Test run

December 12

Off it goes! Computer engineering senior Lalitha Vattyam (left) holds a power cable for a remote control car while fellow senior Ben Towle activates the vehicle and team members Elizabeth Schmitt and Alex Crandall look on. On Monday afternoon in Coover Hall's senior design lab, the quartet was practicing for their capstone project presentation later in the day. CPR E 4910 (senior design project) tasks them with designing a vehicle with autonomous driving able to navigate real-life situations. 

(below) Towle adjusts the wiring for the car.

 

Iowa State inventors recognized for tackling real-world issues

By Angie Hunt, news service
December 12

Two Iowa State innovators -- with a combined 141 patents to their credit -- have been selected by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for its 2024 class of fellows. The NAI fellowship is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.

The academy announced Dec. 10 that Matt Darr, the John Deere Endowed Chair in Ag Innovation and professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering; and Eric Cochran, the Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson and Randy L. Hagenson Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering, join a class of individuals "tackling real-world issues and creating solutions that propel us into the future."

Digital ag innovation

The new Alliant Energy Agriculture Innovation Lab at the ISU Research Park is where Matt Darr and ISU's Digital Ag Innovation team are creating those solutions through the development of new technologies in collaboration with industry partners.

Darr is an author or co-author on 88 patents and licensed technologies, ranging from smart sensors and controls to biomass logistics to machinery electronics, found in approximately 60 different products globally. Darr said the team, which includes faculty, professional staff and graduate students, focuses on technology, data insights and automation that are critical to feeding and fueling the world.

"We know our innovations are impacting tens of millions of acres per year in a positive way," Darr said. "Every one of those products adds value and makes agriculture more productive, efficient and sustainable."

Darr also leads Iowa State's BioCentury Research Farm, which is the first-in-the-nation integrated research and demonstration facility dedicated to biomass production and processing. Since 2009, the BioCentury Research Farm has been the home for innovative and sustainable research and development utilizing some of the most plentiful raw materials available in Iowa: corn, soybeans, crop residues, grasses and algae.

It's where Eric Cochran and colleagues have conducted hundreds of experiments to find the right ingredients, formulations and production processes for a bio-based alternative to a petroleum-based asphalt additive that extends the life of pavements.

Creating market value

Cochran said his path to becoming an inventor started with some fortuitous opportunities as well as rejection. It was a project proposal declined by a large tire manufacturer that grew into research on polymers and asphalt additives. The work has led to several patents -- Cochran has contributed to 53 patents at Iowa State with dozens more pending -- and the creation of SoyLei Innovations, a startup company established by six Iowa State co-founders in 2020.

Commercializing their research has taken years of trial and error and patience. Cochran said working with industry has provided the team with investment as well as insight to develop a product that achieves sustainability goals and offers market value.

"We want to create a product that satisfies renewable and recyclable goals that also provides a real value proposition, such as better performance or saving money, that stands alone in the market," Cochran said. "If you can put all of that into one package, there will be greater acceptance."

Iowa State's innovative DNA

Darr and Cochran say the recognition by NAI for their work as inventors is a reflection of the teamwork and collaboration that happens every day on campus as well as the university's commitment to innovation.

"None of these patents happen in isolation. The context of a problem requires collaboration; it really is mandatory for this inventive work to happen," Cochran said. "The role of the university and Iowa State's research foundation cannot be overlooked. They have been extremely supportive and helpful."

Darr added, "Iowa State has encouraged us to do translational research that connects to our land-grant mission and exemplifies ISU's motto of 'Science with Practice.' I'm fortunate to be surrounded by a team that is committed to service-driven innovation."

More NAI fellows from Iowa State

Cochran and Darr join these ISU faculty members previously selected for the NAI:

• Robert C. Brown, 2023, co-director of Iowa State's Bioeconomy Institute, an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering.
• Balaji Narasimhan, 2019, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, the Vlasta Klima Balloun Faculty Chair and director of Iowa State's Nanovaccine Institute.
• Guru Rao, 2019, professor emeritus of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and a former associate vice president for research.
• Costas Soukoulis, 2018, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences emeritus and a former senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames National Laboratory.
• Max Rothschild, 2017, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor emeritus in Agriculture and Life Sciences.
• Patrick Halbur, 2016, professor and chair of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.
• Surya Mallapragada, 2016, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, the Carol Vohs Johnson Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering and associate vice president for research and a scientist for the Ames National Laboratory.
• Iver Anderson, 2015, adjunct professor of materials science and engineering and senior metallurgist for Ames National Laboratory.
• Jonathan Wickert, 2014, provost emeritus, President's Chair in Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering.

