of all of us in the international community.” – ISU News Service

Hundreds of physicists from around the world are making plans to shoot the world’s most intense beam of neutrinos from Illinois, underground through Iowa, all the way to a former gold mine in South Dakota. And Iowa State’s Mayly Sanchez is part of the research team. Sanchez, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy, is working to develop the next generation of detectors to pick up the trail of neutrinos, subatomic particles that are among the most abundant in the universe and normally race through matter without leaving a trace. “Advances in material sciences are allowing us to make photodetectors that are larger, cheaper, better,” said Sanchez. “They’ll have a larger surface area and be better able to measure points in space with better timing. The question is, can we make a better experiment?” Sanchez’s work is supported by a five-year, $709,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program. The grant allows Sanchez to contribute to the proposed Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment – a $900 million collaboration of 300-plus researchers led by three U.S. Department of Energy laboratories. The experiment would send a neutrino beam 800 miles from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., to the Homestake Mine in Lead, S.D., to see how the neutrinos change over distance. Sanchez is working to develop photodetectors for a proposed neutrino water Cherenkov detector as big as a 20-story building. The detector would be built deep underground at the Homestake Mine. It would spot Cherenkov light, the blue glow emitted when a charged particle passes through matter faster than light. Passing light is possible because matter – water in this case – slows light more than subatomic particles. – ISU News Service

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Fits like a glove

Important for ecosystems

Christopher Hopkins, arts and technology. LAS photo

Wilsey, left, and Harpole, biodiversity. LAS photo

At first glance Christopher Hopkins appeared to be playing a video game by moving his gloved right hand. A melodic sound emitted from speakers and colorful shapes gently moved across a large video screen. The glove is no ordinary one, said Hopkins, associate professor of music at Iowa State. He wore an AcceleGlove, a high-tech glove equipped with six accelerometers, devices that translate motion and positions of the hand, wrist and fingers to data for input to a computer. The tool allowed Hopkins and four student researchers to combine the arts and technology. They used the glove in a graduate-level seminar that focused on designing interfaces and software for performance of electronic music. The students, whose academic backgrounds include music, psychology, engineering and graphic design, spent two years together in the course. “Two of the students had collaborated during the first year to design a musical glove controller from the ground up, so I suggested this as a focus for continuing the course involving all four students in team-based research,” said Hopkins. The AcceleGlove, made by AnthroTronix Inc., uses three-axis accelerometers on each finger and the palm to capture changes of speed and direction. Hopkins believes the team’s most significant contribution was to add “vibrational feedback” to the glove. Hopkins said, “While the AcceleGlove on its own sends information, our augmentation allows the performer also to receive information as vibration on the fingers.” Software developed by the team allows users to move their hands and fingers to change the speed and tone of both music and video, mapping rhythmic patterns and even drawing these in colors on the screen. The students were Fernando Bravo, Karl Svec, Jeffrey Kosinski and Mark Weimer. – LAS Communications

Many different types of plants live in grasslands around the world, and according to a new analysis, it turns out that most of those species are important. Brian Wilsey, associate professor, and Stanley Harpole, assistant professor, both in Iowa State’s Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, are authors of a study on plant diversity. The study’s lead author is Forest Isbell, Wilsey’s former graduate student who now works at McGill University in Montreal. Their findings show that most species promoted ecosystem functioning in at least some years, sites and environmental conditions. In all, 84 percent of the grassland species are important to the ecosystem at some point. Prior to this research, Wilsey said that the argument for diversity was more difficult. “In any single context, only about 27 percent of plant species were seen as important,” he said. Since previous research had shown that such a small number of plant species were important to ecosystem processes, there was less reason to be concerned if grasslands lost different species and diversity lessened, according to Wilsey. Now, the value of diversity is very apparent. “If you look at any one year at one site, you might say that species A or species B is really important,” said Wilsey. “But what we found was that if you run the analysis over several years, sites or environmental-change contexts, many different species become important. This study really brought everything together.” The authors looked at data from 17 grassland studies around the world. “Under multiple contexts, many different plant species become really important,” Wilsey added. – ISU News Service

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A commitment to outreach Chemist Malika Jeffries-EL

by Laura (Engelson) Wille

“B

lack, female and poor was not a winning recipe,” said Malika Jeffries-EL of her childhood prospects of one day becoming a scientist. “Given my demographic, I should be anything other than a scientist or professor.” Jeffries-EL realized at a young age in New York City that she had two choices: accept the circumstances or don’t. She didn’t, and set her sights on college, followed by graduate school. Now the assistant professor of chemistry is reaching out to other students who face

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similar obstacles to earning a higher education. One source of help for Jeffries-EL was the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. She joined as a graduate student and finally found a sense of community, she said. Prior to joining the group, she was the only African American studying chemistry at her graduate school. The organization initiates and supports local, regional, national and global programs that assist people of

color in fully realizing their potential in academic, professional and entrepreneurial pursuits in chemistry, chemical engineering and related fields. The organization also provides financial assistance, which helped Jeffries-EL finish graduate school, she said. Now, as a co-advisor for the ISU chapter, Jeffries-EL organizes study tables, tutoring and fund-raising efforts to send undergraduate and graduate students to the organization’s annual meeting where they can present their research and make job contacts. The ISU

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Jeffries-EL’s students get a hands-on experience in her chemistry lab. Photos by Sheena Green

chapter is open to anyone, Jeffries-EL said. The members are of various ethnicities, including one non-minority student. “Our students graduate and move on, and that’s a good thing,” she said. “I can’t think of anyone who was a member that hasn’t graduated.” Jeffries-EL is also paying it forward in a mentoring role for the Iowa Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. She has hosted students in her laboratory and led workshops to encourage undergraduates to pursue doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines

