News Archive
Thursday, July 8 2010
News
Ames Laboratory wins R&D 100 Award for 3-D virtual simulation software
It's a three-peat for Ames Laboratory and ISU scientists Mark Bryden and Doug McCorkle. They've just won their third R&D 100 Award, sometimes called the "Oscars of invention." The 2010 R&D 100 Award recognizes the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory for osgBullet, a software package that creates 3-D, real-time computer simulations that can help engineers design complex systems.
ISU student-athlete graduation rate in top seven nationally
Iowa State's school record NCAA student-athlete graduation rate of 79 percent ranks seventh nationally among BCS schools and puts the Cyclones among elite U.S. academic institutions. The top seven schools are Stanford, Boston College, Northwestern, Duke, California, Wake Forest and Iowa State.
ISU faculty members analyze human impact of discovery published in Nature
Jo Anne Powell-Coffman and Clark Coffman, faculty members in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, were invited by the journal Nature to comment on breakthrough research that may ultimately lead to new treatments for cancer patients.
Broadband expansion to benefit Iowa's public universities
Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and UNI will
benefit from a $62.5 million ARRA grant supporting the United
States Unified Community Anchor Network project. The project
will increase network capacity and unlock huge research
potential, says ISU Vice Provost for Information Technology and
CIO Jim Davis.
"The planned improvements in speed effectively eliminate
distance as a barrier to sharing expensive laboratory or
computing equipment," Davis said. "For example,
scientists could connect a virtual reality facility at one
university to a supercomputer located elsewhere and share
enormous amounts of data as though they were in the same
laboratory."
ISU architecture studio on a transformative journey to the Burning Man Festival
Haight Ashbury meets Mad Max at Disney World. That's one way to describe the Burning Man Festival, a radical and creative community of almost 50,000 that exists for one week every fall in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Perhaps the most surprising phenomenon at this year's festival (Aug. 30- Sept. 6) will be the 12 Iowa State University design students participating in Burning Man for college credit. Except for the occasional graduate student researcher or class studying the festival from afar, they are the first design students taking a course that requires them to create work for Burning Man since the festival's inception.
Diane Debinski
Changing climate could alter meadows ecosystems, says ISU researcher
Iowa State University researcher Diane Debinski has been studying the meadows in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains since 1992 and she believes changing climate could affect the diversity of plants and animals in the region.
ISU psychology doctoral student Edward Swing (left) and Associate Professor Douglas Gentile (right) led the Pediatrics study.
Iowa State study finds TV viewing, video game play contribute to kids attention problems
Iowa State students take their professors advice and start an Ames bioenergy company
Three recent Iowa State University graduates are building a startup company, Avello Bioenergy Inc., on technology they helped develop at Iowa State. The company's focus will be to produce bio-oils that can be used to replace petroleum-based materials in asphalt, can be processed into various renewable chemicals and can be used as renewable industrial fuels.
Iowa State named 'Best Buy' in 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges
Iowa State University is one of 21 public colleges and
universities listed as "Best Buy" schools in the new
"Fiske Guide to Colleges 2011." The Best Buy
institutions "offer outstanding academics with relatively
modest prices," according to the guide.
Simon Estes
Estes to sing ISU-influenced world premiere at World Cup grand finale
Reiman Gardens interns are growing, learning and blogging
Read all about the
adventures the Reiman Gardens interns are having this summer.
In the news
Study links video games, attention problems
CBS News
A new Iowa State study suggests that youths who spend too many hours watching TV or playing online video games may be harming their ability to focus in school.
Wiggin' out: Moist conditions bring earwigs
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
Professor and Extension Entomologist Don Lewis says the earwig population has exploded statewide, thanks to this summer's wet conditions. The long-bodied, pincered insects are pesky, Lewis says, but they don't really harm people or plants. Household insecticides, caulking, and removing landscape materials from against the house are all measures that can help keep the bugs at bay.
ISU 3-D research drawing interest from doctors, security experts, rock stars
Radio Iowa
Song Zhang, an Iowa State assistant professor of mechanical
engineering, is seeking patents for his 3-D imaging technology.
He's hoping the 3-D images will be able to help doctors
diagnose health problems or security officials identify
suspects through facial recognition. The technology is also
attracting the attention of rock stars.
Listen to story.