University of Iowa researchers have led a study that investigated the misuse of user data by third-party apps on the social-media platform Facebook. The research team in computer science also developed a methodology that can detect misuse of user data shared with third-party apps.

Funding in support of core UI research activities rose 15% (or $68,581,401), from $466.9 million in Fiscal Year 2019 to $535.5 million in FY20. While a large portion of the increase is attributable to CARES Act Funding, without it the UI still outpaced research funding from any previous year since it began tracking this data.

Patricia Winokur, executive dean of the Carver College of Medicine, says researchers have sequenced both the human genome and the COVID-19 genome, which will help scientists tell if the vaccines they develop to fight the virus are safe.

Jorge Salinas, hospital epidemiologist for University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics and an assistant professor off internal medicine at Carver College of Medicine, helps make sense of all the statistics that are used to explain the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Michael Edmond, clinical professor of internal medicine-infectious diseases at the Carver College of Medicine, says that one advantage that face shields have over face masks in protecting against the spread of COVID-19 is that they aren’t as hot as a mask, and they don't cause eye glasses to fog up.

While work to remove spray-paint on campus from recent Black Lives Matter protests continues, the University of Iowa also is preserving the images in order that the messages not be forgotten and to help guide campus in its work to make meaningful changes.

Stephanie Gilbertson-White, associate professor and director of the PhD program in the University of Iowa College of Nursing, has been named one of 11 nurse scientists accepted to the inaugural cohort of the Betty Irene Moore Fellowships for Nurse Leaders and Innovators.

Briante Najev, a first-year graduate student in Department of Biology at the University of Iowa, has won an award to create outreach activities explaining climate issues. She will lead a climate-oriented activity, called EcoStax, for populations primarily in Muscatine and Davenport.

James Shepherd, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been selected to receive $750,000 in funding as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Early Career Research Program. Shepherd will use the funding to advance the field of finite-temperature electronic structure theory.

Philip Kaaret, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is part of an international team that has observed a black hole, located in the Milky Way galaxy, hurling hot material into space at close to the speed of light. The findings are reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The National Science Foundation announced that University of Iowa Computer Science researcher Zubair Shafiq is part of a team receiving a $10 million grant. The grant is part of NSF's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, which supports cybersecurity research. Shafiq's team's project is titled "ProperData: Protecting Personal Data Flow on the Internet."

A researcher from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry was part of a research team that found vaping significantly increases the likelihood of cavities and other oral health problems caused by excess bacteria in the smoker's mouth.

Three Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty members received a National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant titled "RAPID: High-Throughput and Low-Cost Testing of COVID-19 Viruses and Antibodies through Compressed Sensing and Group Testing," to develop a novel high-throughput and low-cost testing technology that has great potential of breaking the testing bottleneck of the COVID-19 pandemic...

A $115 million space mission awarded by NASA to the University of Iowa can now proceed in earnest. Called TRACERS, it will study interactions between the sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields. NASA also approved an extra $7.6 million for a magnetic field instrument to be designed and built at Iowa.

University of Iowa genetics expert Val Sheffield has converted part of his lab to help fight the coronavirus pandemic by creating a simple specimen-collection method that skips the swab and removes the need for medical personnel. All people have to do is spit in a cup.

Engineers at the University of Iowa and the University Notre Dame are collaborating with a UI College of Public Health faculty member to develop protective equipment that captures and kills viral pathogens, thereby improving protective equipment performance and reusability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spring rains wash away some pollen, but not all. University of Iowa researchers have found tree pollen fragments can remain airborne for hours after a storm. The tiny particles can make their way deep into the lungs, exacerbating allergies.

Three University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine faculty and staff have received gap funding for innovative translational research projects that potentially could lead to new, commercially viable medical devices or technologies.

A University of Iowa graduate student in physics has been selected to conduct year-long research at a U.S. Department of Energy facility. Lucas Beving will do research with the low temperature plasma research group at Sandia National Lab, in New Mexico.

OVPR recognized faculty, staff, and students who stand out for their commitment to discovery, their shepherding of young students, their entrepreneurship, their gifts as research communicators, and their support of the campus research enterprise with the office's annual Celebrating Excellence Awards.