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Shui-zhang Fei

Model plants are the "proving grounds" for new crops. Temperate grasses are candidates for making cellulosic ethanol, and Brachypodium distachyon is fast becoming a model for these new bioenergy crops.

For nine weeks this past summer, Plant Sciences Institute-supported Borlaug interns, Lynn Veenstra and Pu (Jack) Hou worked at the International Potato Center or Centro International de la Papa (CIP) in Peru.

Jack rabbits, a silver fox and birds aplenty are all Andy Suby has for company at the new BioCentury Research Farm (BCRF). Not for long. Just west of Ames and situated across the road from Iowa State's research fields, this shining new facility will soon be brewing and cooking bioenergy products.

Sequencing genomes is a path to new discoveries in plant sciences, be the findings pieces of molecular machinery or targets for trait enhancement.

It's been a great ride! After nearly nine wonderful years, it's time for me to step down. When I came on board, it was my hope to make plant sciences grow and flourish at Iowa State, and I couldn't be more pleased to see what has happened. The institute has emerged as a premierresearch organization having recruited 37 energetic, new plant science faculty to the university. What a difference they will make for the future of this institution!