Today at ISU
Cyclone News
Admissions

CARGILL, CBE PARTNER IN SPAIN SUMMER LAB PROGRAM
 

Cargill, Inc., and Iowa State University both have deep roots in Iowa—not to mention humble beginnings. While many are familiar with the university’s birth as a small agricultural college in 1858, fewer may be aware that Cargill began as little more than a country grain elevator in the tiny northeast Iowa town of Conover in 1865.

Today Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural, and risk management products and services, with operations in 59 countries and 124,000 employees—4,000 in Iowa alone. And from its own modest origins, Iowa State has become a world-class research institution with graduates, educational programs, and a reputation for scientific and agricultural innovation that span the globe.

The ‘measurable value’ of a global focus
This common international focus lies at the heart of the most recent collaboration between the institutions, as Cargill has signed on as a sponsor of the “ISU-Cargill Summer Laboratory Course in Spain.” Offered in conjunction with the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Spain’s University of Oviedo since 2001, the program is an intensive, five-week laboratory and report-writing course, taught in English, that provides undergraduates seven credits toward degree requirements in Iowa State’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE).

Support for the program comes courtesy of Cargill’s Higher Education Initiative (HEI), an effort launched in 1996, according to the company’s Web site, “to build mutually beneficial relationships with key schools that provide measurable value to Cargill businesses.” Cargill has committed more than $1 million to Iowa State since the HEI’s inception, including support last year for CBE Assistant Professor Monica Lamm to develop instructional modules.

That budding relationship between the department and Cargill has grown quickly, says CBE Professor Kenneth Jolls, the department’s man in Oviedo since 2002 and a prime mover in recruiting Cargill as a partner for the Spain program.

“We got everything we asked for,” Jolls notes, including support for students who will be designated “Cargill Scholars.” Cargill will contribute just over $29,000 for the program this year. Besides scholarships, the funding will allow Jolls to spend more time in Oviedo preparing for the course, which begins in mid-June. It will also pay for a graduate teaching assistant, Luis Petersen, to accompany the undergraduates. A member of CBE Professor Peter Reilly’s research group and a native of Mexico, Petersen is fluent in both Spanish and English.

The following Iowa State students will attend the 2006 summer program in Oviedo: Jorge Almodovar (Caguas, PR) Joe Costanzo (Omaha, NE) Lindsay Dewitte (Bettendorf, IA) Krystal Garringer (Cedar Rapids, IA) Katherine Gidlewski (Ames, IA) Michelle Kozmik (Minneapolis, MN) Peter Piotrowski (West Byfleet Surrey, England) Kevin Radle (Lakeville, MN) Theresa Russo (Elk Grove Village, IL) Megan Sellheim (Maplewood, MN)

Relationship building is key
As with much private and industrial support of higher education, Cargill’s participation grew from a network of relationships among people already deeply invested in the Oviedo program, the CBE department, and Iowa State.

The program, Jolls notes, was originally administered by Oviedo for the University of Wisconsin. Iowa State was well positioned to collaborate in part, Jolls says, because of the close relationship between the chemical engineering departments at Iowa State and Wisconsin, where former CBE chair Chuck Glatz earned his PhD.

Next, the Oviedo faculty’s principal participants, Professor José Coca Prados and Associate Professor Susana Luque, have themselves enjoyed a long working relationship with the department at Wisconsin. In addition, since last September Luque has been on leave from Oviedo to work at the Twin Cities headquarters of Cargill, which operates 11 food and agricultural plants in Spain.

Equally significant is the relationship both CBE and Iowa State enjoy with Cargill courtesy of the ongoing pipeline of Iowa State grads into the company’s ranks. In addition to Cargill vice chairman and board member Dave Raisbeck, who leads the company’s Iowa State Steering Committee, hundreds of Iowa State alumni from disciplines across the campus are employed by the multinational corporation.

Play hard—and work harder
Jolls is quick to point out that the Spanish experience is hardly a tourist picnic for the students. “The thing that puts the damper on that is a lot of work,” he says. “We hit the ground running and it’s go, go, go for five weeks.”

In that short period, the students will conduct ten experiments and write nine reports. Their tenth report involves a formal oral presentation on the final day of the program before the assembled faculty in the grand seminar room—not exactly a stroll on the Costa del Sol.

Still, opportunities abound for students and staff to enjoy the people, beauty, and culture of Spain, and program participants typically take at least one group road trip during their stay to explore the country’s ancient civilization. After all, what’s the value of an international experience without the opportunity to travel and interact with the native population?

That’s not lost on jazzman Jolls, who last year invited several local Spanish musicians to join in as he jammed on his trademark vibraphone for the session’s closing banquet. “The instrument I played, I think, came back over with Columbus,” he laughs. “But these were very good musicians playing American jazz. This year, we play in the clubs!”