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(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at ISU. Qualified students are subsidized by the organization. “Science Bound Saturdays” are yet further ways Jeffries-EL encourages students to pursue STEM fields. The ISU-based organization works to increase the number of ethnically diverse Iowans who pursue degrees in the sciences. In her Saturday lab demonstrations, students make nylon, polyurethane foam and – always the favorite – slime. In the Partnership for Science and Engineering Education program, Jeffries-EL hosts high school students in her lab. The students work about 12 hours per week and learn the process of trial and error while producing useful compounds, she said. Her commitment to outreach in the six years since she joined the faculty at ISU is also important in the eyes of funding institutions. Jeffries-EL received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development grant in 2009, which was weighed

significantly in regards to outreach and her research project’s potential for community impact. Her polymer research is making scientific discoveries and developing new materials for energy. The nonscience impact of her research is being able to fund a “laundry list of students,” she said, including support for undergraduate research. NSF also partnered with the website NBC Learn on a new program, Chemistry Now. Jeffries-EL was recently featured in a video segment on polymers. “When I was a kid, Mae Jemison [the first African American woman to travel in space], was someone I looked up to,” she said. “If some little girl sees my video segment and is inspired, that will be cool.” To see the video, visit http://www. nbclearn.com/_portal/site/learn/ chemistry-now/week15 and click on “From Metal to Plastic: Iowa State Chemist Works on Organic Semiconductors.” ■

Standing tall in his field

by Steve Jones

s a lanky youth, Dan Nettleton grew up in Algona amidst a sea of picture-perfect, north-central Iowa farm fields. Although not a farm kid, he knew corn up close and personal. His parents, both high school teachers with summers off, rounded up their children for family detasseling jobs. Their task was to remove the tassels atop the corn stalks of certain rows to crossbreed two varieties of Iowa’s iconic crop. The result was high-yielding hybrid seed corn. One senses the tiring, dirty work in the dead of summer wasn’t Nettleton’s favorite activity. “It was a tough job, but I think I am a better person for having had the experience,” said Nettleton, a statistics professor at Iowa State University who still works with corn and other agricultural products, but in a less physical way. Nettleton is a statistical genomicist. The Laurence H. Baker Chair in Biological Statistics collaborates with Iowa State plant and animal scientists and graduate students to design experiments and statistically analyze the results. His work is in demand. Advances a few years ago in DNA microarray and DNA sequencing technologies revolutionized how scientists study a complex process called gene expression. In simple terms, gene expression levels indicate what genes are turned on and by how much. Researchers seek genes that, for example, increase livestock growth or repel crop pests. The challenge, however, comes from the vast amounts of data generated. The new technologies kick out so much genetic information that statistical analysis is needed to make sense of what’s important and what’s not.

Statistical trail blazer In comes Nettleton. He blazed the statistical genomics trail, applying existing statistics principles to the biological sciences, and sometimes creating new methods. “It’s a whole new paradigm for the life sciences and the amount of data they can collect now,” Nettleton said. “It’s really a data-rich science in the sense that they can measure tens of thousands of genes simultaneously, whereas scientists formerly did one gene at a time.” “Dan is really one of the leaders in this field,” said David Oliver, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a biologist. “He helped bring statistical analysis to biology as one of the first people to work with life scientists.” Nettleton’s accomplishments aren’t bad for an Iowa boy who never had a college biology course (he instead took chemistry and physics) and was recruited into statistics by Dan Nettleton with Iowa corn. 8

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someone watching him play college hoops. The 6-foot, 5-inch Nettleton played basketball at Wartburg College for popular coach Buzz Levick, who was on his way to winning 510 games for the Knights. Spurning walk-on offers at larger schools, Nettleton was a three-year starter, averaging double figures in scoring in each of his last three seasons. He excelled even more in the classroom, twice earning first-team academic all-America honors and was named the national College Division academic all-America Player of the Year in 1991. Another Wartburg player at the time was Jeff Isaacson, whose father, Dean, was professor and department head of statistics at Iowa State. The elder Isaacson knew Nettleton was a math major, and a top student to boot. “I tried to convince him to apply to graduate school at Iowa State for statistics,” Dean Isaacson recalled. Nettleton was unsure of his plans and considered a career as an insurance company actuary. “Then Dean Isaacson got to know about me and recruited me into the discipline of statistics,” he said. “Dean tried to talk me into coming to Iowa State as a graduate student, but because I was still harboring an actuarial science interest, I thought maybe the University of Iowa would be a better place for me because it had a department of statistics and actuarial science.” In graduate school, thoughts of an actuarial science career changed in favor of becoming a statistics researcher and college professor. He earned his Ph.D. in 1996, spent four years on the University of Nebraska faculty before Dean Isaacson successfully recruited him to Iowa State in 2000. Nettleton quickly maneuvered the learning curve of the biological sciences and started advising scientists on developing experiments and reading their mounds of data.

“I got really interested in these applications,” Nettleton said. “By no means am I an expert in biology, but I understand the concepts well enough to be able to transform biological questions into statistical questions. I had a great set of collaborators, and we’d communicate with each other in terms we could both understand.”

