Drake University | Iowa Science Interface

Posts Tagged ‘Drake University’

Dan Chibnall, Drake University, Iowa Legislature, Iowa State University, Tenure, Uniersity of Northern Iowa, University of Iowa

Save tenure; save science; save Iowa education

In University research on March 3, 2021 at 7:35 am

Campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, one of the state regents institutions that a tenure ban would devastate. Credit: University of Northern Iowa. — The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, one of the state regents institutions that a tenure ban would devastate. Credit: University of Northern Iowa.

With complete control of the governor’s office and both houses of the General Assembly, the Iowa Republican Party passed some terrible anti-science, anti-intellectual bills last year, in a pandemic-shortened session.

But that doesn’t compare with what they’re attempting this year.

The GOP increased its majority in both houses in the 2020 election, apparently emboldening its caucus. Besides further restricting voting, they’re considering expanding exemptions for vaccinations and forbidding businesses – even hospitals and clinics – from requiring vaccines for employees.

But the worst of a bad bunch might be the attempt to ban tenure, the policy that helps protect academic freedom, at the state universities.

What would it mean for Iowa?

Read the rest of this entry »

▶ Comment

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Andrew Yang, Bold Iowa, Brianne Pfannenstiel, CAFOs, Citizens Climate Lobby, climate change, Des Moines Register, Douglas Burns, Drake University, Elizabeth Warren, Green New Deal, IASTEM, Iowa Caucuses, Iowa Starting Line, Jay Inslee, Jennifer Zwagerman, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Pat Rynard, Sarah Beckman, Science on the Stump, SciLine, The Carroll Times Herald, WOI-TV

In the Iowa Caucuses campaign, science voters have the power to prod candidates

In Government, STEM on June 17, 2019 at 7:10 am

Science on the Stump journalists Sarah Beckman, Douglas Burns, Brianne Pfannenstiel and Pat Rynard

Sarah Beckman of WOI-TV speaks to the audience at the March for Science Iowa Science on the Stump forum. From left, Douglas Burns, Brianne Pfannenstiel and Pat Rynard listen in. Photo by Joe Sheehan.

For Iowans who care about science – government support for research, using evidence to define policy, and things like addressing climate change and backing vaccine safety – now is the time to speak up.

The caucus campaign gives us a quadrennial opportunity to push for these goals. Candidates – and the reporters who cover them – are listening.

That was one message from Iowa journalists last month at Drake University in Des Moines. They were on the second of two panels gathered for Science on the Stump, hosted by the March for Science Iowa, a nonpartisan group that advocates for evidence-based policy and research in the public interest. I helped organize the event and previously wrote about the first forum, of scientists and science observers.

You can listen to the entire discussion on the March for Science Iowa Facebook page.

The journalists who spoke noted that Iowans often dictate the subjects candidates address when they appear in cafes, barns, auditoriums and living rooms across the state. For example, activists and interested voters have made climate change a key science-related issue.

Reporters, editors and producers also respond to voter feedback, but a lack of science expertise sometimes makes it difficult for them to sift competing claims. Read the rest of this entry »

▶ View 2 Comments

David Courard-Hauri, Des Moines Register, Dierdre Egan, Drake University, Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Iowa Caucuses, Iowa City Darwin Day, Iowa City Science Booster Club, Iowa State University, Kathie Obradovich, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Paul Lasley, Science Debate, Successful Farming

To get candidates to debate science, ask the right questions

In Government on May 20, 2019 at 7:19 am

David Courard-Hauri, Dierdre Egan and David Kurns at Drake University for the March for Science Iowa "Science on the Stump" panel.

David Courard-Hauri makes a point at Drake University during the March for Science Iowa “Science on the Stump” panel. Dierdre Egan and David Kurns look on. Photo by Joe Sheehan.

Hordes of candidates are cutting across Iowa, touring ethanol plants and farms and chatting up voters in coffee shops and living rooms.

It’s to up us to get these would-be presidents to take science seriously, leaders in education and agriculture told an Iowa audience at a recent discussion, hosted by March for Science Iowa. We must demand that they support their views with solid research.

The session (which I helped organize) was designed to get Iowans – and, more importantly, journalists and candidates – talking about science, research and evidence-based policy, subjects that usually get little attention on the campaign trail.

It was illuminating discussion, illustrating Iowans’ diverging views on such science-based issues as climate change and water quality. One thing most spoke to: science advocates must change how they address the issues if they’re to gain support from other voters.

The big question is how to do it.

Read the rest of this entry »

▶ View 3 Comments

Department of Energy, Drake University, Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Environmental Protection Agency, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, National Institutes of Health, Science Debate, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Putting science on the Iowa presidential caucus campaign agenda

In Government on April 24, 2019 at 11:13 am

The science commandments, from a 2017 March for Science Iowa participant.

For something that affects our lives in so many ways, science gets remarkably little attention when candidates at all levels – especially for president – talk to voters.

Science-based policies govern our air, water, health, food, communications – nearly everything we do, hear, see, taste and smell every day. A president’s appointees to such scientific agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy Office of Science, Agricultural Research Service and National Institutes of Health can affect our lives more deeply than Congress.