Updates to travel reimbursement procedures take effect Jan. 1

By Lauren Schalinske, division of operations and finance
December 12

 

Editor's note: This story was updated on Dec. 20.

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, the university will implement changes to its travel reimbursement policy and procedures. These updates address common questions and streamline processes. They aim to provide clarity, improve efficiency and ensure compliance with university policies.

Working with a procurement expense specialist to submit expense reports can help ensure all policies and procedures are followed (email finance_delivery@iastate.edu for assistance). Here's a quick summary of key updates to the travel policy and procedures.

Travel status for meal reimbursement

Currently, meals are reimbursed if employees are in travel status during specific windows of time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The updated procedure replaces these windows with a single time for each meal so meals are reimbursed if employees are in travel status at that time:

• Breakfast: 8:00 a.m.
• Lunch: 12:00 p.m.
• Dinner: 6:30 p.m.

Lodging reimbursement

The current policy reimburses lodging expenses up to per diem. The new policy will allow for adjustments to the per diem to accommodate additional costs such as taxes and required fees as determined by the senior vice president for operations and finance. Reimbursement as of Jan. 1, 2025, may be approved for up to 150% of the per diem set by the federal General Services Administration.

Travel mileage reimbursement

The new procedures simplify the calculation of mileage reimbursement for travel. The origin point will be from the location where the traveler enters travel status. This will simplify the calculation and align with the actual travel experience. This applies to travel to/from the airport or for conference/professional development. Rules for presenting educational offerings (Extension) do not change.

Receipt submission

Receipts must be submitted within 120 days from the end of travel, under the new policy. Receipts submitted after this deadline will not be reimbursed, aligning with best practices.

Group meals

The updated procedures specify that employees should pay for their own meals when traveling; group meals should be reserved for non-travel-related business purposes. This change aims to reduce confusion when claiming per diem.

Room charges

The new policy clarifies that no additional items should be charged to hotel room bills. Meals covered by per diem and personal charges should be handled separately. This will streamline expense report completion and approval.

Travel duration

To ensure proper use of university funds, travelers should arrive no earlier than 24 hours (domestic) or 48 hours (international), based on the destination time zone, before a business event and depart no later than 24 hours after the event concludes. Extended time on either end of the trip will be considered personal travel.

Non-employee updates

• Non-employee travel: Non-employees traveling for Iowa State business will be reimbursed for actual expenses only, rather than per diem. Receipts are needed for reimbursement.
• Advances: Cash advances no longer will be given. All expenses must be handled as reimbursements.

Exception request form

Employees who need to request an exception to the policy can use the Workday form also launching Jan. 1. This form is to be used to request an exception to any financial and accounting compliance policy. Employees can find this form under the "create request" command in the "quick tasks" tile in Workday. After Jan. 1, emailed exception requests no longer will be granted.

Workday joins Canvas as a grade submission option

By Anne Krapfl
December 12

Fall semester is the first time final grades will be recorded in Workday, another milestone in the university’s implementation of the new student information system. Instructors may submit grades in Workday or the Canvas learning management system, which staff in the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) both encourage and support through training.  

The office of the registrar reports that historically about 50% of grades were submitted in Canvas and the rest were submitted in AccessPlus. The staff anticipates this trend will continue as Workday replaces AccessPlus as a grade submission option.

Due to the three-day university holiday (Dec. 24-26) relative to the end of final exams, the deadline to submit fall grades is 3 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 23. Following this deadline, grades submitted in Canvas will be uploaded into Workday, where students will be able to view them the morning of Dec. 24.

What's new

The registrar's office emailed grading information to all instructors on Dec. 4, and that information will be redistributed via email next week. The team also updated its Grading at Iowa State University website, which includes helpful information, links to tutorials and Knowledge Base Articles (KBA) and several FAQs. Here are a few of the key messages to instructors:

An incomplete grade must include an alternate grade. Instructors who submit an incomplete grade should submit an "Incomplete (Alternate Grade)," which will be the lowest grade a student earns if none of the agreed-upon work is completed. The instructor and student also will complete an incomplete contract, which is available on the teaching dashboard in Workday in the Grading section (find "Request Incomplete Grade Contract".) Absent an extension of the contract, an incomplete grade converts to the alternate grade after one calendar year, with the exception of 5990 and 6990 courses.

