University of Iowa alumna Erica Cole appeared on ABC TV’s Shark Tank on April 1. By the time she left, sharks (judges/investors) Mark Cuban and Emma Grede invested $100,000 for 10% ownership in Cole’s company, No Limbits.

The University of Iowa officially celebrated its 175th anniversary on Feb. 25—27 with two key events, the installation of Barbara Wilson as the university’s 22nd president and the 2022 Presidential Lecture.

This is the largest donation the University of Iowa has received in its 175-year history.

Since the start of the pandemic, Iowa’s State Hygienic Laboratory (SHL) has managed to successfully adapt its space to accommodate new testing equipment and additional staff to meet the exponential growth in demand for COVID-19 testing.

For 40-plus years, the U.S. Army gauged the physical fitness of its soldiers on pushups, sit-ups and a 2-mile run test. But the Army wanted a better measure of “soldier physical readiness.” And now it has it, thanks — in part — to the University of Iowa.

The new UI Stanley Museum of Art is getting its interior finishing touches. When complete, the facility will feature not only gallery space for the museum’s collection but also an education floor for teaching and research and a multipurpose lobby.

Instead of turning old paper and cardboard into new paper, engineers at the University of Iowa are working to enhance the process of turning wastepaper into high-value fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composites. Xuan Song, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering; Chao Wang, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering; and H.S. Udaykumar, professor of mechanical engineering, received nearly $1 million from REMADE institute, a public-private partnership established by the U.S.

Cardio Diagnostics, a University of Iowa faculty startup, has commercially launched a new home clinical test for assessing patients’ heart disease risk. The product, the Epi+Gen CHD at-home sampling kit, was made possible through a license held by the UI Research Foundation.

Funding in support of core UI research activities rose 15% (or $68,581,401), from $466.9 million in Fiscal Year 2019 to $535.5 million in FY20. While a large portion of the increase is attributable to CARES Act Funding, without it the UI still outpaced research funding from any previous year since it began tracking this data.

University of Iowa genetics expert Val Sheffield has converted part of his lab to help fight the coronavirus pandemic by creating a simple specimen-collection method that skips the swab and removes the need for medical personnel. All people have to do is spit in a cup.