Salk Institute researcher and ISU's first Science Bound graduate to speak March 7

Salk Institute photo

Salk Institute plant scientist Charles Stewart Jr., graduated from Iowa State in 2000, the university's first Science Bound graduate. He will return to speak on "Fighting Hunger: A DNA Engineer's Path to Science and Success," at 8 p.m. Monday, March 7, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. A research associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, Stewart studies how plant enzymes make chemicals that are important to medicine and agriculture. Stewart's talk is part of the 20th anniversary celebration of Science Bound, Iowa State's program to increase the number of ethnically diverse Iowa youth pursuing science, technology, engineering and math careers. His talk is free and open to the public.

News release.

Daily Beast columnist and CNN political contributor John Avlon will speak March 8

Author, political columnist and voice-of-the-center John Avlon will present "Putting Labels Aside: Not Left, Not Right, Just Forward," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. Avlon specializes in the analysis of the independent movement and is a CNN political contributor. He is a senior political columnist at the Daily Beast, and author of "Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics" and "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America." His talk is free and open to the public.

News release.

Anumantha Kanthasamy

ISU research raises hope for solving Parkinson’s disease puzzle

Anumantha Kanthasamy of ISU's College of Veterinary Medicine has discovered a protein pathway that may hold the secret to understanding Parkinson's disease. He has been working to understand the complex mechanisms of the disease for more than a decade and believes this recent discovery offers hope for the cure.

News release.

Jane Smiley will speak about her Atanasoff bio March 3

Photo by Michael Lionstaer

Pulitzer prize-winning author Jane Smiley will speak about her most recent nonfiction book, "The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer," at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. The book tells the story of Atanasoff, an Iowa State physics professor who invented the first electronic digital computer in the basement of Physics Hall before he was diverted into war work in 1941. Smiley taught at Iowa State University from 1981 to 1996. Her presentation is free and open to the public.
News release.

Iowa State, Ames Lab researchers describe the pump that bacteria use to resist drugs

A research team led by Edward Yu of Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory is identifying the structure of pumps that allow bacteria to resist toxins. Their discoveries are published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature.
News release.

Iowa State selected for 'Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2011'

Iowa State University is among 50 public colleges nationwide -- and the only public school in the state -- named to the Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2011. The selection criteria covered more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, cost of attendance and financial aid.

USA TODAY presents: The Princeton Review Best Value Colleges.

More info.

Best-selling author of "Stuff White People Like" will speak at ISU March 2

Christian Lander, a New York Times best-selling author who satirizes white culture, will present a talk about "Stuff White People Like" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Lander's blog by the same name is a tongue-in-cheek list of things upper-middle-class Caucasians enjoy such as irony, having two last names, Whole Foods, kitchen gadgets, recycling and writers workshops. His talk is free and open to the public.
News release.

ISU economist's report assesses Obama health care plan moving forward

David Correll, a College of Business Ph.D. student and co-founder and president of ISU BioBus, looks forward to using the group's new processor to make biodiesel for CyRide bus No. 18.

Students to process waste vegetable oil from ISU Dining to fuel CyRide bus

David Frankel

Black History Month’s sobering news: MLK dream alive for few, says researcher

David Frankel, associate professor of economics, looked at public school enrollments from every school district in the country and found that school segregation between blacks and whites has improved only slightly from 1987 to 2007.

News release.