University of Iowa

30 graduate teaching assistants from a range of disciplines who excel in promoting learning, creativity, and intellectual discovery both inside and outside the classroom have been honored for their enthusiasm and commitment to student success at the University of Iowa.

University of Iowa's CAMBUS recognizes AbiJo Peet as the 2024 Driver of the Year. Transit service providers across Iowa each nominate an employee annually to be honored by the Iowa Public Transit Association (IPTA) for their commitment to providing safe and friendly service. Peet is from Hudson, Iowa and is currently studying radiation sciences. She started working as a bus operator in Sept. 2022. Peet completed additional training in May 2023 to operate CAMBUS' ADA paratransit service, Bionic Bus, for people with temporary and permanent disabilities.

University of Iowa's CAMBUS recognizes John Underwood as the 2024 Support Person of the Year. The award was established by CAMBUS in 2019 to recognize the support staff who serve in behind-the-scenes roles to keep the transit system operating smoothly. Underwood is from Keokuk, Iowa and began working at CAMBUS as a bus operator in Oct. 2021. He was promoted to student mechanic in May 2023.

End-of-Year Awards presented by the Carver College of Medicine at the close of each academic year is an effort to recognize the talents and commitments of students, residents, faculty, and staff towards furthering the education of those in the College.

University of Iowa men's golfer Macalister McClear makes program history as Iowa's first two-time Big Ten champion.

A two-time state champion, Jena Young is a rising star for the University of Iowa softball program.

Rich with linguistic diversity, Tanzania has over 120 local languages. The relationship between these languages and their various purposes in society prompted a line of inquiry for Jasmin Msuya, a third-year doctoral student in the Literacy Culture and Language Education Program.

The University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine periodically puts the spotlight on students who are pursuing their medical careers. This installment of "Meet..." features Kloe Thomas, who is studying for a career as a physician's assistant.

A College of Engineering research team at the University of Iowa led by Qin Dong, a PhD candidate in environmental engineering, has found that corn kernels could help clean up toxic PCB chemicals.

Two University of Iowa alums talk about their experiences as a participant in the Carver College of Medicine's Teaching Distinction Track.

The Daily Iowan has acquired two community newspapers. This acquisition allows students to receive firsthand experience reporting on these communities while still in college.

When photographers at "The Daily Iowan" were granted exclusive access to the Iowa women's basketball program in the fall of 2023, they got a front-row seat to a historic season and a hands-on workshop on book publishing.

For fifth-year chemical and biochemical engineering doctoral student Konstantina (Konna) Zoga, the pathway from her previous institution in Greece to Iowa was one some of her peers had already traveled. Zoga, who will be graduating this spring, witnessed two of her classmates from the University of Patras make the journey to Iowa before she did.

Ashby Martin, a third-year doctoral student in the neuroscience program, didn't always want to study the brain. Initially, he wanted to be a librarian. At a young age, he memorized his library card number and looked up to the librarians. "My favorite place to go was the library," he said. "Librarians get to give people knowledge and resources all for free. They give everyone the same access."

The Department of Accounting in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa has announced the students who have won annual awards presented by the department. The list of honorees included 32 students.

The University of Iowa's Academy for Twice-Exceptionality provides support for talented students including those with autism or ADHD.

The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine's Department of Internal Medicine presented its annual awards recently and four fourth-year students were among the honorees,

Claire Breger-Belsky, who received an MFA in literary translation from the University of Iowa in May 2023, is the winner of a Fulbright Study/Research Grant in translation to Argentina for 2024-25.

A new predictive atmospheric model developed at the University of Iowa will allow scientists to forecast and issue warnings for air pollution events in developing countries. The model simulates particulates in the atmosphere to pinpoint both the timing and location of occurrences of air pollution, said Chengzhe Li, a member of the research team.

Alexis Slade, a University of Iowa PhD candidate in civil and environmental engineering, has received the President's Student Leadership Award. The award recognizes an individual student or a student organization that models a deep commitment to civic responsibility and leadership. This is evidenced by initiative, innovative and collaborative approaches to addressing public issues, effective community building, and integration of civic engagement into the college experience.

A group of graduating students from the University of Iowa College of Public Health have laid a solid foundation for a student organization that focuses on reducing health disparities in rural communities - like the ones they call home.

A team of biomedical engineering students at the University of Iowa are turning their senior design project into a business venture. The four-person senior design team laid the groundwork for commercializing a novel prosthetic device for the lower leg that can adjust as children grow. The adaptable below-the-knee pediatric prosthesis showed enough promise the students filed for a provisional patent and formed a limited liability company, GroLimb, LLC.

Last month, several graduate students from the Department of Biostatistics held an introductory coding and biostatistics workshop with fourth through sixth grade girls participating in the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County's (NCJC) after school program in Iowa City. Amy Wu was one of the students coordinating the workshop, and we recently asked her some questions about this new student-led community engagement initiative.

Physical activity has always played a big role in Maggie McQuillen's life. "I've been working out my whole life. I played four sports in high school," McQuillen says. "When I started taking classes for exercise science, I loved it right away."

Benton Renaud can thank rapper Cardi B, in part, for inspiring him to go down his planned career path.

Months and months of fundraising and planning. Twenty-four hours of dancing. Finally, the numbers went up: $1,454,929.30 raised for pediatric cancer patients being treated at University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. "I'd been up for more than 30 hours, and my feet were really hurting, but when that final total board went up, everything just went away," says Sushma Santhana, executive director for the UI's 30th Dance Marathon. "It was awesome to see all the hard work we all did come together."

As senior legal counsel at a financial technology company in Des Moines, Iowa, Brian Damman spends his time giving legal and strategic advice across several areas of the organization, such as marketing, sales, product, finance, and the executive team. He realized that he provided the most useful advice when he better understood the areas that they focused on.

Treatment for a childhood stutter led Abbi Shekleton to her future professional passion. "I had a great experience with my speech-language pathologist. She really cultivated a love of the field within me," says Shekleton, who grew up in Princeton, Iowa. "I saw a lot of potential in what can happen with a therapist who is kind, compassionate, and knowledgeable. I thought, 'I want to be that person for someone else.'"

Fifteen University of Iowa students and alumni were chosen from more than 10,000 Fulbright Award applicants nationwide to serve as representatives of the U.S. Department of State in 12 countries during the 2024-25 academic year. The students will teach English abroad, serve in local community organizations, enroll in graduate studies at cutting-edge universities, and conduct research and creative arts projects.

Three University of Iowa undergraduates -- Brianna Blaine, Mostafa Telfah, and Lydia Watkins -- have won the 2024 Iowa Neuroscience Institute Summer Scholar Awards. The INI Summer Scholar Program supports Iowa undergraduates planning to pursue research during the summer in the lab of an INI faculty member. As INI Summer Scholars, the students receive a stipend of $5,000 and have the opportunity to attend a summer undergraduate seminar series and a variety of informal events.