News Releases

A new federally funded center of excellence led by Iowa State University scientists will analyze various structures and mechanisms in the swine genome with the goal of allowing pork producers to predict with greater accuracy the traits in their herds. The institute will include personnel at Iowa State, Michigan State, the University of California at Davis, and the USDA Agriculture Research Service.

To help startups move from concept to launch, CYstarters provides educational workshops on topics ranging from focus groups to patent law to digital marketing. Entrepreneurs learn the ins and outs of starting a business and have access to resources that might otherwise be out of reach.

Scientists have identified patterns in how and when sorghum plants flower that could help plant breeders and growers predict other important traits in a wide range of environments and geographic regions. The research team created an index based on photothermal time, a crucial phase in a plant’s development when it processes the environmental cues of sunlight and temperature. The research looked at sorghum, but the scientists believe the same method could be applied to a range of plants, including other crops.

Art historian April Eisman, an Iowa State University associate professor of art and visual culture, has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to spend the 2018-2019 academic year doing research in Germany on artist Angela Hampel, one of former East Germany's most successful and outspoken artists.

Iowa State University ranks No. 83 in the world in the number of patents granted in the United States last year, according to a list released this week by the National Academy of Inventors and Intellectual Property Owners Association.

A team of recent Iowa State University College of Design graduates won the student category at the 14th HD Awards competition, a national competition sponsored by Hospitality Design magazine that recognizes outstanding design projects in 23 categories related to the hospitality industry. The winning project was “Arrowhead Resort” by Taylor Bryan and Holland Shodeen, both 2017 ISU graduates in interior design. 

This summer, seven artists are working at the Iowa Lakeside Lab Artist-in-Residence program. Artists from across the country and from all fields immerse themselves in the Okoboji region’s natural beauty and inspire artwork in their individual disciplines. The residency program is led by Alex Braidwood, assistant professor of graphic design at Iowa State University.

New Iowa State University research shows companies cut funding for research and development in response to a tax imposed on medical devices as part of the Affordable Care Act. The study found the tax reduced R&D investment by $34 million and also negatively affected sales revenue, gross margins and earnings. 

A research team led by Jigang Wang of Iowa State and the Ames Laboratory has developed a new quantum switching scheme that gives them access to new and hidden states of matter. If researchers can learn to control the hidden state, further stabilize it and determine whether it's suitable for quantum logic operations, it could allow researchers to use it for quantum computing and other practical functions. The journal Nature Materials has just published a paper about the discovery.

Cyclone Racing's Formula SAE team is ready to put its latest racing car to the test. The mini open-wheel machine hits the Formula North circuit this week for a shakedown competition. Then it's back on track at Formula SAE Lincoln in late June for more racing. Will all of this year's innovations -- comprehensive aero package, lighter differential, shorter chassis, stiffer suspension, better paddle shifting -- add up to high performance? We'll have an answer soon.