Alan "Kim" Johnson, a University of Iowa researcher who studies the causes and effects of hypertension, has been awarded the 2021 Excellence Award for Hypertension Research by the American Heart Association's Council on Hypertension.

An engineering professor and assistant director at the Iowa Technology Institute has been awarded funding from NASA to study atmospheric and climate impacts from wildfires on Earth. Jun Wang will lead a science team for the three-year, $540,000 study.

Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz, a leading scholar of feminist and gender studies, has been appointed the F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor, Communication Studies, by the University of Iowa. Fixmer-Oraiz is a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies.

A University of Iowa biologist received funding to investigate hearing loss in humans. Steven Green will continue his research into how responses to progesterone will lead to therapeutics for repairing damage to the inner ear caused by noise. The funding is from the National Institutes of Health.

For the 32nd year in a row, the U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” rankings has listed UI Hospitals & Clinics as the No. 1 hospital in Iowa, as well as the only one in Iowa to have specialties ranked in the top 50 nationally.

Kevin Kregel, executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa, has been named president-elect of the Federation of American Society for Experimental Biology (FASEB) for a term that began July 1.

Andrew Hosmanek, associate professor of instruction in the Tippie College of Business, has been appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court’s Grievance Commission by Chief Justice Susan Christensen.

A University of Iowa physicist has won an award from NASA to improve the readiness of a particular technology for future space-based missions. Casey DeRoo will focus on building and measuring the performance of an optical element known as diffraction grating.

University of Iowa physicists have won NASA funding to fabricate and test gratings for use in the ultraviolet range in space-based astronomy. Keri Hoadley and Casey DeRoo will use the $900,000 to create reflection gratings superior to those typically used for large, astronomical space telescopes.

Will Jennings, associate professor of instruction, received the Rhetoric Department’s Doug Trank Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.