News and information from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Keep up with the college on our news site: news.las.iastate.edu
Ten Iowa State researchers receive NSF CAREER awards
Ten Iowa State University researchers were selected to receive Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for fiscal 2020. Seven of the award winners hail from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The NSF's CAREER program supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. This honor is the NSF's most prestigious research award.
Amanda Petefish-Schrag earns Art Educator Award from Ames Community Arts Council
Amanda Petefish-Schrag, assistant professor of theatre, was awarded the Art Educator (Secondary Education) award from the Ames Community Arts Council during its annual Arts Awards Celebration. Nominated by Iowa State University’s Department of Music and Theatre, Petefish-Schrag was honored at a special virtual ceremony, which was held via Zoom on July 18.
Chemists developing paper-strip urine test for at-home/office/clinic COVID-19 evaluation
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Robbyn Anand and her students are developing a paper-strip urine test to detect the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The tests are based on Anand's expertise in electrokinetics, using electric fields to concentrate, separate, isolate and manipulate charged particles.
Economics research team says COVID-19 unemployment rates may be underestimated
Research conducted by John Winters, associate professor of economics and Seung Jin Cho, economics graduate student—suggests that reported unemployment rates underestimate actual employment losses due to COVID-19. By April, the official unemployment rate soared to 14.7. According to Winters and Cho, those numbers may not tell the whole story.
Iowa State researcher wins Department of Energy early career award for cyclone studies
Christina Patricola will join the Iowa State University faculty this fall as an assistant professor of geological and atmospheric sciences. Her research will focus on variability and change in tropical cyclones. A grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will enable Patricola to study global storm numbers as well as regional storm intensity and rainfall.
ISU Theatre’s “Iowa Odyssey” earns two national Kennedy Center awards
A collaborative, immigration-focused production devised by a company of ISU Theatre students and faculty has earned two national Kennedy Center awards. ISU Theatre’s production of “Iowa Odyssey or (How We Got to Here?)” was honored with the Citizen Artist Award and Distinguished Devised Production. The awards were announced by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACFT) in July.
Sadow named as director of Ames Laboratory Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics
U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette announced that Ames Laboratory will lead one of 10 Energy Frontier Research Centers. Aaron Sadow, an Ames Laboratory scientist and professor in the Department of Chemistry, was tapped to lead the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP), a multi-institutional team of researchers that is developing ways to upcycle plastics into more valuable materials.