October 25, 2022 Newsletter

October 25, 2022

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Research News

Iowa State Researcher Designs Better Maternity Garments, Launches Company

In a design lab at Iowa State, Ling Zhang emerges from a forest of mannequins. The assistant professor of apparel, events and hospitality management is carrying two nursing bras and a camisole. They’re prototypes Zhang designed and are part of a business she’s launching to help new and expecting mothers. Zhang’s goal is to sell the nursing bras and camisole starting in 2024 through her newly registered and trademarked company MUQIN LLC. Read more…

Iowa Soybean Research Center Funds New Research at Iowa State

The Iowa Soybean Research Center has awarded $300,000 in support of soybean research projects at Iowa State, reaching a $2 million milestone in research funding by the center. The ISRC’s Industry Advisory Council met recently to consider research ideas and provide guidance on how to invest available funds. With continued increases in financial support provided by the Iowa Soybean Association and industry partners, the center was able to fund two projects. Read more…

Iowa State Professor Anticipates Global Hunger, Carbon Emissions Could Spike if War Limits Grain Exports

If Russia’s invasion and the ensuing war significantly reduce Ukrainian grain exports, surging prices could increase food insecurity and carbon dioxide emissions, as marginal land is pushed into crop production.That’s the chain reaction predicted by modeling from a research team that includes Amani Elobeid, a teaching professor of economics at Iowa State. Read more…

Forgetting is Natural, but Iowa State Professor Says Learning how to Learn can Slow it Down

Whether you’re trying to ace a test or pick up a new hobby, Iowa State psychology professor Shana Carpenter says combining two strategies – spacing and retrieval practice – is key to success. Carpenter is the lead author of a paper in Nature Reviews Psychology that examined more than 100 years of research on learning. In the paper, Carpenter and her co-authors describe spacing as a strategy to learn in small doses over time. Read more…

Use Grants Hub Editing Services for Maximum Proposal Impact

In today’s ultra-competitive research funding environment, principal investigators who can clearly and concisely communicate the intellectual merits and broader impacts of their proposed research have a leg up over those who can’t. Grant Hub offers Iowa State research faculty a competitive edge in their pursuit of external funding by providing stellar editing services that provide a critical element of clarity and polish to their outgoing research proposals. Read more…

Internal Funding Opportunities

Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant Program (PIRS)

Proposals are now being accepted for the Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant program (PIRS), designed to support the initial stages of innovative, high-risk, high-reward projects that have an interdisciplinary focus and strong potential for external, competitive funding. PIRS projects are expected to build new or expand existing teams to pursue innovative, ambitious, interdisciplinary research programs that have the potential to obtain sponsored funding from government agencies, corporations, and/or foundations. Activities typically focus on performing preliminary work, facilitating collaboration, and connecting with funding agencies. Full-time, tenured/tenure-eligible and term faculty with the rank of assistant professor — including assistant teaching professor, clinical assistant professor, and adjunct assistant professor, or higher-ranking faculty from any discipline — may apply for this program. Applications are due November 11, 2022.

Margaret B. Barry Cancer Research Program

Proposals are invited from interested researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine for the Margaret B. Barry Cancer Research Program. This award was established with a generous estate gift from Ms. Margaret Barry, who wanted these funds to further cancer research, especially in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The funds may also support collaborative projects between the College of Veterinary Medicine and other areas. All faculty and eligible P&S researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine may apply for this award. The award may be used for any justifiable research expense, such as faculty salary support, staff salary support, graduate student and postdoc support, travel, equipment, hourly labor, animal costs and supplies. Major research equipment requests will also be considered. Applications are due November 11, 2022.

Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics Innovation Fellowships

Applications are currently sought for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics Innovation Fellowships, which provide resources to allow active pursuit of technology licensing, commercial partnerships, or new venture formation by research-focused entrepreneurs who have motivation to identify and commercialize novel technologies. Applicants should have a suitable technical knowledge and a strong interest in developing entrepreneurial talents to form a successful new venture or actively support technological commercialization in the vaccines and immunotherapeutics field. Applications are due December 2, 2022.

Training & Development

Protecting Human Research Subjects
November 9 — 9:50 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. — Memorial Union Gold Room

During this event, participants will discuss risk in human subjects research and approaches for minimizing or mitigating risk. This event will also examine confidentiality and data security measures to protect research subjects. Register here.

Write Winning Grant Proposals
November 10 — 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. — ISU Alumni Center Reiman Ballroom (South)

This comprehensive presentation will address both practical and conceptual aspects that are important to writing competitive grant proposals. Emphasis is given to doing the “extra” things that can make the difference between success and failure. This workshop is open to all researchers at no cost and all participants receive an extensive handout. A field-relevant copy of The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook is available for different funding agencies for an additional $80 per workbook. Attendees must have the permission of their department chairs or other authorizing personnel before registering for the Grant Application Writer’s Workbook. Register here.

Voices in Research

“Many researchers in this field focus primarily on age. Not considering other social dimensions when developing a vaccination strategy can lead to different or wrong predictions about the best way to prevent deaths. Our first big take-away from the study is that ‘ethnic homophily,’ the concept that people tend to interact more frequently with people from the same demographic group, matters.”

Claus Kadelka, assistant professor, Mathematics

“If we understand what genes are required for certain compositions and what compositions of the cuticle protect against different stresses, then we have the ability for applied breeding for the production of designer cuticles with important protective functions. That’s the value and really the creativity in what we’re proposing. We’re starting with nothing, with a part of the plant, or a microbe, that doesn’t make a cuticle.”

Marna Yandeau-Nelson, associate professor, Genetics, Development and Cell Biology

“Industries are looking at us to solve big problems. Unfortunately, most of the things people think are being recycled are not. For example, only about 9% of the total plastic waste stream gets recycled. We want to close the loop by taking the waste people are putting in their blue bins, or semi-trucks or train cars, and actually get it recycled.”

Keith Vorst, associate professor, Food Science and Human Nutrition