Research, technology and outreach achievements
Birthplace of the computer
Iowa State is the birthplace of the first electronic digital computer, starting the world's computer technology revolution. It was created by physics professor John V. Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry.
Top 10 scientific breakthroughs: Chimps hunt
ISU anthropologist Jill Pruetz and Cambridge grad student Paco Bertolani's discovery of chimps hunting with tools was No. 2 on Wired magazine's " Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007."
Licenses and options
During FY 2009, Iowa State attracted $305.2 million in grants, contracts, gifts and cooperative agreements. It ranked 5th in licenses and options executed on its intellectual property, 3rd in licenses/options executed per $10M research expenditures; and 7th in licenses and options that yield income. (Source: The Association of University Technology Managers FY07 data.)
R&D Awards
Researchers at Iowa State and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have won 32 Research and Development 100 Awards. The awards salute the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year. The Chicago Tribune has called the awards the "Oscars of Invention.
SuperComputer
Cystorm is Iowa State University's second supercomputer and is capable of a peak performance of 28.16 trillion calculations per second. It will help Iowa State researchers advance their work in materials science, power systems and systems biology. It is also earning Iowa State recognition as a Sun Microsystems Center of Excellence in Engineering Informatics and Systems Biology.
First six-sided VR theatre
The nation's first six-sided virtual reality theatre (C6) at Iowa State has undergone a recent multi-million dollar upgrade (2007) and now projects more than twice the resolution produced by any other virtual reality room in the world.
First in meat science
Iowa State's meat science extension program is ranked first in the nation by Meat & Poultry magazine.
Among the 100 Top Young Innovators
Two Iowa State chemical engineering professors are among MIT's list of 100 Top Young Innovators.
GeneSequer
Developed by Volker Brendel, Liqun Xing and Wei Zhu is a software program used to rapidly identify gene sequences. This tool is in use by several plant biotechnology companies to identify the genes that code for particular proteins.
SCAT Scanner
A device that uses fluorescence imaging to detect contamination on the carcasses of meat animals was developed by Jacob Petrich in collaboration with Mark Rasmussen and Thomas Casey at the USDA. It is used primarily in meat packing and processing plants under the trade name VerifEYE.
Nitro Freeze(tm)
A novel ice cream production system that uses liquid nitrogen to fast-freeze ice cream. It was developed by Thomas Paskach and William Schroeder who formed their own company, Nitro Ice Cream, LLC. The system is also available through franchising.
1% linolenic soybean oil
Developed by Walter Fehr and Earl Hammond by selective breeding methods is low in trans-fats and has improved processing and storage qualities when compared to traditional soybean oil. Because of the health concerns with trans-fats, soybean oil from these varieties is creating a demand in the market place.
Impellicone
Developed by Mark Hanna and Paul Boyd is a system for the uniform distribution of anhydrous ammonia as a fertilizer. This environmentally-friendly technology reduces the amount of fertilizer typically applied to crops.
XR Dose(tm) and XR Scat(tm)
Developed by Feyzi Inanc are software programs used to create X-ray images in human subjects and in industrial applications respectively. XR Dose reduces the exposure of patients to x-rays while XR Scat allows for inspection of components that are difficult to inspect by other means.
CADSEEK
Developed by Abir Qamhiyah and Donald Flugrad is a novel and accurate geometric search engine that enables the search and retrieval of computer aided design (CAD) image files. This software helps to improve the design process by allowing easy access to CAD design files thus avoiding costly design duplication. Qamhiyah and Flugrad have formed a company, iSEEK Corporation, located at the ISU Research Park.