From corn vigor to bioenergy Nettleton works on many scientific investigations – corn vigor, soybean pathogens, feed intake in swine, salmonella resistance in chickens and crops for bioenergy, to name a few. Iowa State professor Patrick Schnable conducts genetic research for crop improvement. Nettleton meets weekly with members of Schnable’s research group to discuss the design, analysis and interpretation of genomic experiments. “This meeting is one of the highlights of our week,” Schnable said. “Dan’s very significant intellectual contributions at these meetings have had enormous impact on not only our research but also the professional development of my graduate students, post-docs and staff. He is a wonderful collaborator who is highly respected around the world.” Dean Issacson said Nettleton was “totally” a team player at Wartburg, an attribute he maintains today on the statistics faculty. “Dan was a senior when my son was a sophomore on the JV squad,” said Isaacson. “As a senior captain Dan had time for my son and all other underclassmen. He shows the same character as an endowed chair.” Because newer technologies are allowing scientists to create even more and different data, Nettleton’s work is ever changing. “The way researchers are now able to measure gene expression levels creates new data types we haven’t seen before,” he explained, adding, “There’s still plenty of research to do on the statistics side.” ■

Statistically speaking, Nettleton tries to control error rates How does Dan Nettleton assist biological scientists? Often by controlling error rates.

affected by the infection – will contain some that are not truly scientifically interesting.

In one example, the Iowa State statistician worked with a plant pathologist on a plant’s genetic response to a pathogen. “What are the genes in a healthy plant doing compared to what they are doing in response to an infection?” Nettleton rhetorically asked. “The challenge is to produce a list of genes most likely to be affected by the infection.”

“We try to estimate the proportion of the genes we put on the list that might not really belong there. We can’t say exactly which genes they are, but we can at least give the researcher some idea of how much error is on this list.”

He said many genes may appear to be affected by infection simply by chance, especially when thousands of genes are studied simultaneously. Thus, a list of genes – genes that appear most likely to be WWW.LAS.IASTAT E . E D U

Often researchers try to identify a set of genes where no more than perhaps five percent of the results are false positives. “We develop statistical methods for reliably estimating such error rates and apply these methods to control error rates below desired levels.” 9

ON THE COVER

Countries Visited by ISU Students, 2010-11:

An International View From study abroad to record international enrollment to far-reaching research, Iowa State is a global university.

Allison Baird at Machu Picchu – the “Lost City of the Incas” high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. The Iowa State student was on a summer study abroad trip.

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1. Italy, 233 students

2. Spain, 141

6. New Zealand, 32

7. Mexico, 24

3. United Kingdom, 140 8. South Africa, 22

4. Australia, 68 9. France, 22

5. Costa Rica, 36 10. Greece, 21

Source: ISU Study Abroad Center

It was November of her first year in Ames. Udu Abalu was half a world away from her native warm-weather Nigeria, studying economics and international studies at Iowa State University. She was on the phone with her father. He earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Iowa State in 1975 – a fact that helped lead Abalu to Iowa. That day he provided his daughter with important information. “By the way,” he said, “it gets cold there.” “My dad never told me that part,” laughed Abalu, who didn’t own a heavy coat. “I had never even felt snow before.” Oh, the adventures of international study. Abalu found a coat and is now one of the all-time-high 3,424 international students on campus this fall. Abalu is part of the increasing globalization of Iowa State and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Internationalization penetrates academic programs, faculty research efforts and campus life (long lines are the norm at the international food fair). International students account for

11.5 percent of the university’s record 2011 enrollment of 29,887. Also, in most years, 1,000-plus students participate in ISU Study Abroad experiences lasting from a week to a year. (By comparison only 256 students in 1996 studied abroad.) All told, about 18 percent of Iowa State’s graduates last year studied outside the U.S. Many Iowa State faculty have long-term international research programs and collaborations, which often include student participation. Also, the university encourages faculty to apply for prestigious Fulbright academic exchanges in other nations. “I think we’re much more international than two decades ago,” said Dawn Bratsch-Prince, associate provost for academic personnel and chief diversity officer at Iowa State. She added that global diversity is the only way a research university like Iowa State can compete internationally. “We have to think globally and make sure our faculty, staff and students have some kind of global understanding. Our students need international experiences. They have to be sensitive to the way people think and live in other countries.” Bratsch-Prince, a professor of Spanish and former Liberal Arts and Sciences associate dean overseeing international programs, said Iowa State faculty have been internationally engaged for years. “Now we are seeing more emphasis on global experiences for students.”

Tailoring study abroad Students travel abroad for several reasons, said Nancy Guthrie, director of LAS Study Abroad. Many want to study a language or culture, meet a specific course requirement or simply beef up a resume. “We help students use ISU Study Abroad in ways that are most meaningful for them,” Guthrie explained. “We try to tailor it as much as possible for them.” Most Iowa State students traveling Udu Abalu learned about snow at Iowa State.

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ON THE COVER

ISU International Student Enrollment

Iowa State student Yue Wu, left, and her Italian interpreter were interviewing residents in Urbino, Italy. Photo by Dennis Chamberlin

abroad do so on ISU-sponsored programs. “However, the locations are limitless,” said Guthrie, explaining that students also take part in programs at other universities. “The only limiting factor is making sure those credits transfer back to Iowa State.” ISU students visited 48 nations in academic year 2010. Italy hosted the most students (233) followed by Spain (141) and the United Kingdom (140). Guthrie added that international experiences can change students, particularly those who participate in semester-long stays. “It changes them in how they perceive the world and

themselves, and especially in terms of their own maturity. It is certainly an academic and personal voyage of discovery.” Faculty-led programs are popular throughout campus, and next May Liberal Arts and Sciences is again offering its three-week, three-credit Global Seminars. Two are in Italy with other seminars planned for Germany, Ireland and Canada. Political science professor and chair James McCormick took students this year to Ottawa for the seminar “Canadian Politics and Foreign Policy.” Included was a visit with Audrey O’Brien, Clerk of the House of

Nations, 2010-11:

