Dec. 3, 2007 |
1. Arkansas Food Scientists in Nation's Top 10 for 'Scholarly Productivity'
2. Energy Savings Guaranteed to Pay for $3.5 Million Tyson Building Upgrade
3. Seminar to Examine Genomics Perspective on Plant Biology - Monday
4. Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Seminar - Monday
5. Applications for $1,500 Arkansas Agricultural Consultants Association Scholarship Due Dec. 15
6. Applications for $5,000 Spitze Legislative Internship Awards Due Jan. 15
7. Alpha Tau Alpha Holds Food Drive
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1. Arkansas Food Scientists in Nation's Top 10 for 'Scholarly Productivity'
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's department of food science was ranked in the top 10 nationally for "faculty scholarly productivity" by Academic Analytics, which recently released its ranking of doctoral research programs at 357 universities and colleges.
Doctoral research programs in all agricultural sciences in the U of A Division of Agriculture were ranked No. 22. Only two other Southeastern Conference schools, Florida and Kentucky, were ranked ahead of Arkansas in the top 25.
The index, partly financed by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, objectively rates scholarly output based on the number of book and journal articles published by faculty members, journal citations, awards, honors, and grants received. Rankings are published online at http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity.
This is the third year of what Academic Analytics says is a purely objective measure of doctoral research programs in contrast to other rankings that rely heavily on reputation, says founder Lawrence Martin of Stony Brook. The company also provides a variety of studies to help institutions evaluate programs.
At No. 10, the Arkansas food science program, with 12 faculty members who conduct doctoral research, is in the company of larger universities with double or triple the number of faculty members. Wisconsin was ranked No. 1, the University of California at Davis No. 9, and Florida No. 8, which is the only other Southeastern Conference school in the top 10 for food science.
Twelve faculty members direct Division of Agriculture research and extension programs and teach courses for B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in food science awarded by the Fayetteville campus.
Ron Buescher, food science department head, said there are 45 undergraduate food science majors this fall and 38 students working on M.S. or Ph.D. degrees.
"Exciting and rewarding careers for our graduates are plentiful in Arkansas and the global food industry," Buescher said. "Our graduates are hired to design and test new products and processing technologies, assure food quality and safety, and improve human nutrition and health.
"The high regard for our faculty in the food industry and research community assists with recruiting high quality students and placement of graduates in national competitive positions. The high rank serves to document that our faculty are among the best in the nation," Buescher added.
Research Programs. Buescher said Arkansas is nationally known for research in functionality and health benefits of foods; food microbiology and safety; food processing and packaging; rheology and sensory analysis; food carbohydrate, lipid (fat and oil) and protein chemistry; and developing value-added products using cereal, oil seed, fruit, vegetable and meat commodities important to Arkansas.
Areas of faculty expertise include the following.
-- Terry Siebenmorgen directs a rice processing program supported by the Arkansas rice industry and processing companies to increase processing efficiency and the quality of rice products.
-- Justin Morris directs the enology and viticulture program, which includes a patented system for mechanized vineyard management being tested in commercial wine vineyards in California.
-- Jean-Francois Meullenet's rheology and sensory analysis program develops new ways to evaluate food quality and consumer preferences. It includes a professional sensory panel that conducts tests for food industry clients.
-- Functional foods research by Luke Howard is identifying bioactive components in foods and developing ways to improve their retention. The research identifies and characterizes health beneficial phytochemicals.
-- Michael Johnson, Steve Ricke and Phil Crandall focus on food-borne pathogens and prevention of food-borne illnesses. Ricke holds the Donald "Buddy" Wray Chair in Food Safety and is director of the Division of Agriculture's Center for Food Safety.
-- Ruben Morawicki focuses on food processing issues such as byproduct utilization, waste management, energy efficiency and packaging.
-- Research programs by Ya-Jane Wang, Navam Hetiarachchy and Andy Proctor focus on the chemistry and functionality of three primary food components of carbohydrates, protein and lipids, respectively. They address issues that impact food quality and functionality. They also develop new products such as edible protein film coatings for fresh food, soy oil with enhanced conjugated linoleic acid content, health-promoting oligosaccharides and probiotics (beneficial bacteria).
Each program area includes a staff of supporting scientists and graduate students who contribute to the nationally ranked scholarly productivity of the faculty, Buescher said.
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2. Energy Savings Guaranteed to Pay for $3.5 Million Tyson Building Upgrade
Energy savings from an upgrade of the John W. Tyson Building are guaranteed to pay for the construction costs, said Larry Young, construction coordinator with the university's facilities management department. If they don't, the contractor will pay the difference, he said.
The Tyson Building is the first on campus to be upgraded under an Energy Savings Performance Contract program financed by a state bond issue, with the bonds to be paid off from energy cost savings. A contract in the amount of $3,556,260 for the eight-month construction project was awarded to Energy Systems Group, based in Newburg, Ind. The project was to be completed in December.
