Particle physicists at the University of Iowa are part of an international scientific team announcing the first evidence of rare interactions between the Higgs boson and a fundamental particle called a muon. The discovery adds to understanding about how basic constituents of the universe interact.

The American Physical Society has recognized University of Iowa Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Scott Baalrud with its Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research. Baalrud received the award for “fundamental advances to the kinetic theory of strongly-coupled plasma and plasma sheaths,” according to the American Physical Society website...

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has awarded University of Iowa Professor David F. Wiemer the 2020 ACS Midwest Award. The award, granted to scientists who have significantly contributed to the development of chemical research and education in the region, is granted annually by the ACS’s St. Louis section. Wiemer, who holds an F. Wendell Miller Professorship, joined the UI faculty in 1978. He...

Jennifer Buckley, associate professor in the Departments of English and Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa, has earned the 2020 Outstanding Book Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Her book, Beyond Text: Theater and Performance in Print after 1900, was published in 2019 by the University of Michigan Press.

The University of Iowa is replacing the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). Steve Goddard, who has served as dean since June 2019, will assume a faculty role consistent with his appointment as professor in the Department of Computer Science.

Alfred L. Martin Jr., assistant professor of media studies at the University of Iowa, says blackness is often cast by the mainstream as “extraordinarily culturally specific,” so then the shows that resonate for the black demographic writ large are defined as “niche” and therefore not as palatable for wide-ranging audiences.

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.

University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop graduate David Adjmi's new memoir “Lot Six” traces the Syrian-Jewish enclave that spawned him, the instructor who unnerved him, and the biting comedy that made his name.

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.

Kristine L. Munoz, a professor in the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese and communication studies, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar to Colombia for the 2020-21 academic year. Munoz is one of more than 800 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, or provide expertise abroad for the 2020-2021 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

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.