Thomas Laehn decided to apply to law school at the University of Iowa so he could return to his home state, where he knew there was a shortage of attorneys. Even though he also had a job offer in New York City, he’s staying in Iowa.

The UI’s Khalid Algharrawi has received the 2016 University of Iowa Research Foundation Inventor Award for his research project involving the production of 7-methylxanthine from caffeine and theobromine via the metabolic engineering of E. coli.

Saba Rasheed Ali, director of Project HOPE and an expert in vocational psychology, employment issues, and career development of underserved youth, has been named associate dean for research at the University of Iowa’s College of Education. Ali will assume the new role July 1.

Sanjena Anshu Sathian, who will be a student in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop starting in the fall 2017 semester, was named a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow for New Americans.

Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation, the UI Museum of Natural History is upgrading the storage of its ornithology collection, which features more than 31,000 bird, nest, and egg specimens. Meanwhile, students are getting valuable experience in museum collections management.

Research completed by Leslie Schwalm, UI professor of history and gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, has inspired a play written by UI graduate student Margot Connolly. Arts Share is bringing Cross-Examined, a play about the desegregation of Keokuk schools, to libraries in Keokuk and Coralville, Iowa.

A UI study shows that a unique all-female lineage of salamander equally balances genes from the males of three other salamander species. The findings highlight the bizarre ways some animals reproduce in order to preserve their species. The results were published in the journal “Genome Biology and Evolution.”

University of Iowa President J. Bruce Harreld discusses how public universities contribute to the continuing democratization of of higher education in the United States.

A June 11 fire in the Bowen Science Building caused an estimated $500,000 in damage, not including water damage. Administrators are working to determine the logistics for those impacted. Many will be housed within other space in the building. More information will be shared as it becomes available.

Two University of Iowa faculty members recently spent time in Ethiopia and Kenya helping entrepreneurs who participated in last year’s Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) develop their businesses.

The University of Iowa Museum of Art has been without a building since the flood of 2008. However, as officials await a new structure, the museum staff has kept UIMA relevant through outreach and lending works of art to other museums, bringing its collection to Iowa and the world.

Peter Damiano, professor of preventive and community dentistry in the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics and director of the Public Policy Center and the PPC’s Health Policy Research Program, has been invited to serve on the Legislative Advisory Committee of the American Dental Education Association.