Changing grades: Fall vs previous terms. Instructors may make changes to submitted grades up to 3 p.m. on Dec. 23. Starting on Dec. 24, grade changes for fall semester, including resolving an incomplete grade, need to be made in Workday. On the teaching dashboard in Workday, in the Grading menu, instructors can select "Change Grades for Students," click on a student's "change grade" box and scroll to identify the appropriate grade from the list of options, for example, "A* (Resolved Incomplete)."

To change a grade for any term prior to fall 2024, instructors should select the "Legacy Grade Report to the Registrar" option in the Grading section of their teaching dashboard in Workday.

A KBA, Workday Student: Change a Student's Grade, provides step-by-step instructions for fall 2024 and previous terms.

Academic standing will show Jan. 2. Students will be able to see their grades in Workday on Dec. 24. Due to the three-day holiday, students' academic standing (for example, academic warning) and additional honors -- such as Dean's List or President's List -- will be viewable in Workday on the academics dashboard on Jan. 2.

Getting help

CELT staff can help instructors who are using Canvas for final grade submission. Instructors can review CELT's Final Grade Submission guide or:

• Send an email to celt-help@iastate.edu to open a ticket
• Schedule an online consultation via CELT Help

A KBA, Workday Student: Submit Final Grades provides step-by-step instructions for final grade submission in Workday. If instructors still have questions, the registrar's academic records team can help. Instructors may send an email to academicrec@iastate.edu or call 294-1840.

All disciplines belong at campus civics conference

By Anne Krapfl
December 12

An inaugural professional development event for ISU employees, broadly on civics instruction, is taking shape for February, and organizers invite proposals from faculty and staff for either a 45-minute workshop or a 30-minute roundtable discussion. "Civics Across the Curriculum and Co-curriculum" will be held Wednesday, Feb. 19 (noon-4:30 p.m., Memorial Union).

The conference is part of a new multi-year effort, Cyclone Civics, which addresses the state Board of Regents' 2023 directive #9 that each university establish a "widespread initiative that includes opportunities for education and research on free speech and civic education." The board approved the directives following its six-month review of diversity, equity and inclusion programming and efforts at Iowa's three public universities.

Catt Center director and professor of political science Karen Kedrowski is director of Cyclone Civics, and teaching professor of political science Kelly Shaw is associate director.

"We'd like people to understand that civics and public policy skills can be taught and reinforced in a wide variety of disciplines. Understanding government, influencing government, touches all of us, irrespective of our background," Kedrowski said. "If you're in engineering, you might encounter it in building codes or zoning regulations. If you're in business, it could be taxation policy or fair labor standards."

Employee-facilitated sessions

Workshop or panel discussion proposals from faculty and staff should address the broad theme of "the university's role in civic literacy and skills development." Examples might include:

• Best practices for teaching civic skills in a classroom
• Teaching strategies and methods for integrating civic literacy across disciplines
• Curriculum development
• Strategies to embed civic responsibility in student organizations, volunteer programs and extracurricular activities
• Ideas for impactful service-learning experiences, community partnerships and other experiences outside the classroom
• Civic education practices that respect students' needs in a pluralist society

The last component of the conference, 30-minute roundtables, will be time reserved for participants to exchange ideas and strategize around a specific theme.

Shaw said one of the purposes of this first conference is to "take stock of where we're at." That includes gauging students' understanding of civics and seeing how comfortable faculty, instructors and non-teaching staff are with the topic. "When do we see enthusiasm? Where do we see hesitancy?" he said.

Guest-led sessions

After an opening keynote, the conference's first 45-minute breakout session will feature workshops led by professional facilitators. Kedrowski invited representatives of these groups to lead these sessions:

• Union of Concerned Scientists, an organization that advocates for using science to solve the world's challenges
• The Lyceum Movement, a Midwest organization that advocates for public conversations that lead to understanding and building community
• Unify America, which aims to "replace political fighting with collaborative problem-solving"

"These national partners demonstrate there are many organizations that focus on building civic skills and making civics relevant across disciplines," Kedrowski said. "They bring expertise, resources and a broader perspective to our campus conversation."

