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Steven Briggs (light blue/silver suit, one o'clock, outer ring)—satisfying his detoured aerial ambitions with an active skydiving hobby—earned a fifth place finish at last year's national championships in 8-way formation competition in Skydive, Arizona

Scientifically skilled and savvy, Steven Briggs seemingly does it all. As chair of the Plant Sciences Institute board, he brings a long history of balancing academic and corporate interests to this leadership role.

Natural photosynthetic systems that use solar energy to capture carbon are ripe for engineering innovation. One group holding promise for generating renewable biofuels and chemicals are microalgae, organisms Martin Spalding, professor and chair of the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology has been studying for over 30 years.

In the face of changing priorities, we sometimes lose our sense of direction. We built a biofuels industry in Iowa, because the nation wanted to free itself from dependence on foreign oil. A few years ago, that made sense. Oil prices were outrageously high, corn and soybeans were relatively cheap—ethanol looked like a good deal. In the interim that equation has turned on its head and biofuels no longer have the caché they had back then. Instead the industry has been criticized for falling short of new priorities.

Sharron Quisenberry has joined Iowa State as the new vice president for research and economic development (VPRED). Originally from northern Missouri, the former dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, is thrilled to be back in the landscape of her youth.

Efforts to exploit plant systems for the production of small metabolites, valued in biofuels and chemical industries, often depend on detecting minute differences between the metabolic make-ups of different organisms.