So why doesn’t science get a bigger share of a candidate’s standard campaign speech? Why don’t reporters and news anchors press them on whether they’re prepared to base energy, environmental, health and agricultural policy on scientific evidence? Why aren’t candidates announcing up front what kinds of experts they will appoint to head agencies that support research and create science-based policies?

The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Science Debate has tried to address this problem since the 2008 presidential election. It’s still working to drive discussion on these issues – including providing grants to local organizations with similar goals.

March for Science Iowa is joining in that mission with an event next month.

Read the rest of this entry »

▶ View 1 Comment

American Association for the Advancement of Science, Charles Nelson, climate change, Drake University, Gannett, Rick Weiss, Science writing, SciLine, USA Today, vaccinations, Washington Post

Just the facts, ma’am (and sir): Website offers valid science to reporters and the public

In STEM on September 3, 2018 at 8:20 am

A page from Science comics, circa 1939, when newspapers warned of a mad scientist rampage – and the president trusted the FBI. Via the Digital Comic Museum.

If you’re looking for it, there’s good science news reporting everywhere. There’s a long list of science blogs (this is only a few), many written by researchers themselves. There also are innumerable podcasts and videos – some authoritative, some not.

But unless you’re seeking such information, you probably won’t see it. Science coverage in general-interest publications, like newspapers, is almost nonexistent. (Exceptions include the USA Today section in Gannett papers around the country, which often has a science story anchoring its cover, and the New York Times Tuesday section.) Most media can no longer afford reporters who specialize in science.

So what’s a local newspaper or television station to do when science issues burst onto the scene? How can they answer readers’ questions about whether the latest flood or wildfire is related to climate change? How can they address the latest discovery at their local university and gauge its importance?

A nascent website, financed through ~~donations~~ grants from foundations, offers those local reporters quick, scientifically valid and understandable explanations on these issues, free of charge. Its organizers were in Iowa recently to promote the effort and attract both reporters and the scientists who can help them.

Read the rest of this entry »

▶ View 3 Comments

Aaron Dopf, Betsy Dopf, David Epstein, DNA, Drake University, Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, genetics, GoFundMe, Jill Viles, lipodystrophy, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, ProPublica, Robert Dopf, The Atlantic, This American Life, Thomas Horiagon

This Iowa mom uses a scooter. This Olympian vaults hurdles. A rare condition links them.

In Uncategorized on February 11, 2016 at 7:20 am

Jill Viles (with her son, Martin) uses an electric scooter to get around. Patricia Lopes-Schliep is a world-class hurdler. The women have discovered they share a rare muscle condition. For Viles, it's part of the reason she can no longer walk. For Lopes-Schliep, it's part of the reason for her dominance on the track.

Jill Viles (with her son, Martin) uses an electric scooter to get around. Priscilla Lopes-Schliep is a world-class hurdler. The women have discovered they share a rare muscle condition. For Viles, it’s part of the reason she can no longer walk. For Lopes-Schliep, it’s one reason for her dominance on the track. Image via the Toronto Star.

The idea seemed ludicrous: A muscle-bound world-class athlete and an Iowa mom with arms and legs reduced to sticks, sharing the same rare muscle condition.

When her sister suggested it, Jill Viles scoffed. “Who in a million years would possibly put together somebody who can’t walk and somebody who’s an Olympic hurdler?” Viles said this week from her home in Gowrie, in north-central Iowa

But doctors had been wrong before about Viles, who lost use of her legs several years ago. And the more she examined photos of Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, a Canadian who won bronze in 2008, the more she began to think her sister was right.

Looking a picture of Lopes-Schliep from the back, “it was absolutely my dad. It was something I had seen since I was a little girl,” said Viles, a Des Moines native. “Our family is connected to that picture and we have a mutation” in a gene that led to the unusual physique. “It’s uncanny.”

But did they really share a genetic hiccup? And if so, why did it put Jill Viles into a motorized scooter but made Priscilla Lopes-Schliep a track champion?

The search for answers led Viles onto another leg of an already remarkable tale of discovery. It’s a science story, but also a human-interest story that has gotten attention from across America and around the world.

The quest goes on. Viles is seeking donations to support research into the differences and similarities between her and Lopes-Schliep – the anti-Jill Viles – with the hope it could lead to new therapies, even for those suffering from more common muscle conditions. With enough donations, Viles also hopes to help others travel to consult with the world’s leading expert in her condition.

Read the rest of this entry »

▶ View 4 Comments

Thomas R. O'Donnell

Iowa Science Interface

Posts Tagged ‘Drake University’

Save tenure; save science; save Iowa education

In the Iowa Caucuses campaign, science voters have the power to prod candidates

To get candidates to debate science, ask the right questions

Putting science on the Iowa presidential caucus campaign agenda

Just the facts, ma’am (and sir): Website offers valid science to reporters and the public

This Iowa mom uses a scooter. This Olympian vaults hurdles. A rare condition links them.

Categories

Iowa Science Interface Twitter Feed

Visit my Facebook page

Blogs I Follow

Follow Blog via Email