Submit your proposal

Session proposals in a PDF are due by Friday, Jan. 10, via email: cyclonecivics@iastate.edu. Presenters selected for the conference will be contacted by Jan. 20. A proposal should include:

• Session title
• Session description (300 words or less), including content, purpose and methods for audience engagement
• Key learning outcomes or skills
• Presenters: Name, title, affiliations and contact information for each presenter

 

Senators learn about central student recruitment help to colleges

By Jeff Budlong
December 12

Assistant vice president for enrollment management and executive director of admissions and new student programs Katharine Johnson Suski shared ways her staff can support college and department recruitment and outreach efforts during the Dec. 10 Faculty Senate meeting.

Suski said the admissions team can help in three main areas: student recruitment, graduate student admission review and communications.

Recruitment staff provide support through prospect and applicant data.

"Every college has a recruitment team that has access to bimonthly dashboards containing data to help departments and programs learn about prospective and applied students to the university," she said. "Those teams should be the first point of contact."

Colleges and departments looking for more undergraduate students can purchase names from various services of students who have indicated interest in certain fields. Iowa State buys 300,000-400,000 names each year, with individual colleges buying more, Suski said. 

Currently, Iowa State works with a vendor for communications to prospective students, but it is an expensive process.

"For the fall 2026 cycle, we are going to move that process in-house to the admissions office," she said. "It will save a lot of money when we do this outreach."

The admissions staff can help contact students through various email campaigns and ensure the Iowa State brand is represented. College and department staff receive analytics from those campaigns with open rates and other information, Suski said.

Faculty and staff can receive graduate admission review support through one-on-one consulting and training for individuals and programs.

Degrees of the future

The senate will vote at its next meeting on two proposed degrees of the future:

• An interdisciplinary bachelor's degree from the agronomy and agricultural and biosystems engineering departments in digital and precision agriculture (PDF). Precision agriculture relies on data to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of agriculture. Iowa State would be the first regent university to offer the major with a curriculum focused on agricultural science, sensor technologies, data science, spatial analysis and field-based operations.
• A master's degree in financial technology (PDF) offered by the colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Business focused on financial analysis, computational methods and business analytics. The 30-credit program includes 15 credits in computer science and 15 in finance and business analytics. Coursework would emphasize artificial intelligence, blockchain, software development and more. Students would learn to use financial and technological advances to develop algorithms and descriptive and predictive data analysis techniques.

Other business

Senators will vote at the January meeting on:

• A proposed interdisciplinary minor (PDF) in user experience design in the graphic design and industrial design departments. User experience design focuses on creating intuitive, efficient and enjoyable user interactions with digital products, websites and applications. The 15-credit minor has nine required credits and six elective credits offered in seven departments.
• A proposed online master's in supply chain management (PDF). The 30-credit program allows students to learn at their pace. The coursework-only program provides practical training to develop supply chain professionals with advanced managerial and analytical tools and skills that will help address the significant supply chain manager shortage in the state and across the nation.
• A proposed amendment to the degree planning policy would allow students to pursue a minor or certificate before earning a major of the same name if it does not occur in the same semester. Currently, a student can't earn a minor, certificate or major of the same name under any circumstances. This could help recruit additional students.
• A proposed name change to the animal ecology major, to wildlife and fisheries conservation and ecology (PDF). The name is consistent with peer institutions that have wildlife and fisheries conservation in the major title and may attract more students to the program.
• A proposal to remove guidelines from the Faculty Handbook regarding the percentage of term faculty instructors in a department or at the university. They would be replaced in the handbook with a statement including an annual review of the breakdown of tenured, tenure-eligible and term faculty to seek an appropriate balance for teaching, research and extension responsibilities.
• Proposed changes to curricular-related activities in the Faculty Handbook to clarify guidelines on missing classes, which semesters are impacted and holiday exemptions.

Senators approved:

• The fall graduation list that includes more than 1,600 undergraduate and 380 graduate students.
• Renaming the graduate specialization, "Intelligent Infrastructure Engineering," to "Transdisciplinary Infrastructure Engineering" (PDF) in the civil, construction and environmental engineering department. The new name offers marketing and recruitment opportunities.
• Removing all language in the Faculty Handbook regarding consenting relationships, and replacing it with a link to the consenting relationships policy in the policy library.
• Removing all but one section on intellectual property of educational materials from the Faculty Handbook and providing a link to the new institutional policy on educational materials in the policy library. The remaining section on required readings and textbook selection was moved to the end of section 10.6 (course information) in the handbook.

