About Iowa State

Iowa State highlights

Tops in learning communities

Iowa State's learning communities were listed among the top 25 nationally in a U.S. News & World Report ranking. Learning communities are innovative academic programs that bring students together to study and learn.

Opportunity knocks

Every year, 100 Iowa students who have faced hardships receive Hixson Opportunity Awards -- $10,000 scholarships ($2,500 per year) to Iowa State.

Making the grade

More than 20 percent of Cyclone student-athletes were on the Dean's List (3.5 GPA and above) in six of the past seven semesters.

Top three finish for solar car

Iowa State's student-built solar car finished third in the stock class of the world's longest solar car race in 2005.

Ag economics among the best

Iowa State's economics department ranks first among the top 25 agricultural economics programs in the world, according to econphd.net.

R&D 100 awards

Iowa State ranks second among universities in R&D 100 awards, given by R&D magazine for top technologies.

Spring festival

VEISHEA, an all-university spring open house organized in 1922, is the nation's largest university student-managed festival.

Supercomputer in top 100

Iowa State's supercomputer CyBlue is among the 100 most powerful in the world.

Humans and computers

Iowa State is one of three U.S. universities offering a doctorate in human computer interaction -- the study of how humans and computers interact in various environments.

Whole Earth Telescope

Iowa State is the headquarters for the Whole Earth Telescope, a worldwide network of optical telescopes located around the world.

Largest public campus art collection

Iowa State's Art on Campus Collection, consisting of more than 500 major public works of art, is the largest public campus art collection in the nation.

Largest ag policy institute

The Center for Agricultural and Rural Development is the largest university-based agricultural policy research institute in the U.S.

Inventor of Lipitor

Iowa State alumnus Bruce Roth invented Lipitor, the largest-selling drug in pharmaceutical history.

First colleges

Iowa State created the first College of Family and Consumer Sciences in 1871 and the first College of Veterinary Medicine in 1879.

Birth of extension

The Extension Service traces its roots to farmers' institutes developed at Iowa State in the late 1800s.

First electronic digital computer

The world's first electronic digital computer was built at Iowa State in the late 1930s by mathematics and physics professor John Atanasoff and engineering graduate student Clifford Berry.

Manhattan Project research

The process to produce large quantities of high-purity uranium was developed at Iowa State as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II; Iowa State provided more than one-third of the uranium metal used in the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction.

Fax technology

The digital encoding process that led to the development of the first generation of low-cost facsimile machines was invented at Iowa State by engineering graduate student David Nicholas in 1971.

Carrie Chapman Catt

Carrie Chapman Catt, who graduated from Iowa State in 1880, was a leader of the women's suffrage movement and co-founder of the League of Women Voters.