Our Progress

Two faculty members with 141 patents between them are among the National Academy of Inventors' 2024 fellows class. Their research is linked to Iowa State's land-grant mission and illustrates its 'Science with Practice' motto.

In 18 months, three of six degree programs Iowa State faculty are developing to address student and workforce demands have crossed or reached the finish line. The other three are moving through department and college curriculum committees and should be evaluated in the spring by the Faculty Senate. The last stop is at the state Board of Regents.

Thirty years in, seniors are still learning at Iowa State through a special institute. As with other school settings, they’re also making new friends.

Iowa State engineers are part of a 16-project effort to reduce cyberattacks on the country’s energy infrastructure – including the power grid, wind and solar farms, electric utilities and pipelines. The ISU team’s focus is on algorithms and tools — and a “zero trust” mandate — to reduce cyber exposure.

A transdisciplinary faculty team is exploring strategies for preventing rural electric outages — or at least minimizing their impact — as weather events get more extreme and more frequent. The social and economic benefits to maintaining service are significant.

About a third of Iowa’s 99 counties have a community produce garden, tended by local volunteers and ISU Extension and Outreach’s Master Gardeners. Together, they’re tackling hunger relief and nutrition education for clients.

Strategic plan support keeps a vital internship program going at Reiman Gardens while revenue streams bounce back from the pandemic.

It’s been a good couple of years. Teaching professor of music, pianist and composer Jodi Goble recently won the 2024 Art Song Composition Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing, celebrated world premieres for two operas and wrote a song for a 2024 Grammy-nominated album.

For 20 years, field specialists from Iowa State’s Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and Uganda’s Makerere University have partnered with small holder farmers, ag entrepreneurs and youth groups to establish food security throughout Uganda’s Kamuli region. Projects focus on household nutrition, grain storage, entrepreneurship, sustainable feeds for livestock, soil improvement practices, sanitation and other strategies that help local farmers become self-reliant for the long term. A 69-minute video, produced in Kamuli, tells the story.

Cassie Swacker applied what she was learning in her biomedical engineering courses to design personalized devices for patients recovering from brain injuries. 3D printing technology helped her create unique solutions to a diverse range of symptoms.