 

P&S councilors tasked with an inquiry

By Anne Krapfl
December 12

At its Dec. 5 meeting, the Professional and Scientific (P&S) Council approved a set of changes to its bylaws. The changes officially take effect July 1, 2025, but were presented this fall so the council's March election accurately reflects the new organizational structure and processes. Key changes will:

• Return three vice president positions (compensation and benefits, communication and community relations, and diversity, equity and inclusion -- DEI), to committee chair status. Several years ago, the council elevated three committee chair positions to VP with the intent of alleviating demands on the council president's time and creating areas of expertise for those vice presidents.
• Merge two committees (DEI, peer advocacy and policy) to form the community relations and advocacy committee. This also centralizes the council's communications function again, rather than delegating it to each committee. The change results in six standing committees instead of seven.
• Simplify the process for filling vacated council seats for the remainder of a fiscal year. Instead of a nomination and vote process at a meeting, the council president will make the appointment, which takes effect as soon as the appointee accepts. The governance committee will continue to maintain a roster of eligible P&S nominees based on the most recent election results.
• Standardize councilors' term length at three years and eliminate one- and two-year terms. The shorter options were intended to build in flexibility so about one-third of council seats were up for election each year.

Councilors approved the appointment of ISU Foundation employee Maggie Schonrock to fill a council vacancy in the president's division until the March election.

They also received an assignment from the DEI committee to complete in time for the council's Feb. 6 meeting: Ask at least three workplace-related, open-ended questions of three new constituents, and spend three minutes summarizing each conversation after it's completed. The intent, said committee chair Susan McNicholl, office of the vice president for research, is to gather feedback across the university's four divisions to help councilors understand better where to focus their efforts.

Technology projects update

In her update to the council, Kristen Constant, vice president for information technology services and project co-lead for Workday Student and Receivables implementation, summarized multiple ongoing projects:

• Workday Student implementation. Two small rollouts remain: Final grade submission and degree completion (this month), and processing fall satisfactory academic progress (for financial aid eligibility) and students' 1098T (tuition statement) form for tax purposes (begins in January).
• Artificial intelligence. Each of five subcommittees working on recommendations for a universitywide generative artificial intelligence (AI) strategy is drafting a report; two of five are complete. An all-campus AI Day is being planned for early February that will include discussion, tool recommendations and usage examples.
• Sign-on dashboard. The Microsoft sign-on dashboard went live in September, and the Okta dashboard it replaced was disabled Dec. 9. The new dashboard is included in Iowa State's Microsoft contract.
• Phone service. When the university's voice services contract with Cisco expires, the plan is to switch to Microsoft Teams Voice. Since July, many IT employees have been using and testing it. Teams Voice can do off-campus calls. Some individuals or functions (for example call centers or county extension offices) still may need a phone, so that assessment will be done. There needs to be a business reason, not simply a personal preference, to keep a desk phone. Various service proposal requests are open through January.

First scholars program distributes graduation gowns, caps

By Katy Cran, division of student affairs
December 12

The First Scholars Office, a program within the dean of students office housed in the Center for Student Educational Success, collected and distributed academic caps and gowns to more than 50 students graduating this month. Students who needed a cap and gown were able to select from various sizes available in the new center space on the third floor of the east part of the Memorial Union.

"We recognize the significance of commencement -- and the dedication our students need to reach this important milestone," said Taea Bonner, assistant director of student outreach and engagement in the First Scholars Office. "Our mission is to make sure nothing gets in the way of students celebrating this achievement with their loved ones and their peers."

First Scholars programming is supported by a FY2024 project grant, renewed for FY25, under the 2022-31 Strategic Plan. First Scholars focuses on first-generation and low-income student success, with the big-picture goal of improving retention and graduation rates.

Donations collecting is ongoing

Staff already are gathering used caps and gowns for upcoming commencement ceremonies. Items will be cleaned and donated to future graduates who face financial barriers that prevent them from purchasing their own regalia.

Students who would like to donate their used caps and gowns will find donation bins at the north, south and west entrances of Hilton Coliseum at the conclusion of their graduation ceremony. They can place their items in a bin or grab a postage-paid envelope near the bin to mail in their regalia at a later date. Questions about cap and gown donations can be sent to firstscholars@iastate.edu.