State Sens. Rita Hart, Liz Mathis, and Bob Dvorsky and state Reps. Dean Fisher and Mary Mascher visited the National Advanced Driving Simulator (

Research Park; drove in a semi-autonomous vehicle; visited M.C. Ginsberg Objects of Art (one of three UI ProtoLabs sites), which uses 3D printing to create prototypes for medical devices and other objects; and toured the new Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building and the Institute for Vision Research.

UI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Dan Reed led the tour.

During the four-hour visit, the legislators had opportunities to meet with Dan McGehee, director of Human Factors and Vehicle Safety Research; Susan Chrysler, NADS director of research; Omar Ahmed, NADS assistant director; Jean Robillard, vice president for medical affairs, UI Health Care; Pat Winokur, associate dean for clinical and translational science, UI College of Medicine; Andrew Pieper, associate professor of psychiatry, neurology and radiation oncology; Justin Grobe, assistant professor of pharmacology; Ed Stone, director of the Wynn Institute for Vision Research and professor of ophthalmology and vision sciences; Robert Mullins, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences; and Budd Tucker, assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences.