University of Iowa

Despite the many unprecedented challenges of the past year, University of Iowa students continued to excel and perhaps the best example of that commitment is the more than 1,800 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who graduated at the conclusion of the 2020 fall semester.

Despite the many unprecedented challenges of the past year, University of Iowa students continued to excel and perhaps the best example of that commitment is the more than 1,800 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who graduated at the conclusion of the 2020 fall semester. Five students graduated with three degrees earned.

More than 6,500 undergraduate students at the University of Iowa were named to the dean's list for the 2020 fall semester.

Despite the many unprecedented challenges of the past year, University of Iowa students continued to excel and perhaps the best example of that commitment is the more than 1,800 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who graduated at the conclusion of the 2020 fall semester. That total included 157 students who earned multiple degrees.

Almost 900 undergraduate students at the University of Iowa earned president's list status for their academic work at the conclusion of the 2020 fall semester.

Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Writing University -- a collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost at the University of Iowa -- has continued its series of interviews with writers in the various Iowa writing programs. The Writing University recently visited with Nicholas Runyon is a junior studying English and creative writing at the University of Iowa. He is the editor-in-chief of New Moon Magazine and a fiction editor at earthwords: the undergraduate literary review.

The pandemic cancelled the University of Iowa's annual Iowa Brain Bee competition, but thanks to a handful of PhD students that didn't mean high school students across the state of Iowa interested in learning more about neuroscience were left empty-handed.

To celebrate the ingenuity, resilience, and innovation of student researchers at the University of Iowa, the Office of the Vice President for Research is again sponsoring the Dare to Discover campaign. The annual program this year highlights the work of 52 undergraduate and graduate students who are making waves in disciplines across campus, from music education to neuroscience, business analytics, public health, chemistry, French and Italian, law, engineering, sociology, physics and astronomy, and much more.

The pandemic cancelled the University of Iowa's annual Iowa Brain Bee competition, but thanks to neuroscience PhD student Carolina Deifelt Streese that didn't mean high school students across the state of Iowa interested in learning more about neuroscience were left empty-handed.

Fifteen current students at the University of Iowa have been invited to participate in the 2021 Obermann Graduate Institute, a 3 1/2-day interdisciplinary institute at Iowa in which graduate students from across campus and at any point in their graduate studies explore how public engagement can enhance teaching, research, and creative work.

The Writing University -- a collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost at the University of Iowa - periodically interviews with writers in the various writing programs at Iowa. The Writing University recently visited with Sam Eliasen, an English and Creative Writing major and the Editor-in-Chief of INK LIT Magazine.

Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Writing University -- a collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost at the University of Iowa -- has continued its series of interviews with writers in the various Iowa writing programs. The Writing University recently visited with Signe Nettum, a junior double majoring in creative writing, and Journalism and Mass Communication.

An essay by Mishma Nixon, a junior at the University of Iowa majoring in English and creative writing and one of two recipients of Iowa's 2020 Global Student Award, recently was published in Teen Vogue. Titled "Classes on Racial Justice Can End Up Burdening Students, Faculty of Color," the essay "talks about how students of color are often the ones asked to educate and share their experiences during conversations on race."

More than 80 University of Iowa student-athletes have been named to the 2020 Big Ten Fall Academic All-Conference team. The list includes student-athletes from Iowa's men's cross country (5), women's cross country (15), field hockey (11), football (26), women's soccer (19), and volleyball (10) teams and four student-athletes who had perfect grade point averages.

Ten University of Iowa students currently serving on the University Lecture Committee (ULC) have helped to guide the committee through the challenges presented by the pandemic while also helping to land a series of speaker very relevant to the topics of the day. The ULC is a presidential charter committee whose mission is to stimulate thought, discussion, and engagement by bringing notable thinkers and speakers to campus, and the Iowa City community each academic year.

Four soon-to-be graduates took full advantage of world-renowned University of Iowa writing resources to prepare for their future, regardless of academic area or job field.

At Iowa, we believe great teams, not individuals, will find solutions to important issues. Our Fall 2020 graduates collaborated with people across campus and in the community under challenging circumstances.

December graduates from the University of Iowa parlayed their academic and research experiences into prominent jobs in industry or advances into graduate and postgraduate programs.

More than 70 current Doctor of Pharmacy students at the University of Iowa recently received the UI College of Pharmacy's Student Pharmacist ExCELS Award. The award is presented to students for their commitment to service and leadership.

Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Writing University -- a collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost at the University of Iowa -- has continued its series of interviews with writers in the various Iowa writing programs. The Writing University recently visited with Mallory Truckenmiller Saylor, an MFA Iowa Arts Fellow in literary translation at the University of Iowa.

Ten current students at the University of Iowa will deliver messages alongside other Iowa and Board of Regents representatives in live-streamed, virtual commencement ceremonies at which almost 1,900 students will receive their degrees. The student speakers represent the full gamut of academic experiences with undergraduate, master's and doctoral degree recipients in the mix. The series of commencements begins with the College of Education's undergraduate and Teacher Education Program recognition on Dec. 17 and concludes with the College of Education's ceremony for undergraduates on Dec. 20.

As part of its ongoing "5Q" series of interviews, the Writing University -- a collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost at the University of Iowa -- recently visited with Rishika Avvari, a senior working towards a bachelors degree in Biomedical Sciences on a pre-medicine track and a student in the Magid Center Certificate in Writing. As is the custom, the conversation was about her work, her process, and her descriptions of home.

Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Writing University -- a collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost at the University of Iowa -- has continued its series of interviews with writers in the various Iowa writing programs. The Writing University recently visited with Ellie Zupancic, a senior English and Creative Writing major and the former Editor-in-Chief of Fools Magazine and, as always, it asked about her work, her process and her descriptions of home.

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine students Becky Peoples and Bryn Myers created a chapter of the White Coats for Black Lives, a national organization that calls on medical students across the country to take action. The chapter began meeting this fall with 20 members.

With its copyright set to expire, the literary classic is being reimagined by University of Iowa students in what's thought to be a first-of-its-kind class.

It's been a whirlwind 12 months since Suman Sherwani graduated from Iowa. She's working on NASA-funded rocket and satellite missions in the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy, and is featured on Forbes' "30 Under 30" list for science.

A soon-to-be published study co-authored by Min Zhang, graduate student in informatics, finds that companies can find ideas for innovative new products in the consumer review sections on e-commerce websites like Amazon. The review sections are essentially free focus groups where consumers can leave ideas for new or improved products, says Weiguo Fan, professor of business analytics in the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business and study co-author. Finding those nuggets of consumer wisdom can be a challenge, though. Few companies have the resources to sift through thousands of comments across dozens of e-commerce sites, only a small number of which offer any kind of information that could be used for product innovation.

Brett Bahle, an alumnus of the University of Iowa's Psychology PhD program, has been recognized with the Spriestersbach Dissertation Award. Using visual search tasks in his thesis experiments, he found several factors were key in explaining how we focus our visual attention.

The Speculative Literature Foundation recently announced University of Iowa graduate student Tatiana Schlote-Bonne the winner of its 2020 Diverse Worlds Grant. Schlote-Bonne was honored for her work "The Afterlife Memoirs." She is a second year MFA candidate in the Nonfiction Writing Program inside Iowa's Department of English.

Doctoral student Serena (Banu) Gumusoglu recently received the prestigious Rex Montgomery Dissertation Prize, which recognizes the most meritorious dissertation by a University of Iowa doctoral student conducting research in prevention of disease and/or the translation of research into clinical practice. "It's nice to feel that the work is recognized at this level given the peers that I have," Gumusoglu says. "It's definitely representative of the program that nominated me-that I was able to perform at this level and do this work. The strength of the Neuroscience Program at the University of Iowa is what makes it such a destination program for people."