Commons and second-ranking Canadian Parliament official. “It was both a frank and fascinating presentation, perhaps the highlight of the trip for most of the students,” McCormick said. Also this year photojournalist Dennis Chamberlin led ISU’s “Urbino Through A Lens” seminar, part of a feature writing, photography and video program in the small Italian town of Urbino. Chamberlin, associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said student teams were challenged to find their own stories. “We held them to high standards,” he said. “Only the best were put online.” It took Iowa State journalism student Yue Wu two weeks and three attempts to get her Urbino story idea approved: a feature about a local cheese maker. The final result was a success. “One thing I learned the most was how to work with people,” Wu said. (See more about Urbino at www. jlmc.iastate.edu/news/2011/fall/ international-experience.) More students are trying to make a difference by taking part in international service learning programs. Allison Baird, a religious studies and sociology student, participated in the eight-week “In the Footsteps of the Incas” Iowa Regents Program in the Peruvian Andes Mountains. “I wanted to experience the culture, but I also wanted to go down there and improve lives,” said Baird. Students attended classes and twice a week traveled to remote villages to help local residents build structures for food production using adobe bricks. The students lived with host families, some of which – as in Baird’s case – spoke no English. “It was fun to see how my language skills improved in just

Languages and Cultures for Professions A successful program in the Department of World Languages and Cultures is making graduates more successful in the work force. See the story from the Spring 2010 edition of Link: www.las.iastate.edu/link_magazine/s2010_lcp.shtml

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C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

1. China - 1,764

2. India - 364

6.Turkey - 33

7. Canada - 32

3. South Korea - 232 8. Indonesia - 31

4. Malaysia - 183 9. Sri Lanka - 31

5. Taiwan - 72 10. Mexico - 30

Source: ISU Office of the Registrar

two months,” said Baird, who has a Spanish minor.

Bringing diversity to campus Iowa State’s international students greatly help diversify the campus, Bratsch-Prince said. “It’s an excellent opportunity for our students to get to know someone from another part of the world,” she said. “It opens their eyes to different ways of thinking, being and doing.” International students play key roles for the Liberal Arts and Sciences Ambassadors, said Ann Hawkins, coordinator of the student group that assists the college with student recruitment. Four of this year’s 24 members are from other nations. (Udu Abalu, mentioned at the top of this story, is a former Ambassador.) “They bring their stories and diverse backgrounds to the Ambassadors,” said Hawkins. “It’s really good for the prospective students to meet our international Ambassadors and see the diversity we have at Iowa State.” International teaching assistants and visiting scholars also bring different cultural perspectives to classrooms, which Bratsch-Prince calls a “great learning experience for undergraduates.” For several years the Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLC) has hosted a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant through a U.S. State Department program. Last year Israeli educator Alaa Jubran taught first-year Arabic. He applied for the Fulbright

program to improve his English and “pick up slang that people use.” WLC offers first- and second-year Arabic, the result of growing student interest in the language and the Middle East, said Mark Rectanus, German professor and WLC chair. In addition the department provides programs in French, Spanish and German, minors in Russian, Chinese and classical studies, which includes Greek and Latin instruction. “Interest in languages and learning about other cultures is really strong now,” Rectanus said. “Although English is an international language, students recognize the value of knowing another language.” Also growing in enrollment is the ISU secondary major international studies, in which students examine global events and issues. The program requires a minimum three weeks of study abroad and at least a “202-level” language proficiency, said Chad Gasta, associate professor of Spanish and international studies director.

‘Have to think globally’ One does not have to look far to see that all the signs point toward the continued globalization of Iowa State. However, university officials would have it no other way. “We can’t be myopic,” said BratschPrince. “If this university is going to attract excellent students and faculty and staff and have an impact, we have to think globally.” ■

ISU research touching how many people? International research by Iowa State faculty affects people around the globe. One project perhaps could touch half the planet’s population. Tsing-Chang (Mike) Chen coordinates a multination group looking at ways to better predict weather extremes in East Asia. Chen, a professor in ISU’s atmospheric sciences program, directs the East Asian Monsoon Experiment, sponsored by the United States and seven Asian countries. Studying monsoons is important, Chen said, because the storms can affect nearly half the world’s population and even seem to forebear severe weather in North America. “The disaster prevention programs of governments in East and Southeast Asia have always concentrated on typhoons,” said Chen. “Damages and hazards caused by [monsoons] are as important as by typhoons to the society, but have not received equal attention.”

Iowa State study abroad: The basics Program types: Exchanges, summer trips, semester-long programs, three-week seminars, for example. Duration: From one week, such as the spring break service-learning trip to Belize, to a full academic year. Language: In English or the native language (Spanish, French and German are popular). Credits: Most students return with college credits. Lodging: Residence halls, apartments, hotels and in private homes with host families. Destinations: You can just about name your destination.

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ON THE COVER

Medical mission accomplished…for now by Laura (Engelson) Wille

or five days in July, Eduardo Maldonado checked patients’ vitals, shadowed doctors and gave teeth brushing demonstrations. It was great practice for the senior in biochemistry and aspiring doctor, even more so since the medical experience was not in a U.S. clinic or hospital. Maldonado treated patients in small, isolated towns in Ecuador. The summer trip was one of many conducted by MEDLIFE (Medicine Education and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere). The non-profit organization’s mission is to “help families achieve greater freedom from the constraints of poverty, empowering them to live healthier lives.” This was the first MEDLIFE trip for Maldonado, but “hopefully not the last,” he said. He had been looking forward to a service trip ever since he became familiar with the organization. In Ecuador, Maldonaldo – along with another ISU student and 18 students from around the United States – worked with local doctors and dentists in five small communities outside the city of Tena. They treated common ailments for the economically poor residents. The students’ work was divided into five stations: vitals, dentistry, doctor shadowing, pharmacy and teeth brushing. “The purpose was to provide immediate medical care,” he said. “I worked most of the time in vitals, taking blood pressure, height and

