Student Achievements, Spring 2010

Sam Bird

Cals Student Selected To Be 2010 Udall Scholar

Samuel Bird, a second-year student in global resource systems and economics from Gilbert, has been named a 2010 Udall Scholar by the Udall Foundation. The foundation, established by Congress in 1992, awards scholarships to undergraduate students committed to careers related to the environment or Native American issues. Among other honors and activities, Bird lived and worked in Uganda as part of the ISU-Makerere University Uganda Service Learning Program, is president of the ISU International Agriculture Club and represented the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in 2009.

Nicole Cortum

Student Council Names Ag Man And Ag Woman Of The Year

The CALS Student Council named Ryan Hrubes and Nicole Cortum the CALS Agricultural Man and Agricultural Woman of the Year at the National Ag Day barbecue March 9. Hrubes is a senior in agricultural business, and Cortum is a senior in public service and administration in agriculture. The award goes to graduating seniors who have demonstrated leadership in the college, strong academic success, and participated in quality internships and volunteer services.

Two Cals Students Receive Wallace E. Barron Award

The 2010 Wallace E. Barron Award Recipients include Tyler Bauman, a senior in animal science, and Nicole Cortum, a senior in public service and administration in agriculture. (Bauman is featured on pages10-11). They are two of four students who were recognized at an ISU Alumni Association Board of Director’s lunch Feb. 26 and will be honored at a reception at the Knoll April 25. The Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award was established in 1968 to recognize outstanding ISU seniors. The award is in memory of Barron, who received his bachelor’s degree in 1928 in agricultural economics. After graduation, he served in various offices at Iowa State until 1970. He was editor of the Alumnus from 1935 until 1968.

Jenna Dixon

Undergraduate To Present Research At International Conference

Jenna Dixon, an undergraduate in animal science, will present her research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) at the Experimental Biology international conference in April in Anaheim, Ca. Dixon works in the lab of Josh Selsby, assistant professor in animal science. DMD is caused by a dystrophin deficiency and affects one in 3,500 male infants, leading to wheelchair confinement by the early teenage years and death by the mid to late 20s.

Cals Student Teams Tops In National Competitions

  • The Block and Bridle Club received first place for its website, first place for its annual yearbook and third place in the club activities division at the 90th Block and Bridle National Convention.
  • The newly re-established Dairy Products Evaluation Team won fourth place in all products and third place in cottage cheese, cheddar cheese and butter category during the 88th Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest. It has been 34 years since ISU last had a Dairy Products Evaluation Team.
  • The ISU Horse Judging Team was the highest scoring three-person team at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress and at the Arabian Horse Nationals.
  • The Iowa State chapter of SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology Education, Development and Sustainability), a program of the Ecological Society of America, placed second in its chapter of the year competition. (Club adviser Fred Janzen, is profiled on page six).
  • For the fourth consecutive year, the ISU Soils Judging Team has qualified for the national competition. The team placed third overall at the American Society of Agronomy Region 5 contest.
  • The ISU Livestock Judging Team finished fifth overall at the American Royal Livestock Judging Contest.
  • The ISU Turf Club won first place at the Collegiate Turf Bowl Competition for the eighth time the team in nine years at the annual Golf Course Superintendents Association of America’s education conference.

Horticulture Students Help Keep Campus Blooming

The ISU Horticulture Club is involved in many projects both on and off campus, ranging from providing plants to the new Soults Visitor Center to maintaining the plants in the Gerdin Business Building, as well as their annual sales and a variety of service projects. This fall, they took on the flowerbed at the corner of Wallace and Osborn.