Members of the media are invited to cover a field trip with more than 100 middle school students from West Liberty, Iowa on the University of Iowa campus through the UI College of Education's Project HOPE (Healthcare, Occupations, Preparation, and Exploration) Friday, Jan. 10.

Michael Sauder, a UI associate professor in sociology and fellow-in-residence with the UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, spent the last semester analyzing the unintended consequences of rankings—especially those in the educational realm.

During his time as an Obermann Fellow-in-Residence, UI sociology associate professor Michael Sauder is examining one of the most influential measures in the world of education—the U.S. News & World Report college rankings.

A story about Voyager 1 entering interstellar space quotes University of Iowa physics professor Don Gurnett, who says the distance the spacecraft has traveled over his lifetime is mind-boggling but "compared to the vast distances between stars and in the universe, it's just puny."

University of Iowa researcher Randall McEntaffer is one of 102 scientists and engineers named by President Barack Obama as recipients of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

UI professor Randall McEntaffer, who won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists, says that the technology he’s working on today could make future NASA missions more affordable and successful toward the goal of observing astronomical objects.

Catch online coverage of undergraduate, graduate, nursing, and engineering ceremonies Dec. 20-21.

Growing up, Quad Cities native Aundrea Watkins bounced between almost a dozen different homes between the ages of 3 and 18. School was her "sanctuary and true stability." The University of Iowa elementary education major is graduating this December and plans to become a teacher to help other students succeed.

There are far more women than men in theater audiences and theater degree programs. Yet men's roles outnumber women's by half, and men write most of the plays that get produced. The UI is collaborating with other Big Ten schools on a program that will support female playwrights and provide female actors with strong roles.

The University of Iowa’s Environmental Health Sciences Research Center is accepting pilot grant proposals from UI investigators for innovative environmental health research.

University of Iowa alumna Melissa Moreton's research documents an exhaustive list of manuscripts produced by Italian Renaissance nuns, finding that the women were surprisingly connected to the humanist revival of the arts and scholarship of the time. Moreton is the 2013 Spriestersbach Prize winner in the humanities and fine arts.

The University of Iowa will honor December 2013 graduates during a series of commencement ceremonies and other events, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 20-21.