Announcements for Friday, March 9, 2012
Announcements
- New baby boy for Tanya Rosenblat and Markus Mobius
Congratulations to Tanya Rosenblat and Markus Mobius on the birth of their new son Benjamin Eli. He was born March 1, 2012, and weighs 6 lbs. 8 oz., and is 19.5 inches. He joins Tanya and Markus, and their two daughters Michelle and Ariel. The department wishes Benjamin Eli and family much health and happiness! - Learning sessions for new department whiteboards (Samsung 650TS-2)
The department has invested in two new interactive whiteboards that are located in 468D and 568B. These are available to department faculty, staff, and graduate students for use. Please join Mike Long, CARD Systems Analyst, for an introduction on how to use this powerful new tool. Topics covered will include:
- How to hook up to the monitor using your own HDMI, VGA, Component, or Composite video devices (like your Blu-Ray player, or your iPad 2 with HDMI out adapter, etc.)
- White Board software.
- Video Conferencing, Skype, Live Meeting.
- General Q&A
Sessions are Wednesday March 21st, from 11-12pm in room 468D; and Friday March 23rd, from 2-3pm in room 568B. Light refreshments provided. Open to all who wish to attend.
News
- Tesfatsion among recipients of a $3M award to improve electricity market operation
Iowa State University Department of Economics professor Leigh Tesfatsion is among three ISU faculty members working to reduce energy costs and maintain reliability as more renewable energy is added to the electrical grid.
Sarah Ryan, professor of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Dionysios Aliprantis, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECpE), and Leigh Tesfatsion, professor of economics, ECpE and mathematics, are developing a new stochastic approach for scheduling and pricing wholesale electric power. Their goal is to help electricity market managers meet energy demands in the face of new uncertainties arising from the growing penetration of renewable resources, such as wind and solar power.
Conventional generators have to be scheduled hours in advance because they need time to be brought on- or off-line and adjust their generation levels. As Ryan explains, today’s scheduling methods use single number forecasts for demand and renewable generation for each hour of the next day.
“This is like deciding whether to go on a picnic based on a weather forecast that only says, ‘yes it will rain’ or ‘no it will not rain.’ You can make a better decision, understanding the risks, if you know there’s a 60% chance of rain," she says. "We are building information about the uncertainty of demand and renewable generation into optimization methods that can use that information.”
The result will be better schedules that commit the right slow-start generators in advance and don’t rely as much on expensive fast-start generators to make up for forecast errors.
The three are among the recipients of a new $3M award from the U.S. Department of Energy. ISU is the lead institution, and will receive $1.7 million. Other participants include Sandia National Laboratories, University of California Davis, Alstom Inc., and the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE). The intended users of the new formulation are seven U.S. wholesale electric power markets which encompass more than 60% of U.S. generation.
Ryan is leading the effort at ISU. As a specialist in stochastic optimization, she will develop inputs and scheduling problem formulations to incorporate power grid uncertainties. Aliprantis and Tesfatsion will work with Ryan and other participants to develop and test the new stochastic formulation in the context of an integrated retail and wholesale power system test bed they have constructed. The formulation will then be ported to the Alstom Market Management System for more intensive development and testing aimed towards commercial-grade application.
Ryan says that current U.S. market management systems for electric power cannot effectively accommodate the multiple sources of uncertainty that arise from new resources on the nation’s power grid, including new wind and solar power plants. Better means for handling these uncertainties would make the entire power system more efficient and reliable, resulting in lower costs for electric power and an increased ability to maintain the continual balancing of supply and demand essential for the physical operation of the power grid.
It could also lead to broader economic benefits. “Once we create an integrated power grid that makes the best use of alternative energy sources, I think you’ll see jobs and industries grow as a result,” she says. - Jensen honored as 2012 AAEA Fellow
Helen Jensen, professor of economics and head of the food and nutrition policy division of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), joins the 2012 Class of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Fellows.
The Fellow Award is the highest honor bestowed by the AAEA. Individuals receiving this honor are recognized for their continuous contribution to the advancement of agricultural and applied economics. Their achievements may be in research, teaching, extension, business or public service. The four 2012 Fellows will be recognized at the 2012 AAEA Annual Meeting in Seattle on Tuesday, August 14, following the AAEA Fellows Address.
"I feel honored," says Jensen. "Food and nutrition problems are important to work in the area of agricultural and applied economics. I’m grateful that Iowa State University has provided great opportunities for the development of my interests on these problems."
Jensen has made outstanding and continuing contributions to agricultural and applied economics through her research in economics applied to food consumption, food policy, nutrition, and food safety; through service to the profession; and through active engagement in extending scientific evidence to the policy process during her 25 year career at Iowa State University. Her economic analyses of food safety regulations on the meat industry, the role of nutrition and product information on consumer demand, and the integration of economics in the assessment of food system risk analysis have provided a sound, scientific basis for the effective design of programs and policies related to nutrition and food safety.
Jensen’s contributions through national and international committees, including the National Academies, have been instrumental in leading to change in measurement of food insecurity and standards for major federal food programs that reflect new scientific evidence and sound economic research. She has mentored and provided guidance to graduate students and young scholars in the field. She has served on the AAEA Board of Directors and various committees of the AAEA, and presented the 2002 Waugh Memorial Lecture. At Iowa State University she leads food and nutrition policy research in the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. - Weekly Media Connections for the Department of Economics
Mike Duffy spoke with Katie Kingsbury, Reuters News Service, on land values.