Maldonado, second from left, volunteered with other U.S. students in Ecuador last summer.

weight, temperature – the basic patient information,” he said. “It was hands-on and I learned a lot about the needs of the communities.” Maldonado said many of the residents don’t have money for medical care. If they did, medicine was not very accessible in the remote areas. “Everything that MEDLIFE provided is free of charge,” he said. A native of Puerto Rico, Maldonado was also able to translate between the Spanish-speaking residents and doctors,

and English-speaking MEDLIFE students. “I wasn’t just working in one station, I was moving around to help translate,” he said. “Being able to speak Spanish made the trip more dynamic, and made me more useful.” Maldonado’s passion for MEDLIFE resulted in a student chapter at ISU that he started in October 2010. The group already has 30 members. They sell Peruvian scarves on campus with 100 percent of the proceeds going toward the purchase of medicine and supplies for the organization. After Maldonado graduates in May 2012, he plans to attend medical school. Wherever he bases his career, he said he will continue his involvement in MEDLIFE. “Superficially, it looks good on a resume, and reflects my knowledge of how medicine operates on a basic level,” he said. “But personally, it was a very rewarding experience. It made me more confident that this is something I can do, and do well.”

One of many teeth brushing demonstrations offered by MEDLIFE in Ecuador. 14

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C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

Making a big university feel smaller Liberal Arts and Sciences programs Connections and Frontiers of the Discipline create opportunities for new students to connect with other students and faculty. By Laura (Engelson) Wille

he first year at a large university can be daunting for new students. It can be particularly difficult to connect with students and faculty in large classes. In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, two successful endeavors engage students as soon as they set foot on campus. Designed with first-year students in mind, the Connections program and the Frontiers of the Discipline link large lecture classes and faculty research to small, informal weekly seminars. Both are part of Iowa State University’s learning communities: small groups of students who take one or more courses together and may also live in the same residence hall. Connections and Frontiers of the Discipline can help a large campus feel smaller, and create opportunities for students to connect with other students and work closely with faculty. Each weekly, one-credit Connections seminar is led by the same faculty member teaching the coinciding large lecture. The seminars explore the connections between the lecture topic and issues and areas beyond the lecture discipline. The Connections program enrolls about 20 first-year students in each seminar. “The goal of Connections is to provide small-group experiences with large classes,” said Zora Zimmerman, associate dean of academic programs and instructional development in Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Not only have the students reinvigorated the large

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Connections instructor Eric Northway has seen the benefits of the small, weekly seminars.

classes, but also a number of the students will eventually choose that discipline as a major or minor.” Eric Northway, senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, teaches the religious studies Connections course. He said one of the greatest benefits of the program is the opportunity for students to connect with other students. “Because the students are primarily freshmen, Connections offers them the opportunity to plug-into their academic environment here at ISU in ways that other students in large lectures simply are not able,” he said. “And, as I have seen firsthand, many of them end up being friends throughout the rest of their time here at ISU.”   Northway noted that Connections has also benefited him as an instructor, both professionally and personally. “Connections has allowed me to see what the students might not be picking up on in the large lecture, based on the questions that they ask me in the seminar,” he said. Similar to Connections, the Frontiers of the Discipline seminars are small in size and informal. The one-credit seminars focus on the research activities

of faculty members. The seminars are win-win, Zimmerman noted. “Incoming students can work on the faculty member’s research on an informal basis. It provides fuel for faculty research and links with ISU’s mission for undergraduate research opportunities.” Don Sakaguchi, professor of genetics, development and cell biology, has taught a Frontiers seminar course for the past five years. Students in his seminar have been involved in independent research projects such as studying the differentiation of neural stem cells and developing experimental strategies to repair a damaged retina. “One of the major benefits for the undergraduates is to actually experience research firsthand,” Sakaguchi said. “Most of the students have taken laboratory courses, but those classes are quite different than a real lab experience conducting independent research. This provides the students with a much better understanding and, hopefully, a better appreciation of research.” Sakaguchi estimates that about 15 of his Frontiers students have proceeded to work in his research laboratory as undergraduate interns.

The long, useful lifetime of carbon-14

By Mike Krapfl

Iowa State physicists use a supercomputer to unravel a ‘significant’ puzzle.

he long, slow decay of carbon-14 allows archaeologists to accurately date the relics of history back to 60,000 years. And while the carbon dating technique is well known and understood (the ratio of carbon-14 to other carbon isotopes is measured to determine the age of objects containing the remnants of any living thing), the reason for carbon-14’s slow decay has not been understood. Why, exactly, does carbon-14 have a half-life of nearly 6,000 years while other light atomic nuclei have half-lives of minutes or seconds? (Half-life is the time it takes for the nuclei in a sample to decay to half the original amount.) “This has been a very significant puzzle to nuclear physicists for several decades,” said James Vary, an Iowa State University professor of physics and astronomy. “And the underlying reason turned out to be a fairly exotic one.”

