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Book Value--English professor to explore book as art in annual presidential lecture

Although the formal UI programming in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. is in the past, many other activities will take place across campus in January as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Human Rights, including service projects, panel presentations, film screenings, and more. All events are free and open to the public. More

WATER WATCH

Flood Center, DNR partnership offers Iowans online view of potential flood sites

The Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa continues to expand a network of affordable stream sensors. Attached to the downstream side of bridges, the sensors provide Iowans with an up-to-the-minute report on water levels in Iowa's rivers and streams. In a situation where information and preparedness can save lives, the sensors provide a vital service for Iowans. More

Related: President remarks on news of flood recovery funding

RAISING CANE

Researchers: Sugar cane ethanol production creates more pollution than thought

UI researchers and their colleagues have shown that ethanol fuel producers in Brazil—the world's top producer of ethanol from sugar cane as an alternative to petroleum-based fuel—generate up to seven times more air pollutants than previously thought. More

HEART HEALTH

UI Heart and Vascular Center to offer new heart valve treatment

Leaders of UI Heart and Vascular Center announced in December that their heart valve team will soon be the first in the state to offer a new, cutting-edge treatment for seriously ill patients affected by severe heart valve problems. More

MEDICAL DISCOVERY

Researchers use new finding to clear bloodstream malaria infection in mice

UI researchers and colleagues have discovered how malaria manipulates the immune system to allow the parasite to persist in the bloodstream. By rescuing this immune system pathway, the research team was able to cure mice of bloodstream malaria infections. More

REMEMBERING HAVEL

Nearly three decades after IWP invitation, Havel finally made it to Iowa

The UI International Writing Program was viewed with suspicion by Iron Curtain countries during the depths of the Cold War. Among the Eastern European writers from the Communist bloc who were prevented from attending the Iowa program, one stood out, although not immediately. The world is now mourning the Dec. 18 passing of Vaclav Havel, the widely honored first president of a democratic Czech Republic whose plans to attend the IWP were derailed 43 years ago. More

STUDENT ATHLETE

Hawkeye softball player Watkins earns preseason nod

CollegeSportsMadness.com has selected UI senior catcher Liz Watkins for the 2012 Big Ten preseason all-conference second team. The Taylor Ridge, Ill., native is a three-time all-conference selection for the Hawkeyes, earning second-team honors as a sophomore and junior and a third-team distinction as a freshman. More

“There is an old and very distinguished tradition in Latin America of renown novelists becoming ambassadors. I am proud of following that step, an honor and a challenge.”

Roberto Ampuero, UI assistant professor of Spanish and author of 13 novels, who recently was named by his native Chile to serve as that country's ambassador to Mexico for the next three years (Daily Iowan, Dec. 16).

More UI national news

“Instruments I use daily, they have never heard of.”

Air Force Maj. Courtney Schapira, who received undergraduate and dental degrees from the University of Iowa and is working in Afghanistan to provide advanced dental training to two Afghan dentists and a dental technician (Columbia Daily Tribune, Dec. 10).