Beautiful Work

I used to joke that I would wake up early and “marinate in existential dread” for an hour or two before launching off to work. Not so lately!  Alison Doyle (Associate Director for the ISU Research Park) challenged me back in April to start doing yoga with her – weekday mornings at 5:30 AM.  Insane, no?  Since then, I’ve done yoga 2-5 times per week at the Ignite Studio before the crack of dawn.  It’s been great for my health and for my brain. I jetted out of shivasana one morning to write down an idea for one of my grad students before I lost it – it just bubbled up into consciousness like a gift. 

In hot yoga, you warm up, then work on stretches, balancing poses, and flows that use the weight of your body to get a great workout and build strength.  At the end, instructors often have a parting comment, a bit of gratitude, or some wisdom to share. Denise Coberley is one of the instructors that shows up for those early morning sessions. In addition to being a great yogi, she’s a PhD student in Applied Linguistics and Technology who is focused on science communication and policy.  Why am I introducing you to Denise?  Because she ends class by telling us something I think is really meaningful.  Denise tells us that we did, “Beautiful work.” 

I think about that phrase a lot lately in the context of CALS research.  Not that some work product is beautiful or that an idea is beautiful (though some ideas really are beautiful), but that the research activity itself is beautiful. 

In this edition of the CALS Office of Research & Discovery newsletter, we highlight how Karl Kerns and his colleagues turned one opportunity to get a piece of equipment into a series of wins that support the science.  Looking at what they’re doing, I can’t help but marvel…. What beautiful work!

Are you looking to get new equipment? The Equipment and Infrastructure Seed Grants are due this Friday, 13 October.  Thanks to Darwin Campbell, we also have a new equipment browser called ATLaS to help you find what you need to do your own beautiful work.

Carolyn Lawrence-Dill
Associate Dean
Research & Discovery

Latest cell sorter technology at Iowa State ‘opens new doors’ for research

October 2, 2023

By Ann Y. Robinson 

This is the third and final story in a series highlighting CALS researchers and their journeys to funding and enlightenment. The other articles feature work by Joshua Selsby, professor of animal science, and Melha Mellata, associate professor of molecular microbiology. 

Equipment has arrived at labs in Kildee Hall and the Molecular Biology Building that will revolutionize research possibilities for faculty and students at Iowa State University. 

For the Kerns Lab in Kildee, the new equipment will help predict male fertility by identifying biomarkers that signal which sperm cells have the best chance of siring successful offspring. 

Keep reading...

Download the October 2023 Newsletter (pdf)

CALS Office of Research & Discovery
139 Curtiss Hall, Iowa State University | Ames, Iowa 50011
515-294-8842 | research.cals@iastate.edu