Funding Opportunities
- ARPA-E Open Funding Opportunity Announcement
- RFP for NSF IGERT-due to CALS by March 19, 2012
The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program has been developed to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with interdisciplinary backgrounds, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional, and personal skills. The program is intended to establish new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. It is also intended to facilitate diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to a world-class, broadly inclusive, and globally engaged science and engineering workforce.
It is required that the training program explicitly propose new models in graduate education in which students are engaged in an environment that supports innovation; learn through hands-on experience how their own research may contribute in new ways to benefit society; and to learn the processes for the successful implementation of such contributions.
There is a limit of one (1) proposal that may be submitted by an institution either as a single institution or as a lead institution in a multi-institution proposal.
Preproposals must be submitted to the associate dean for research in the college of the lead principal investigator by close of business on Monday, March 19. Centers that do not report to a college should submit preproposals to the VPR office for review by Monday, March 19. The associate deans will forward the preproposals to the VPR office. A review committee will choose the project to be forwarded to NSF.
Your pre-proposal should contain the following information:
- Summary of the proposal (no more than 2 pages) highlighting the intellectual merits of the proposal
- Tentative list of participants (internal and external collaborators)
- Explain why your proposal would be competitive (1 page) -- explain the strengths and uniqueness of your proposal, given the review criteria.
- Explain how your proposal would address NSF’s Broader Impacts requirement (half page)
- Draft budget. Please include a half page suggestion describing the commitment that the institution will make to facilitating and furthering project plans and goals [per the RFP].
- RFP for NSF Scalable Nanomanufacturing
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announces a second year of a program on collaborative research and education in the area of scalable nanomanufacturing, including the long-term societal implications of the large-scale implementation of nanomanufacturing innovations.
The mode of support is Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT). Proposals submitted to this program must address at least one, and preferably more than one, of the following interconnected themes:
- Novel processes and techniques for continuous and scalable nanomanufacturing;
- Directed (e.g. physical/chemical/biological) self-assembly processes leading to heterogeneous nanostructures with the potential for high-rate production;
- Fundamental scientific research in well-defined areas that are compellingly justified as critical roadblocks to scale-up;
- Principles and design methods to produce machines and processes to manufacture nanoscale structures, devices and systems; and/or
- Long-term societal and educational implications of the large-scale production and use of nanomaterials, devices and systems, including the life-cycle analysis of such nanomaterials, devices and systems.
HTML: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12544/nsf12544.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT....
Final proposal deadline June 04, 2012. One per institution as the lead.
Preproposals are due to the Vice President for Research and Economic Development Office (dpimlott@iastate.edu) by April 2. A review committee will choose the project to be forwarded to NSF.
Your pre-proposal should contain the following information:
- Summary of the proposal (no more than 2 pages) highlighting the intellectual merits of the proposal
- Tentative list of participants (internal and external collaborators)
- Explain why your proposal would be competitive (1 page) -- explain the strengths and uniqueness of your proposal, given the review criteria.
- Explain how your proposal would address NSF’s Broader Impacts requirement (half page)
- Draft budget.
- North Central Regional Center for Rural Development – Call for Special Study
- RFP for FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grants
Firefighter Safety Research and Development Grant Activities are aimed at improvements to firefighter health and safety. Projects must address injury outcomes or provide a strong justification the proposed outcomes can be linked to injury outcomes. Behavioral, Clinical, and Social Science studies, Database/Data Collection and analysis projects/systems, Technology and Product Development Studies, and research regarding dissemination and implementation of effective programs and projects are all examples of eligible projects.
For more informationhttp://www.fema.gov/firegrants/docs/pdf/2011FPSguidance_Section_I.pdf.
Institutions are limited to one application. Applications are due April 22, 2012.
We will need a brief summary of your proposal in order to select the submission from Iowa State. A review committee will choose the project to be forwarded.
Please submit a brief description of the project (no more than two pages) to Dorothy Pimlott (dpimlott@iastate.edu) by no later than close of business on Monday, March 19.
Job Opportunities
- University of Arkansas - assistant professor in Ag Econ Dept
Department of Agricultural Economics Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, seeking assistant professor in the areas of applied economics, with a preferred emphasis in sustainability, environmental, or natural resource economics. Tenure-track position with 12 month appointment. Send a statement of qualifications, curriculum vitae, academic transcripts, and names, complete addresses, and telephone numbers of at least three professional references to:Dr. Steve Halbrook, Department Headc/o Tonya FosterUniversity of Arkansas217 AGRI BuildingFayetteville, Arkansas 72701
- UW-Extension - County-based Educator Position Openings
For UW-Cooperative Extension our minimum qualification requirements for county-based positions include:
- Master's or other graduate degree, in a field that relates to the responsibilities of the position such as:
- Current content knowledge in fields related to the purpose of the position
- Demonstrated skills in planning, implementing or teaching educational programs
- Experience partnering with others (paid or volunteer) to promote involvement in community decision-making and positive action
- Knowledge and skills to effectively interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, including those associated with race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, socioeconomic status, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other aspects of human diversity
All positions are or will be posted on the Cooperative Extension employment web site at: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/hr/; And, on the UW-Extension employment web site: http://www.uwex.edu/jobs/
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