CALS News and Announcements

  • High-Grade Pima Cotton Emerged Here

    The Arizona Daily Star's Centennial salute to science in Arizona runs all summer. Each day, for 100 days, we'll record a milestone in the state's scientific history.

    Pima cotton has come to represent the gold standard for luxurious, silklike fabric used in high-end sheets and clothing.

    The evolution of this extra-long-staple cotton is an Arizona success story.

    "A lot of folks think it originated with the Pima Indians," said Jeff Silvertooth, head of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at the University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

  • Youth Cultivate Appreciation for Healthy Food at Urban Farm

    Tucson Village Farm is a working urban farm designed to provide youth with an understanding of sustainable food systems.

    The farm is operational year round and during the summer kids have an opportunity to participate in week-long camps designed to teach healthy food choices.

    Leza Carter, program coordinator and founder of Tucson Village Farm, says TVF is an environment designed to reconnect young people to a healthy food system, teach them how to grow and prepare fresh food, and empower them to make healthy life choices.

  • Credit-Wise Cats Teach Kids About Finance

    The UA’s Credit-Wise Cats live by one motto: There’s no crying in finance.

    The organization began with just five members in 2000, and aims to improve the financial literacy of young adults in local schools. The group now includes 15 ambassadors that partner with programs and community businesses to put on interactive personal finance workshops. On Saturday, the Credit-Wise Cats invited 14 high schools in Tucson to take part in a competition that challenged their financial literacy.

  • Yuma Area Farmers Betting on Olives

    In the constant search for new crops that fit the area and fill a niche market, a handful of growers in the desert Southwest are turning their attention to an ancient agricultural product with a promising new future.

    With Americans in pursuit of healthier living, there's a growing demand for high-quality olive oil, said Glenn Wright, a University of Arizona researcher with the Yuma Agriculture Center. And it's a crop he thinks would do well here.

    “I think there's a big future here, based on what I know so far.”

  • Super Tomatoes

    UA scientists are growing tomatoes that have a high concentration of lycopene, an antioxidant compound. By adding salt to the soil, the tomatoes experience stress, which causes them to produce more lycopene. The study could lead to improved food growing techniques in the U.S. and better nutrition.


    See the WebMD video featuring Chieri Kubota, CALS Controlled Environment Agricultural Center, at http://www.webmd.com/diet/video/super-tomatoes

  • Fund Gives Green Light to Sustainability

    The University of Arizona Green Fund Committee has selected 16 projects to receive nearly $400,000 in the coming year that will make the University a more environmentally sustainable institution.
     
    The Green Fund Committee is comprised of nine UA students responsible for soliciting, accepting, reviewing and funding sustainable project proposals on the UA campus and beyond. The committee received 34 proposals this year from a variety of projects looking for funding for the 2012-13 academic year.

  • CALS Professor to Head National Group on Adolescent Research

    The Society for Research on Adolescence, or SRA, has named University of Arizona professor Stephen T. Russell its new president.


    Russell is director of the University of Arizona's Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families, housed in the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences.
     
    He also is the associate editor of SRA's Journal of Research on Adolescence and the Fitch Nesbitt Endowed Chair. The McClelland Institute that he heads is a catalyst for research that addresses social, emotional and physical issues that families face.

  • Conference to Explore 'Love Affair' Between Retailers, Customers

    The University of Arizona's Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing will hold its annual Global Retailing Conference April 12-13. This year's event will be at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson.
     
    A number of the retail industry's innovators will present during the two-day conference, the 16th in the series. Among the speakers will be senior executives from Macy's, Home Depot, Walmart, PetSmart, General Growth Partners, Kraft, Nielsen and Li and Fung.
     
    UA alumnus Terry J.

  • Deconstructing Dengue

    Scientists can spend years working on problems that at first may seem esoteric and rather pointless. For example, there's a scientist in Arizona who's trying to find a way to measure the age of wild mosquitoes.


    As weird as that sounds, the work is important for what it will tell scientists about the natural history of mosquitoes. It also could have major implications for human health.

  • Know Garden's Zone When Picking Plants

    What zone is your landscape in? If you knew that, you might get a better understanding of what can grow in your yard.
     
    You can figure out your landscape profile by using a number of plant-hardiness maps available to gardeners.
     
    In January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released an updated Plant Hardiness Zone Map that tells growers how cold it gets in their neighborhoods.
     
    Some of the zones were adjusted to reflect new data that cover a 30-year period instead of a 13-year period.