Articles from September 2026

Ziqing Lu and Weiyu Xu

Ziqing Lu honored with Best Thesis Award for research on building more reliable reinforcement learning models

Thursday, September 10, 2026
Ziqing Lu has received the Best Thesis Award from the University of Iowa's Program of Applied Mathematics and Computational Science (AMCS) for her dissertation.
A group of visitors stands among tall prairie grasses and yellow wildflowers during an outdoor field demonstration. The group gathers around an environmental monitoring station mounted on a pole while listening to a presentation. Trees line the horizon in the background beneath a clear blue sky, highlighting the natural research setting.

Global leaders visit Iowa Engineering to learn about agricultural sensor research

Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Leaders from around the globe visited the University of Iowa College of Engineering as part of a State Department-sponsored tour of U.S. agriculture and technology innovation that is supporting farmers.
Waymo driverless vehicle on an open highway road

Robotaxis aren’t going where they are needed most

Thursday, September 3, 2026
Driving Safety Research Institute Deputy Director Omar Ahmad is quoted in this Bloomberg article talking about the challenges, opportunities, and investment needed for driverless robotaxis in rural areas.
Leung observes the amount of light concentrated by his solar thermophotovoltaic system

Summer research program inspires high school student Jayden Leung

Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Through a University of Iowa summer research program, high school student Jayden Leung helped design a solar thermophotovoltaic system while exploring the future of photonics and renewable energy.
Michael Schnieders and Lewis Stevens in the Stevens Lab

Researchers using advanced computing methods to improve drug development

Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Researchers at the University of Iowa are leading an effort to develop a new computational method to predict how pharmaceutical compounds crystallize into tablet form, a critical step in bringing new medicines to patients.