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AGRONOMY GLEANINGS

Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota

411 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108-6026

PHONE (612) 625-7773; FAX (612) 625-1268; E-MAIL agro@umn.edu

WEB http://agronomy.cfans.umn.edu/

April 28, 2009

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SHAPE-UP CHALLENGE DRAWING. The $10 gift certificate winners from the Shape-Up Challenge drawing for Week 3 are: Lois Braun, Shaun Curtin, Jon Massman, and Ed Schiefelbein. Congratulations!

THE 11TH ANNUAL BOLLUM SYMPOSIUM, "The Biochemistry of Biofuels," Wednesday, May 6th, 1:00 - 5:00 pm, Mayo Auditorium. Invited Speakers:

- Dr. Tim Donohue, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, “Tapping into Microbial Genomes for Light-driven Hydrogen Production”

- Dr. Jay Keasling, University of California, Berkeley, CA, “Engineering Microorganisms for Production of Advanced Biofuels”

- Dr. James Liao, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, “Fuels and Chemical Beyond Petroleum”

- Dr. Steve Ragsdale, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, “Nickel Enzymes in the Biochemistry of Biofuels”

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/BMBB/seminars/bollum.shtml

KERMIT A. OLSON MEMORIAL LECTURE, Wednesday, May 6, 110 Green Hall, 3:30 Awards & Scholarships, 4:00 Lecture. Best-selling writer Amy Stewart will deliver this year's Kermit Olson lecture, an annual event held by the Department of Horticultural Science. The lecture is titled “The Global Garden: Translating the World of Horticulture.”

LIVING GREEN EXPO, May 2-3, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, St. Paul. Free admission.  http://livinggreen.org

SEMINARS

Tuesday, April 28

Dr. Sarah Ward, Colorado State University, Department of Soil & Crop Sciences, “Interspecific hybridization and genetic structure in invasive Linaria populations,” 3:30 p.m., 335 Borlaug Hall.

Wednesday, April 29

MPGI Spring Colloquia, Les Szabo, Department of Plant Pathology, “Analysis of the Wheat Stem Rust Fungus (Puccinia graminis) genome,” and Anke Reinders, Department of Plant Biology, “Update on the Role of Sucrose Transporters in Plants,” 12:00 p.m., 105 Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics.

Wednesday, April 29

WUSA & MISA, “Farm Beginnings Program,” Nick Olson, 12:00-1:00 p.m., 306 Borlaug Hall.

Wednesday, April 29

CFANS, CSOM and The Food Industry Center, Dr. Mehmood Kahn, Chief Scientific Officer, PepsiCo, “Cross-Fertilization Between Food, Pharma and the Healthcare Industry: A Corporate Physician's Perspective,” 3:30-5:00 pm, 1-104 Hanson Hall, West Bank.

Wednesday, April 29

BMBB, “Counteracting Resistance to Nucleoside Analogue Inhibitors of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase,” Dr. Matthias Gotte, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 4:00 p.m., 2-137 Jackson Hall, Minneapolis Campus.

Monday, May 4

APPLIED PLANT SCIENCES, Cristal Cisneros, “Making Grass Greener: Breeding for Rust Resistance in Perennial Ryegrass,” 3:30 p.m., 306 Borlaug Hall.

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS

(Posted in notebook in 411 Borlaug Hall)

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Two PhD Graduate Fellowships supported by Monsanto in Plant Breeding and Genetics, the Plant Breeding Genetics and Biotechnology (PBGB) Program, East Lansing, MI. Closing date: May 15, 2009.