UI earth and environmental sciences professor David Peate is participating in an international expedition to study how Earth’s continents and oceans evolved. The shipboard team is drilling cores in the seabed of the South China Sea, and some of those samples will come to Iowa for analysis.

UI graduates celebrated a series of commencements May 11–14. From the Carver College of Medicine to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Hawkeyes cheered and shed some tears at the closing of an important chapter in their lives. Read a recap and check out some photos of the festivities.

Trowbridge Hall has a new, permanent home for its meteorite collection. Professor Ingrid Ukstins worked with UI sophomore Zachary Luppen to organize the nearly 100 meteorites into a single exhibit. The collection includes a 110-pound chunk of the Tilden Meteorite, pieces of which landed in Tilden, Illinois, in 1927.

Sydney Hofferber is graduating from the UI equipped to help people get the care and assistance they need. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native is receiving a degree in health and human physiology and engaged social innovation, and she’s already designed a successful educational video about the value of breastfeeding.

“The Iowa Review,” one of the most respected literary magazines in the country, is bringing veterans’ work to a wider audience through the Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans writing contest. The contest honors Jeff Sharlet, a Vietnam veteran, anti-war activist, and founder of “Vietnam GI.”

In her first year at the University of Iowa, Erin Maier took an astronomy class on a whim. Now, after receiving numerous grants and assembling a UI telescope in the Arizona desert, she’s graduating with a Bachelor of Science in physics and astronomy and will soon pursue a doctorate.

Mousa Abuissa first saw the UI campus when he was on a vacation with his parents and sister, who had traveled from Syria to visit his uncle in Iowa City. Nearly eight years later, and after also completing a BA in music, he’s receiving a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

A team of University of Iowa researchers has discovered a new connection between two regions of the brain that may help explain how motor skills develop. Working with infant rats, the scientists found that the hippocampus and the red nucleus, part of the brain stem, synchronize during REM sleep.

As NASA’s Cassini spacecraft prepares to shoot the narrow gap between Saturn and its rings for the second time, Cassini engineers are delighted while ring scientists are puzzled that the region appears to be relatively dust-free. William Kurth and Shengyi Ye from the University of Iowa analyzed the data.

A video recording of the spring 2017 UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences afternoon commencement ceremony is now available for viewing. The event was held Saturday, May 13.

A video recording of the spring 2017 UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences morning commencement ceremony is now available for viewing. The event was held Saturday, May 13.

UI students are helping Iowans better understand their ancestry and their DNA. Under the supervision of faculty adviser Bryant McAllister, associate professor in the UI Department of Biology, the students participate in monthly meetings to educate those in the community interested in ordering a DNA test or interpreting results.