Two recent NASA grants received by the University of Iowa College of Engineering illustrate the agency’s Earth-based scientific interests, as well as its desire to improve lives not just in the U.S., but around the world. The grants also reflect the college’s diverse research strengths and some surprising “only in Iowa” capabilities.

Former University of Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker passed away early Monday morning at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Parker, who retired from the Iowa coaching staff following the 2011 season, was 72.

"Love Lasts Forever" is a journal created by two members of UI Children's Hospital's palliative care team for parents who have lost a child but still have memories, joys, and thoughts to express.

Former Hawkeye defensive coordinator Norm Parker, who retired after the 2011 Insight Bowl, has died. During Parker’s final three seasons, he fought diabetic complications that saw him lose part of his right leg to amputation at the beginning of the 2010 season.

UI emergency medicine specialist Hans House says severity is a sign of influenza: "When you have that high fever (102 degrees or more), and your whole body aches, and you can't even get off the couch because you're so miserable, that's probably the flu."

UI’s first MOOC is a six-week course offered through the International Writing Program that will use video lectures, live breakout sessions, and moderated online discussion to guide participants through Whitman’s epic poem, "Song of Myself."

West Liberty middle school students spent Friday at the UI for the culmination of a seven-week College of Education program that involved collaborations with all 11 UI colleges, focused on promoting STEM-based careers in rural Iowa middle schools with a large population of minority students.

The University of Iowa’s first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), Every Atom: Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, organized by the UI International Writing Program (IWP), offers participants everywhere the opportunity to read, consider, and discuss Whitman’s epic poem, and is free and open to anyone with an Internet connection.

The University of Iowa offers various programs and services to help UI students land internships at Iowa companies. The internships help students obtain career and professional experience and, in some cases, can lead to full-time jobs.

More than 100 middle school students from eastern Iowa are visiting the University of Iowa through Project HOPE, a UI College of Education initiative to promote health science professions to eighth-grade students from rural middle schools.

Paul Heath of the University of Iowa Small Business Development Center will provide one-on-one business consultations for start-up, expanding, or existing businesses from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16, at the Iowa Valley Grinnell campus.

Members of the media are invited to cover a field trip with more than 100 middle school students from West Liberty, Iowa on the University of Iowa campus through the UI College of Education's Project HOPE (Healthcare, Occupations, Preparation, and Exploration) Friday, Jan. 10.