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Announcements for Friday, May 20, 2011

Announcements

  • New baby boy for grad students Miyoung Oh and Jiwoong Kim

    Congratulations to graduate students Miyoung Oh and Jiwoong Kim on the birth of their baby boy Isaac Haeum Kim! Isaac was born May 8 at 2:19 AM, and is 6 lbs. 7 oz., and 19 1/2 inches long.

  • United Way food drive drop off locations

    United Way of Story County hopes to raise 10,000 pounds of food. In addition, Monsanto will donate $1 for every pound of food donated, up to $10,000. CALS will be collecting non-perishable items May 16-25 at the following collection points:

    • 30 Curtiss Hall
    • Curtiss Hall Rotunda, first floor
    • 101 East Hall
    • 2312 Food Sciences Building
    • 260 Heady Hall
    • 220 MacKay Hall
    • 124 Science II
  • New posters for display

    We've had one new poster from Leigh Tesfatsion added to the display case on the second floor. We'd like to see these refreshed on a regular basis, so please let us know if you have something new.

News

  • Soil Management and Land Valuation Conference hosts 84th annual meeting

    Farm managers, rural appraisers, real estate brokers, and others interested in the land market in Iowa gathered recently for the 84th annual Soil Management and Land Valuation Conference. The conference holds the distinction as the longest running on the ISU campus, and was originally started by Dr. William Murray.


    It brought in 233 attendees this year, who projected Iowa land values would increase 33% in 2011, said Professor Mike Duffy, conference host and organizer. “Since 1964, the projections have averaged within 2% of the reported Iowa land values.  If the 33% increase proves correct it would be the largest annual increase in Iowa land values,” he said.

  • RECAP's Swenson releases report on the regional impact of small meat processing facilities in Iowa

    Investing in Iowa’s small meat processing plants could have positive local impacts in rural communities, according to a new report by Dave Swenson of RECAP. Click on the image left to access the report, and read the Leopold Center press release here. Swenson also completed a related study to provide data for the Iowa Local Food & Farm Plan that shows how increased demand in Iowa’s metropolitan areas for locally grown fruits and vegetables can have a positive impact on rural communities. That report can be found at http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/Swenson_Fruit_Veg.pdf.


     

  • Extension's Baker receives NACAA award for video promo

    Dave Baker, Extension Program Specialist with the Department of Economics, received a communications award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) for his role in creating a promotional video for ISU Extension. To view the video click on the image on the right.


     

  • Grad Student Summer Spotlight: Baul to study adaptive economic dynamics in Italy

    Tushi Baul is a fifth-year PhD student studying experimental economics under Professor Tanya Rosenblat, with a research focus in experimental labor markets. This summer she'll attend an interdisciplinary course in adaptive economic dynamics at the Computable Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL), University of Trento, Italy. The course will focus on the evolution of social preferences.

    What are your objectives for the course? I have been interested in the impact of different cultures on economic outcomes. This opportunity might give me an insight about how different cultures create different social preferences. It might also introduce me to new research areas.What's exciting or interesting to you about this opportunity? I am keen in this program as it is interdisciplinary. It will help me to understand the perspectives of sociologists, psychologists, and biologists. Also interaction with fellow graduate students always helps.

    Learn more about CEEL at: http://www-ceel.economia.unitn.it/summer_school/twelfth/index.html. To highlight the summer activities of a particular grad students contact ksenty@iastate.edu.

  • Ag Bus Senior Rahn receives NAMA scholarship

    Darrin Rahn, a senior in agricultural business and marketing from Mt. Carroll,IL, was awarded the 2011 Successful Farming/Fergie Ferguson Outstanding Student Award. Rahn is the president of Iowa State’s student NAMA chapter and president of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council. He received a $4,000 scholarship with the award. Click the photo left to read more about Rahn and other honors awarded to the Iowa State chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association.

  • Weekly media connections for the Department of Economics

    Courtesy of Jackie King, ISU News Service.

    • Chad Hart, assistant professor of economics and grain markets specialist, spoke with Julie Ingwersen of Reuters about crop basis levels through the summer and fall. He also spoke with Ed Clark of Farm Journal Media about crop basis, barge numbers, and flooding. And he spoke with Ray Bowman of the Food and Farm radio program about the farm bill.
    • An associate scientist in economics and staff member in ISU’s Regional Economics and Community Analysis Program, Swenson was interviewed today by Matt Kelley, Radio Iowa, regarding Swenson’s research for the Leopold Center looking at the regional impacts of small meat processing facilities in Iowa.
    • Swenson was interviewed Friday by Arthur Sulzburger III of The New York Times about examples of rural to urban legislative power shifts in Iowa. Sulzburger also spoke with Liesl Eathington, director of RECAP and an assistant scientist in economics, to get a good demographic representation of population shifts from rural to urban areas.
    • Swenson was asked last Thursday by Jason Clayworth, a political reporter with The Des Moines Register, to review the League of Cities', the Association of Counties', and the Governor's estimates of the revenue impacts associated with a reduction in commercial and industrial values by 40 percent phased in over a five-year period.  Swenson found that all of the estimates either had errors or made assumptions that distorted the impacts, and that legislation should rely on nonpartisan estimates from the Legislative Services Bureau instead of estimates produced by special interests.

Funding Opportunities

Job Opportunities

  • One Year Faculty Position in Economics -- University Of Minnesota, Duluth

    Job title: instructor/assistant professor of economics - will teach principles of microeconomics, principles of macroeconomics, and statistics.
    Review of completed applications will begin on June 6, 2011
    Only online applications accepted at: http://employment.umn.edu/
    With questions contact: A Maureen O'Brien, Labowitz School of Business and Economics, 218-726-7284

Papers and Presentations

  • Grad student Rosas presents paper at Cornell University

    Graduate student Juan Francisco Rosas presented the paper "A Nonlinear Offset Program to Reduce Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Excessive Nitrogen Applications," at the conference "The Role of Carbon Offsets in Climate Policy" in Cornell University, Ithaca, NY on 13-15 May 2011.