• August 24 - Congratulations to Elizabeth Davis on her new grant award from the Minnesota Department of Human Services for her project titled, "Alternative Methods for Setting Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) Maximum Rates."
  
  
• August 14 - Professor Emeritus Earl Fuller passed away unexpectedly on August 14 while visiting his brother in Michigan.  Earl was a Michigan farm boy who was born on March 12, 1929 to Emily and George Fuller who were farmers living near Fife Lake, Michigan.

   

  Earl served in the army from 1951 to 1953. Afterward he attended Michigan Sate University where he obtained a B.S. in Animal Husbandry in 1955 and his M.S. in Agricultural Economics in 1957. He joined the (then) Agricultural Economics Department at the University of Minnesota in 1958 as a Research Fellow, where he earned his PhD in 1965 in the areas of Farm Management and Agricultural Economics.

   

  He began his extension and teaching career in 1961 at the University of Massachusetts, where he was responsible for extension education programs in diary, poultry and crops. He also was a pioneer in the use computers for farm management, using them in research as well as a tool for educational programs.

   

  He returned to the University of Minnesota in 1971 in a faculty position which required a farm management specialist with computer experience to develop computer decision aids.

   

  Earl taught “Applied Linear Programming,” for most of his career at Minnesota. In the earlier years, his research focused on the development of computer decision aids for problems ranging from the evaluation of alternative feed-stuffs under conditions of drought to evaluation of labor and investment requirements for alternative livestock housing systems. His also conducted extension programs in the areas of dairy farm management, crop farm management, and income tax management. He was one of several faculty members working in farm management extension who, in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, were in the forefront of the profession in developing computerized decision aids for farm and financial management.

   

  Earl’s career demonstrated the importance of developing sound and educationally useful computer decision aids for use by non-economists in Minnesota farm firms.

   

  Earl retired from the University of Minnesota on June 30, 1995 after serving 24 years as a Professor & Extension Economist in Farm Management.  He continued to participate in departmental events and enjoyed travel, reading, and writing.

   

  Survived by children, Cynthia, Thomas (Debra), Ronald (Sabrina), Stephen and George (Gwen). Also survived by wife, Ann; 5 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

   

  At this time, his family is planning a funeral in Michigan, where he grew up.  They also plan to hold a memorial service at the end of September here in Minnesota. We will update this web page as we receive information regarding memorial services.
  
  

• August 7 - Jeff Apland receives CFANS Grant.
  
  "Bees, biofuels and climate change are the focus of three U of M, CFANS grants that aim at providing real-world solutions.

Three projects have been awarded $100,000 each as part of the new, University of Minnesota, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences Grants program.

The grants are aimed at increasing the college's research capacity in the areas of environment; the bio-based economy; and crops, food animals and human health.

The projects include:

* "Economic and Environmental Impacts of Biofuels in Minnesota," led by professor Jeffrey Apland and three co-principal investigators, Shri Ramaswamy, David Mulla and Sangwon Suh.

* "An Integrated Initiative on Climate Change in Northern Forests," led by Regents Professor Peter Reich with 10 co-principal investigators. They are: Alan Ek, Rebecca Montgomery, Roy Rich, Jacek Oleksyn, Lee Frelich, Sarah Hobbie, Meredith Cornett, Tali Lee, John Bradford and Brian Palek.

* "Novel Antimicrobial Properties of Honeybee Propolis in Human and Animal Health, led by professor Jerry Cohen with two co-principal investigators, Gary Gardner and Marla Spivak.

All the grants are for one year, with a second-year grant of an additional $100,000 each expected.

"We had many very strong interdisciplinary proposals for this grant program," said Allen Levine, dean of the college. "I'm confident that the scientists working on the three that were selected will use this assistance to further our goal of providing solution-driven science to Minnesotans and the world beyond."

(text from University News Service, August 7, 2007)

• August 1-  (Wednesday), at about 6:05 p.m., the I-35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River near the Twin Cities campus fell into the water. The casualty toll is still unknown. "We all feel the pain and suffer this loss that hits so close to home," says University President Robert Bruininks. Campus police and emergency management people helped with recovery.

  For more information, including traffic reroutes, see a special Web page devoted to this disaster.  

  We are all shocked and saddened by the tragedy of the I35W bridge collapse. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families at this difficult time.