In November 2020, Stephen Baek, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering, and H.S. Udaykumar, a professor of mechanical engineering and interim associate dean for research and graduate programs, both at the University of Iowa, received the 2020 Defense Innovation Award from TechConnect. Udaykumar and Baek received the award for their presentation “MaterIQ: An AI-based software tool for materials-by-design” at the Defense TechConnect Summit.

A University of Iowa study led by PhD student Amina Grant found that 51,000–79,000 Iowans may face drinking water lead levels above EPA limits.