Kevin Kregel, University of Iowa executive vice provost and senior associate provost for faculty and professor of human physiology, recently was named vice president-elect for science policy at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).

Thanks in part to a new residency program to train students in the intricacies of creating public art, boarded-up windows, concrete walls, and fertilizer bins will become canvases for large-scale art projects in 10 Iowa communities. One city also will welcome a large-scale, solar-powered sculpture to its downtown plaza.

Grants and other funding that support University of Iowa research and scholarship reached an all-time high in FY19, bolstered in part by increased support from the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. Total external funding to the UI increased 6%, or $34.8 million, to an unprecedented $588.8 million.

Steve Duck, Daniel and Amy Starch Distinguished Research Chair and department chair in rhetoric, has been awarded the Mark L. Knapp Award in Interpersonal Communication by the National Communication Association.

A select group of first-year students from rural Iowa communities is learning about research as Rural Scholars. The program was created five years ago by Scott Shaw, associate professor of chemistry, who wasn’t exposed to research as an undergraduate.

University of Iowa Associate Professor Nick Yablon's recent book, Remembrance of Things Present, traces the birth of the time capsule to the Gilded Age, when growing urban volatility prompted doubts about how the period would be remembered—or if it would be remembered at all.

Physics and astronomy professor Craig Kletzing has been named the inaugural holder of the Donald A. and Marie B. Gurnett Chair. The five-year appointment will begin July 1.

The University of Iowa’s Aging and Longevity Studies Program’s (ALSP) certificate program, housed in the School of Social Work, has earned the Program of Merit designation from the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), a national membership organization of colleges and universities that offers education, training, and research programs in the field of aging.

The University of Iowa has won the single largest externally funded research project in its history, a $115 million contract awarded to Craig Kletzing, professor in the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy. Kletzing’s team will study the connection between the magnetic fields of the Earth and sun.

It’s no coincidence that several researchers from Harvard recently migrated to the UI. Drawn by the Iowa Neuroscience Institute, Aaron Boes, Tracey Cho, Joel Geerling, and Joseph Glykys cite the collaborative environment, support for young investigators, and the opportunity to launch independent labs among the reasons they chose UI.

The Librarian of Congress announced the appointment of Joy Harjo, Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumna, as the nation’s 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2019-20. Harjo will begin her duties in the fall, opening the library’s annual literary season on Sept. 19 with a reading of her work.

Iowa Writers' Workshop alumna Joy Harjo was named U.S. poet laureate, the first Native American poet to hold the post.