College of Design-News Releases

Bethany Wilcoxon, ISU senior in community and regional planning, will present a research poster to lawmakers Monday, March 10, in the rotunda of the state capitol building in Des Moines. Wilcoxon is among 20 Iowa State University undergraduate students selected to participate in "Research in the Capitol." She is the only representative from the College of Design.

Contacts: Bethany Wilcoxon, Senior, Community and Regional Planning, bethanyw@iastate.edu
Monica A. Haddad, Assistant Professor, Community and Regional Planning, (515) 294-8979, haddad@iastate.edu

ISU planning student Bethany Wilcoxon part of Research in the Capitol event, March 10

AMES, Iowa -- Bethany Wilcoxon, a senior in community and regional planning at Iowa State University, is among 20 ISU undergraduate students selected to participate in the "Research in the Capitol" event March 10 in Des Moines. Wilcoxon, from Atlantic, is the only College of Design representative in the event this year.

A total of 60 undergraduate students from Iowa State, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa will display their posters and describe their research from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the rotunda of the state capitol building. The program is designed to highlight the importance of undergraduate research to legislators and other state officials. Students serve as ambassadors to convey the depth and variety of research occurring at their respective universities.

Wilcoxon's research poster -- "The Corn Belt's Ethanol Plants: Do Locational Factors Matter?" -- examines the locational factors for ethanol production to determine the optimal locations of ethanol plants, and then compares those locations with the actual and proposed locations of these plants. Based on her spatial analysis, Wilcoxon concluded that, for the most part, ethanol plants in the Corn Belt states are located where they should be. She discovered that some locations, however, need further scrutiny.

Wilcoxon's poster presentation was derived from a geographic information systems (GIS) project she developed in fall 2007 under the guidance of faculty members Monica A. Haddad, Francis Owusu and Gary Taylor, all in the department of community and regional planning. Her poster is part of an ISU Extension research project which aims to help us better understand the spatial dynamics of the biofuel industry.

"We believe it is very important to involve undergraduate planning students in issues related to rural development," Haddad said. "'Research in the Capitol' is a great opportunity for Bethany to present her research and engage legislators and other state officials in the planning aspects of the bioeconomy," Haddad said.

"Analyzing ethanol plants' locational factors has been exciting as more and more plants are being constructed. It's intriguing to watch the ethanol industry transforming the rural economy, especially for a person who grew up in rural Iowa," Wilcoxon added.