The 112,000 square foot building, which was dedicated in September 1995, houses the poultry science department, units of the U of A System Division of Agriculture's Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit.
Arkansas Act 1980 of 2005 provides for state revenue bonds to finance Energy Savings Performance Contract construction projects. The contractor is required to deliver "guaranteed energy savings" that will exceed the cost of retiring the bond issue over 20 years, Young said.
"If at the end of the payback period the projected savings fall short, the contractor will actually write us a check for the difference; therefore the anticipated energy savings are guaranteed. I will say, however, we expect that won't happen; in fact it's very possible the energy savings will exceed the ESG (Energy Systems Group) guarantee," Young said.
Young said the building was selected as the first Energy Savings Performance Contract project on campus after an energy audit to determine how much energy and money could be saved by performance contracting.
Other improvements are also being made along with the energy upgrades, said Noel Neighbor, building executive for the Tyson Building. "Our coolers and other systems were also in need of repair. Because of the savings on this project, we were able to get everything taken care of all at once."
Young said some of the major areas of energy savings were as follows.
-- All fluorescent bulbs were changed from a T-12 to T-8 rating, which uses less wattage. During the lighting upgrades, electronic ballasts were installed and motion sensors were added to offices, labs and hallways, so lights not in use would automatically turn off after a set amount of time.
-- Fifty-seven fume hoods in laboratories were retrofitted for more efficient use of energy by having a constant, low-flow system.
-- Automatic temperature controls were upgraded and linked to the motion sensors in the new lighting systems. "This not only saved a great deal of energy, but it will also make the building more comfortable to its occupants," said Cary Parks of ESG.
-- A 90 ton heat-recovery chiller was installed, which can transfer energy from the heat in condenser water from the cooler system to the heating system for additional energy savings.
In a similar project in 2005 at the Division of Agriculture's J.K. Skeeles Poultry Health Laboratory, Neighbor said, "We reduced our monthly electric use by two thirds and lowered our gas use to one fifth through a ground source heat pump retrofit and other changes."
"That project really helped us to see that, with good engineering and the use of current technology, amazing energy savings are possible," said Neighbor. "We now expect significant savings through the work that has been done at the Tyson Building."
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3. Seminar to Examine Genomics Perspective on Plant Biology - Monday
Rod Wing will present a seminar, "The Future of Plant Biology From a Genomics Perspective," from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in Room 9 of the Plant Sciences Building. Wing is an internationally renowned plant biologist, director of the Arizona Genomics Institute and a pioneer of rice genomics research.
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4. Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Seminar - Monday
Sarah Kenyon will present the next Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Seminar at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in PTSC 009. The seminar will be about "Evaluation of Novel Endophyte: Tall Fescue Associations for Drought Tolerance."
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5. Applications for $1,500 Arkansas Agricultural Consultants Association Scholarship Due Dec. 15
Juniors and Seniors majoring in crop management, pest management, entomology, or plant pathology are encouraged to apply for the Arkansas Agricultural Consultants Association Scholarship by December 15, 2007. This award will be made for the Spring 2008 semester. A 2.5 minimum GPA is required, and Arkansas residents are preferred. Financial need, leadership, and extra-curricular activities will also be considered. The application is available online at http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/39.htm under the Separate Applications section. For more information, contact Laura Gamble, Scholarship Administrator, at lgamble@uark.edu or 575-2253.
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6. Applications for $5,000 Spitze Legislative Internship Awards Due Jan. 15
Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors interested in public policy and hoping to participate in a Bumpers College Internship in a legislative or congressional office are encouraged to apply for the one of two $5,000 Spitze Public Policy Legislative Internship Awards by January 15, 2008. Applicants must have a minimum 3.0 GPA and must have completed at least one course in political science, law, or public policy. The Bumpers College will work with applicants to secure an internship in a legislative or congressional office (usually for the summer). This application is available online at http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/39.htm under the Separate Applications section. For more information, contact Laura Gamble, Scholarship Administrator, at lgamble@uark.edu or 575-2253.
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7. Alpha Tau Alpha Holds Food Drive
Alpha Tau Alpha, the national professional honorary agricultural education organization, is holding a food drive to benefit the Ozark Food Bank, Nov. 12 - Dec. 7. Bring items to a box in the Agricultural and Extension Education office in AGRI 205 through those dates. Food will be collected for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. The items that are most needed are peanut butter, canned meats and fish, canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, oatmeal, cream of wheat, 100% fruit juice and dried milk.
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See other upcoming events online at Calendar of Events.
Submit Calendar items to dedmark@uark.edu.
AAES and Bumpers College Web sites:
http://aaes.uark.edu/
http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/