Congratulations to Jessica Schuring and her husband Craig on the birth of their new baby girl Kennedy Renee Schuring. Kennedy was born at 3:28pm on Sunday, April 29th, weighing in at 6 lbs. 14 oz,. and is 19 1/2 in. long. The department wishes its best to Jessica and her new family!

Our graduate students are doing so many interesting things! Please make note of the fact that they're featured prominently in the news this week. This is part of an effort to include more stories about graduate student research, special events, employment outcomes, and conferences/workshops they attend. Also look for a regular news feature that details conference attendance and papers presented at other universities.

GSA has decided to hold the picnic tomorrow as scheduled. It will be at Brookside park, in the Maple Shelter. Officially, the picnic starts at 5pm, but the shelter is reserved at 4pm, so feel free to stop by earlier if convenient.

The weather.com forecast is a 30% chance of rain starting from 6pm, so this may end up being a short picnic. However, there is a 60% chance of rain on Sunday, so we think this is the better option. In the event of a dramatically worsening outlook over the day, we reserve the right to cancel on short notice.

The annual graduate student picnic will be on Friday, April 13, starting at 5 PM. Organizers are requesting an RSVP ahead of time in order to plan for food and minimize potential over-purchase. Please contact Matt Clancy, mclancy@iastate.edu, and let him know your plans for attendance.