The Iowa Board of Regents has selected Parker Executive Search of Atlanta, Georgia, as the search firm for the selection of the next president of the University of Iowa.

University of Iowa President Sally Mason will meet with media representatives to share updates on the university and take questions on the record at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at 101 Jessup Hall.

University of Iowa guard Samantha Logic is one of 10 finalists for the 2014-15 Senior CLASS Award. The Racine, Wisconsin, native is the lone finalist from the Big Ten Conference.

University of Iowa researchers have found that PCB chemicals—once used for cooling and other purposes by industry, then banned by the U.S. Congress in 1979 due to their toxicity—can be removed from soils by switchgrass working in combination with microorganisms. Results appear in the journal Ecological Engineering.

Public health researchers report about 1 in 5,000 boys in the United States, between 5 and 9 years old, have Duchenne muscular dystrophy or Becker muscular dystrophy. Results appear in the journal Pediatrics.

A program at the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa is helping to promote cultural understanding among the diverse staff at the lab. The program was made possible thanks to a seed grant from the UI’s Human Resources/Staff Language and Culture Services .

The Iowa Board of Regents has selected Pappas Consulting Group, Inc., to continue the review of two academic areas at the three public universities beginning in March. TIER, or the Transparent Inclusive Efficiency Review, identified several areas for review in academics.

In a meeting with state business and education leaders today, Friday, Feb. 13, University of Iowa President Sally Mason outlined steps the UI is taking to accelerate the transfer of biomedical research into the marketplace.

University of Iowa biomedical research could reach clinical trials faster under a new pilot project.

Linda Snetselaar’s research and scholarship is relevant to everyone’s way of life—after all, we all eat. Snetselaar, UI professor of epidemiology and associate provost of outreach and engagement, will deliver the 32nd annual UI Presidential Lecture, “Food, Culture, and Community,” Feb. 22.

"Iowa Now Minute" is a 60-second roundup highlighting recent UI activities, research, public engagement, and campus life. Look for a new video every Thursday.

Allison Kindig, a University of Iowa graduating senior from Cedar Rapids, has been awarded a 2015 Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Kindig, a Presidential Scholar and an active member of the UI’s Honors Program, is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering as well as a minor in business administration and a certificate in global health studies.