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Announcements for Friday, February 8, 2013

Announcements

  • Congratulations to MIyoung Oh and Jiwoong Kim on the birth of their daughter

    The department would like to congratulate Miyoung Oh and Jiwoong Kim on the birth of their baby girl Emma Hamim Kim!

    Emma was born on Thursday, January 31 at 5:25 AM. She is 19 1/2 inches and 6 lbs. 6 oz, and joins the family as their second child to brother Isaac.

    Well wishes and good health to the growing family.

  • Panel discussion on balancing work and personal life for women

News

  • Study by Córdoba finds mortality and fertility factors in educational achievement

    The majority of students in the U.S. will graduate with a high school diploma. The same cannot be said for some students around the world. Access to public schools is one explanation for the educational gap between students in rich and poor countries, but a new study shows other factors are more significant.

    Juan Carlos Cordoba, an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University, and a colleague at the University of Pittsburgh examined the differences in educational achievement for a study published in the Journal of Monetary Economics. What they found was that students are more likely to drop out of school in countries with higher fertility and mortality rates.

    Read the full ISU News Service article by Angie Hunt at: http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2013/02/04/educationeconomics

  • Heady's renovated public computer lab employs thin clients

    Two years of work and planning have resulted in the renovation of Heady Hall's public computer lab, located in room 64. Freshly painted walls, new furniture, and new carpet set the stage for eighteen flat screen monitors and accompanying thin clients - a modernized set-up which now makes it comfortable for students to access, and efficient for staff to support.


    The use of thin clients in the lab was prompted by Alex Zhylyevskyy, assistant professor in the Department of Economics, as a more efficient option than a stand-alone PC.


    “PCs require more maintenance time,” he says. “Several years ago we started to realize that we didn’t have the staff to manage the old system.”


    Thin clients provide a more effective solution. Connected to a terminal server, each unit contains no individual hard drive or moving parts. Simply put, it’s a “stripped-down computer,” says Zhylyevskyy, that offers access to software and internet through the server.


    The small unit also takes up less space, allowing the lab to expand from twelve user stations to eighteen. And because the thin client contains no hard drive, it’s less likely to break down than a conventional PC.


    Proposals were written by Zhylyevskyy and Mike Long, systems analyst with Economics and CARD, and were approved by several funding sources, including the ISU’s Computation Advisory Committee (CAC), LAS Computation Advisory Committee (LASCAC), and departmental computer committees of the Departments of Economics and Sociology. Two terminal servers and a total of sixty-six thin clients were funded, with the remaining forty eight clients to be installed in Heady’s accompanying lab in room 68 during the spring semester.


    Dwight Dake, systems support specialist with the Department of Sociology, and Brent Moore, systems analyst with LAS, provided additional assistance with the proposals, and Jared Hetzler and Sarah Harrington, student IT technicians, assisted in the physical setup.


    “It was a major endeavor,” says Zhylyevskyy, content with the outcome after years of planning and fundraising. “It’s an efficient and modern set-up.”

  • Orazem comments on 2013 economic forecast in Business Record

    Peter Orazem says that Iowa should fare well in 2013 with its traditional core strengths of agriculture, manufacturing and financial services. However, the state must address some key issues, such as broadening its tax base through effective tax reform, to ensure strong economic development in the future.

    Read more of Orazem's forecast in the Business Record article by Joe Gardyasz at: http://www.businessrecord.com/Content/Design-Elements/Rotator/Article/Ec...

  • Hayes discusses the value of the endowed position

    Professor Dermot Hayes has held the Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness for fourteen years. In a January 25 article in Iowa Farmer Today, Hayes talks about the value of endowed positions in academia. Read the full article at: http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/crop/endowments-provide-benefits-bey...

  • Weekly Media Connections for the Department of Economics

    Mike Duffy spoke with US News and World Report, the Wall Street Journal and the Cedar Rapids Gazette regarding land values and the potential for a collapse.

    Lee Schulz spoke with Doug Cooper and Bob Quinn, WHO NEWSRADIO 1040 The Big Show, regarding the USDA/NASS January Cattle report.

    Dave Swenson spoke with Trent Rice, KASI radio, on his call in program "Your Turn," regarding the pace of job recovery and how our national and state job growth prospects look this next year.

Graduate Student Announcements

  • Federal Reserve Bank internship – Omaha branch

    The Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS) at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana announces a one-week summer workshop in global security. Targeted are rising sophomores or advanced undergraduates from colleges and universities across the country. The workshop has several, interdependent aims:

    • inform students about key security issues;
    • interact with recognized academic and security experts;
    • introduce students to careers in security policy-making in private and pubic sectors;
    • introduce students to the fundamentals of policy analysis in addressing security issues; and
    • develop a self-sustaining network of students with competence and interest in security studies.

    Students completing the workshop will be awarded a Certificate in International Security Studies. Please see http://acdis.illinois.edu/students/summer-workshop-global-sec.html for further details.

External Seminars and Workshops

Funding Opportunities

Job Opportunities

Papers and Presentations

  • Recent presentations by Kevin Kimle

    Kevin Kimle recently presented the following:

    • Global Agricultural Entrepreneurship. Presentation of the Center for Agricultural Entrepreneurship of the American Farm School. U.S. Embassy, Athens, Greece. Thursday, January 24, 2013.
    • The Agricultural Entrepreneur. Midwest Regional American Dairy Science Association - Student Affiliate Division. Ames, Iowa. February 2, 2013.