Pieter Maris, left, and James Vary. Photo by Bob Elbert

supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Jaguar has a peak performance of 2.3 quadrillion calculations per second, a speed that topped the list of the world’s top 500 supercomputers when the carbon-14 simulations were run. The research project’s findings were published online by the journal Physical Review Letters. Vary and Pieter Maris, an Iowa State research staff scientist in physics and astronomy, are the lead authors of the paper. The research was

Jaguar supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

The reason involves the strong threenucleon forces (a nucleon is either a neutron or a proton) within each carbon-14 nucleus. It’s all about the simultaneous interactions among any three nucleons and the resulting influence on the decay of carbon-14. And it’s no easy task to simulate those interactions. In this case, it took about 30 million processor-hours on the Jaguar

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supported by contracts and grants from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Vary, in explaining the findings, likes to remind people that two subatomic particles with different charges will attract each other. Particles with the same charges repel each other. Well, what happens when there are three particles interacting that’s different from the simple addition of their

interactions as pairs? The strong three-nucleon interactions are complicated, but it turns out a lot happens to extend the decay of carbon-14 atoms. “The whole story doesn’t come together until you include the threeparticle forces,” said Vary. “The elusive three-nucleon forces contribute in a major way to this fact of life that carbon-14 lives so long.” Maris said the three-particle forces work together to cancel the effects of the pairwise forces governing the decay of carbon-14. As a result, the carbon-14 half-life is extended by many orders of magnitude. And that’s why carbon-14 is a very useful tool for determining the age of objects. To get that answer, Maris said researchers needed a billion-by-billion matrix and a computer capable of handling its 30 trillion non-zero elements. They also needed to develop a computer code capable of simulating the entire carbon-14 nucleus, including the roles of the three-nucleon forces. Furthermore, they needed to perform the corresponding simulations for nitrogen-14, the daughter nucleus of the carbon-14 decay. Mike Krapfl is a writer with the Iowa State University News Service

C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

The power of 26 letters Whether he’s perched in a hammock high above the ground, or at the computer for hours on end, Benjamin Percy is doing exactly what he wants to do: write. And write more. by Laura (Engelson) Wille

enjamin Percy has never had more fun at the keyboard. The assistant professor in the Department of English is working on his fourth book, which was sold to Grand Central Publishing for publication rights within a week of his 25-page pitch, and which was quickly sold to Gotham Group for movie rights. And all this before the book, Red Moon, has been completely written. But this isn’t Percy’s first writing rodeo or his first shot at the big screen. Red Moon follows two short story collections by Percy: The Language of Elk and Refresh, Refresh, the latter of which is scheduled tentatively to begin filming this fall. Red Moon also follows his first novel The Wilding, which was released in 2009 and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, rave reviews from Esquire, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and also won the 2011 Society of Midlands Authors Award for Fiction. Percy describes Red Moon as a horror novel with a literary flair. Like similar horror stories, it taps into cultural anxieties and contemporary unease. Red Moon is a post 9-11 horror novel about terrorism, xenophobia and infectious disease. Its sprawling plot covers several years and several countries. It is his first epic novel, and a large outline for the 600-page Red Moon adorns his office wall. Since the rights to the book sold in September 2010, Percy has been at the keyboard, sometimes eight to 10 hours a day, plugging away for the December 2011 deadline. The time afforded at the keyboard is of high value, he said. “The support of the university and the grant opportunities helped me reach this point,” Percy said. “I don’t think Red Moon would have happened if it wasn’t for the time Iowa State has allowed me to devote to projects like this. It’s great being at a research university.” A pathogen is at the heart of the novel, he said, and some of his research is within walking distance on the ISU campus. Percy has met with Lyric Bartholomay, associate professor of entomology, and Michael Kimber, assistant professor of biomedical sciences. “They have helped me capture, with credibility, the slippery science,” he said.

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Benjamin Percy finds inspiration in his office. Photo by Sheena Green

Percy also writes on a regular basis for magazines including Men’s Journal, Esquire, Outside and GQ, and also for The Wall Street Journal. Many of these stories involve the outdoors and Percy has been on hang gliding trips, rafted the Snake River and climbed a 250-foot old growth Douglas fir for an overnight stay in a hammock. “It’s a good way to get an adventure paid for,” he quipped. Looking past Red Moon, Percy has plenty of projects coming down the pike. He sent five new novel concepts to his agent, and will start “barreling away” on the next novel that gets approval. He also has plans to write two to three screenplays per year, in addition to his magazine article work, a comic book series proposal, a TV concept in its early stages, and, of course, his teaching responsibilities. “I have a lot of irons in the fire,” he said. “And I hope to inspire students with my discipline and my enthusiasm and my belief that these 26 letters at our disposal are the most important invention in the world.”

Writing new chapters of encouragement by Steve Jones

Journalism student Samantha Edwards is a disability awareness leader and role model.

ittle children often stop and stare at Samantha Edwards. She’ll look back and beam her friendly smile, which may prompt the wee ones to run away. “Little kids are so cute,” said Edwards, a senior in journalism at Iowa State University. “Sometimes the parents are embarrassed by their children’s actions, but I don’t think they should because these are little kids looking at something new.” The little ones see Edwards getting about in a motorized wheelchair. She has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that permanently affects muscle control and coordination. Edwards wants to be known simply as an Iowa State student slated to graduate next May. She will search for a public relations job with hopes of doing freelance writing on the side. Others, however, view her differently, as an advocate and role model for persons with disabilities.

