News

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is honoring six Iowa State University researchers for their work in biology, statistics and physics.

Katherine Gross honored with Distinguished Alumni Award

[AMES, IOWA, October 15, 2021]—Dr.

Iowa State University graduate students Colton Poore, left, and Erika Ibarra-Garibay were surprised to find a rusty patched bumble bee earlier this spring in Frederiksen Court on campus. The bee species was placed on the endangered species list in January 2017.

Lynn Clark named interim chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology

 Iowa State University has named Lynn Clark interim chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology (EEOB). Clark, a professor of botany, begins her one-year term on June 16. The department is co-administered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 

In the world's effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the source of our food is coming into the spotlight. There's good reason for that: Agriculture accounts for 16 to 27% of human-caused climate-warming emissions. But much of these emissions are not from carbon dioxide, that familiar climate change villain. They're from another gas altogether: nitrous oxide (N2O).

Wendel receives ICAC Research of the Year Award 2021

Dr. Jonathan Wendel is a recipient of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) Researcher of the Year Award for 2021.

Lu recognized for achievements in research

Dr. Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, from the Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology Department is recognized by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for their extraordinary achievements in research.

The 2021 Rossmann Manatt Faculty Development Award has been presented to Amy Toth, associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology and entomology at Iowa State University.

The award, announced March 22 during the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ virtual Faculty and Staff Awards ceremony, recognizes a tenured faculty member who has demonstrated an exceptional level of creativity and productivity in scholarship, teaching and service and who shows great promise continuing such achievement.

Peiyu Cao is one of the fourteen Iowa State University students to be selected to receive $140,000 in Brown Graduate Fellowship Program funding to support strategic university research over the next year. Peiyu’s research focuses on the assessment of the nitrogen budget within agricultural systems through data synthesis and empirical and process-based modeling. This work has served as a solid basis for crop yield estimation, environmental consequence analysis, and economic assessment, and will benefit a broad community far beyond ecosystem modelers.

AMES, Iowa – Climate change doesn’t affect every species equally.

Even among species that share the same habitat, some organisms adapt more readily than others to environmental fluctuations wrought by climate change. This realization has led biologists to try to predict which species are most vulnerable to climate change.

Celebrating the Ada Hayden Herbarium’s 150th Anniversary

The Ada Hayden Herbarium has grown to ~660,000 specimens and is the 12th largest US university herbarium.

The novel technique is great news for Guam’s brown tree snakes, bad news for the island’s nesting birds.

A few heavy storms cause a big chunk of nitrogen pollution from Midwest farms

Some effects of extreme weather are visible – like half a million acres of flattened corn in Iowa left behind after a derecho that hit the Midwestern United States on Aug. 10.

Dr. Lori Biederman receives the Spring 2020 Teaching Innovation Award

Dr. Lori Biederman was awarded the Spring 2020 Teaching Innovation Award from the Provost Office.

AMES, Iowa – Scientists searching the most ancient corners of the genome of a reptile native to New Zealand found patterns that help explain how the genomes of all vertebrates took shape, according to a recently published study.

The study, completed by a global team of collaborators and published in the journal Nature, details for the first time the assembled genome of the tuatara, a rare reptile species of great cultural significance to indigenous populations in New Zealand. 

AMES, Iowa – Fifteen years of wetlands research by Iowa State University – a study thought to be the largest and longest running project of its kind in the country – clarifies their performance as highly beneficial systems for reducing nitrogen pollution.

New research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that honey bees infected with a virus may alter their behavior in ways that slow the spread of the infection. At the same time, infection with the virus may help the bees sneak into neighboring hives, potentially spreading the virus to new hosts.

AMES, Iowa — A new study conducted by researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Illinois suggests a deadly virus attacking honey bees alters their behavior and physiology in ways that boost the virus’ ability to spread.

The research, reported in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, known as IAPV, seems to change bee behavior in ways that overcome some of bees’ natural defenses against disease pathogens. 

Matthew Hufford, associate professor of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology (EEOB), was selected as the recipient of the M. Rhoades Early-Career Award recipient by the Maize Genetics Cooperative. The award recognizes scientists who have made significant research contributions through genetic studies of maize or related species.

Dr. Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu is featured in the North American Carbon Program Research Spotlight for her research using systems modeling approach to understand, quantify, and predict the terrestrial carbon-nutrient-water dynamics in response to changes in climate, land use, land management practices, and atmospheric composition at various spatial and temporal scales.