Ms. Wheelchair Iowa Edwards spent two years as president of the Iowa State student club Alliance for Disability Awareness. She was named Ms. Wheelchair Iowa last year and competed in the Ms. Wheelchair America competition in Grand Rapids, Mich. She has mentored a high school student with hearing loss and encourages students with disabilities to attend college. At Marshalltown (Iowa) High School, Edwards convinced officials to install a ramp so she could cross the graduation ceremony stage, not in front of it. At Marshalltown Community College she was successful in her respectful request for accommodations to be made for her on-college apartment. “I don’t only want to be known for what I’ve done,” said Edwards. “I always wanted to be known as a writer and a normal student and for reasons other than my wheelchair.” She actually thought it was “funny” that she became Ms. Iowa Wheelchair. “It’s something I didn’t think I wanted to do

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or even have the opportunity to do, but it’s been a great experience.” With her crown came speaking engagements and other appearances in the state. Although she did not win the national competition, she truly enjoyed meeting the other women. “It was nice to talk to others who completely understand what you’re going through,” Edwards said. “Many of them were older than me. I was encouraged by the fact that they have jobs, live on their own and some were starting families.” Edwards, who uses a keyboard to write, was in the fifth grade when she noticed an avid interest in writing. She recalls the time when she and a friend wrote a story about a horse called Peanut, named after a toy horse she once owned. She later wrote articles for her high school newspaper, and as a senior the local daily newspaper hired her as a student columnist to write opinion pieces. “I enjoyed that very much. I like to research different issues and give my opinions,” she said.

Only what she needs Edwards lives in an Iowa State student apartment building. It has some built-in accommodations, such as automatic doors, but Edwards doesn’t ask for more than she needs. She uses accessible desks in classrooms and obtains class notes via a tape recorder, from other students or directly from a professor. Overall her experience at Iowa State has been truly positive. “Something I love about Iowa State, and I have to brag about it, is that they’ve always been so accommodating,” Edwards offered. “I just told them what I needed, and they were happy to do it. No questions, no reasons.” Yet Edwards, the reluctant advocate, is quick to say the accommodations also will help other students in wheelchairs today and in the future.

C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

Getting it right Gary Wells leads study finding sequential photos are more accurate for eyewitness IDs. By Mike Ferlazzo

study led by an Iowa State University psychology professor that gathered data from police criminal investigations from four cities has found that sequential photo lineups – those in which witnesses view one suspect photograph at a time – produce fewer mistaken eyewitness identifications than simultaneous photo lineups. The report, issued in September by the Des Moines-based American Judicature Society (AJS), comes on the heels of a landmark decision in August by the New Jersey Supreme Court mandating major changes in the way courts evaluate eyewitness identification evidence. Gary Wells, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of psychology, was principal investigator on the study, which has implications for reducing wrongful convictions in the United States criminal justice system. Of the 273 exonerations granted since 1989, more than 75 percent can be attributed to mistaken eyewitness identifications according to The Innocence Project – a non-profit national litigation and public policy organization. “It’s a good study for purposes of reassuring police departments that they’re not really going to lose suspect picks from it, but they will get fewer mistakes,” said Wells, also the holder of the Wendy and Mark Stavish Chair in Social Sciences at ISU. “That’s what this is all about, and

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Gary Wells used data from four police departments. Photo by Bob Elbert

that’s what police departments have always been interested in – they don’t want to get the wrong person. They want to get the right person. And this is a tool that’s going to help move them in that direction.” AJS, in collaboration with the Police Foundation, the Innocence Project, and the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, implemented a national field study at four law enforcement agencies to determine which lineup method – sequential or simultaneous – is more accurate. The Austin, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; San Diego, Calif.; and CharlotteMecklenburg, N.C., police departments participated in this research, called the “AJS National Eyewitness Identification Field Studies.” The field studies were conducted between 2008 and 2011 using specially designed software. The computer-based photographic lineups included one suspect photo and five known-innocent filler photos. “One person is the suspect – who may or may not be the perpetrator – but the other people who are being shown to the witness are known innocent fillers,” Wells said. “And so

whenever the witness picks one of them, we know it’s a mistake. And so if the sequential procedure is doing the job that we had said it would all along, it would suppress those filler picks without suppressing picks of the suspect. And that’s exactly what was found in this work.” Eyewitnesses shown photos in sequence accurately chose the suspect 69.1 percent of the time and chose known innocent fillers 30.9 percent of the time. By comparison, eyewitnesses shown a simultaneous array of six photos identified the suspect at a 58.4 percent rate and the fillers 41.6 percent of the time. Although hundreds of controlled laboratory studies have consistently found that sequential lineups substantially reduce mistaken identifications, Wells says many police departments have been hesitant to change their procedures based on laboratory findings alone.

Mike Ferlazzo is a writer for the Iowa State University News Service

Biochemistry graduate who created awareness about poverty wins initial Engel Family Upstander Award A recent Iowa State University graduate who has been active in creating awareness about poverty, homelessness and access to food is the first recipient of the Engel Family Upstander Award from ISU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Nidhi Shah is a native of India who graduated in May with concurrent undergraduate and master’s degrees in biochemistry. “Being from a developing country where I see people suffering from hunger and poverty, I had always wanted to work towards solving it,” said Shah. “However, I was unable to do anything back home. Iowa State University gave me the opportunity as well as the platform to work towards these causes seriously.” The Engel Family Upstander Award recognizes individuals who choose to take a positive stand on an issue of diversity and tolerance – often in difficult circumstances – and act on behalf of others. The award is inspired by the Upstander Awards by Facing History and Ourselves, a Massachusettsbased educational nonprofit organization.

Nidhi Shah

The award is named for the family of Iowa State alumna Debra J. Engel. She earned a psychology degree in 1973 and a master’s degree in industrial relations in 1976. Shah, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. degree in international and community nutrition, met others at Iowa State who had similar ideas and passions about hunger and poverty. “When I came to ISU and learned about the different organizations that

were dedicated to different causes,” she said, “I thought of doing something about it. Over time I realized that a lot of people lack awareness of these issues. Hence, awareness was the first step towards solving these issues.” Shah got busy working in several causes. With a friend she co-founded the group UNICEF @ ISU, an official UNICEF chapter that raised more than $2,000 within its first year. The chapter also raised awareness about issues related to water sanitation, education for girls and UNICEF’s “Believe in Zero” children’s project. As a member and later president of the ISU International Student Council, she helped develop a Humanitarian Awareness Committee. The council twice conducted a 12-hour famine (inspired by World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine) to make people experience hunger, poverty and a lack of resources. The council also helped raise relief funds for the Haiti earthquake and Pakistan flood in 2010 and the Japan earthquake and tsunami this year. Shah received $1,000 with the Upstander Award.

Iverson new holder of departmental chair

First Morehouse Faculty Fellowship to Wanamaker

Neal Iverson, professor and chair of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State, has become the Smith Family Foundation Departmental Chair in Geology. Tom and Evonne Smith of Houston, Texas, established the chair. The Smiths’ gift is for use in the field of geosciences, which includes geology and geophysics. It supports start-up funds for new faculty positions, equipment purchase, travel to professional meetings, field trips, scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, and other needs to advance the program. The Smith Family Foundation Departmental Chair in Geology is only the second endowed departmental chair at Iowa State. Iverson became chair of geological and atmospheric sciences on July 1.

Alan Wanamaker, assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, has been named the first holder of the David Morehouse Faculty Fellowship at Iowa State. The fellowship will provide Wanamaker with supplemental annual funds for his teaching and research efforts. A Charles City, Iowa, native, Morehouse earned an M.S. in geology with a minor in economics from Iowa State in 1970. He recently retired after 37 years of federal civil service. Morehouse established the fellowship to assist geological and atmospheric sciences to hire new faculty and give an early boost to their careers. Wanamaker researches past climates, especially in the North Atlantic Ocean during the last millennium. “The resources associated with the David Morehouse Faculty Fellowship will allow me to pursue and develop new field locations in support of my paleoclimate research,” Wanamaker said. “Additionally, this fellowship will help me train and support graduate and undergraduate students who work with me.”

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C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

Pruetz becomes first holder of Walvoord Professorship

From left, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, Jill Pruetz, Ellen Walvoord and Thomas Walvoord. Photo by David Gieseke

Jill Pruetz has been named the first holder of the Walvoord Professorship at Iowa State. Pruetz, associate professor of anthropology, has been recognized in recent years for her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees in Senegal. The research captured international attention when she reported that chimpanzees from her site were using spear-shaped tools to hunt. Ellen Molleston Walvoord (’61 journalism) and Thomas Walvoord (’61 animal science) established the professorship. Ellen Walvoord is a retired executive, Abbott Laboratories; Tom Walvoord is a retired executive, Northern Trust. They reside in Harvard, Ill.

Geology camp lodge named for Smiths The new lodge building at Iowa State’s geology field station near Shell, Wyo., now bears the name of one of the camp’s proudest alumni. The Smith Lodge honors alumni Tom and Evonne Smith of Houston, Texas. The Smith Family Foundation was the lead donor in the campaign to raise funds to build the lodge at the Carl F. Vondra Geology Field Station.

Liberal Arts & Sciences Development Staff

Michael Gens Senior Director of Development 515-294-0921 mgens@iastate.edu

Stephanie Greiner Senior Director of Development 515-294-8868 greiner@iastate.edu

Erin Baumann Development Program Assistant 515-294-3607 estein@iastate.edu

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Tom, who attended the camp in the late 1960s, holds both bachelor’s (1968) and master’s (1971) degrees in geology from ISU. Evonne has a bachelor’s degree from ISU (1968) in textiles and clothing. Tom said he and Evonne are proud of the new lodge, which was completed in 2010. “We are delighted with the quality of design and construction of the

lodge – definitely first class,” he said. “It is a facility well suited for effective learning.” “Our field station provides the single most important learning experience and source of camaraderie for our undergraduate majors during their four years at ISU,” said Neal Iverson, professor and chair of geological and atmospheric sciences.

Give Forward celebrates value of philanthropy at ISU By Michael Gens We are coming off the most successful fund-raising effort in university history – Campaign Iowa State. Now the Iowa State University Foundation is launching a marketing promotion that celebrates the value of philanthropy at Iowa State. Give Forward is designed to demonstrate how Iowa State benefactors are positively influencing the lives of Iowa State students and the world around them. Our Liberal Arts and Sciences development staff has the honor of working with donors everyday and seeing the great results of their gifts. Give Forward allows us to tell personal stories of forward-thinking alumni and friends and show how their generosity is making a difference locally and globally. Liberal Arts and Sciences donors not only provide life-changing opportunities for our students, but also enable our faculty, through research, to attack some of society’s most challenging issues. Give Forward will tell stories of how the gifts of alumni and friends from as far back as 75 years ago continue to enhance lives today. Many of the beneficiaries of those gifts over the years have since established their own funds to support the generations that follow. Donors certainly give back to Iowa State, yet they are really giving forward – helping shape productive citizens who will help make our world a better place. Give Forward underscores the hopes and dreams of Iowa State donors, and we are excited to share some of the compelling stories with you. Thank you for your continuing interest and support of Iowa State!

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 223 Carrie Chapman Catt Hall Ames, Iowa 50011

Give others the opportunities you have experienced.

Iowa State Center Original Concept

Hach Hall, 2011

The Iowa State Center – the hub of the university’s cultural and athletics activities – was made possible through the generosity of benefactors. Fifty years later, their vision of philanthropy has led others to help fund dozens of new and renovated campus facilities – buildings such as Hach Hall, the recently completed chemistry building. When you support world-class facilities at Iowa State University, you inspire passion. Set imaginations free. Move lives forward. You can move a life forward. You can move your university forward.