In a new study, University of Iowa researchers investigated how pre-teenage children determined when it was safe to cross a residential street with oncoming self-driving cars. The researchers found children made the safest choices when self-driving cars indicated via a green light on top of the vehicle that it was safe to cross when the vehicle arrived at the intersection, then stopped. When self-driving cars turned on the green light farther away from the crossing point—and even when they slowed down—children engaged in riskier intersection crossings, the researchers learned.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to teaching and teaching activities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dr. Liza Kleiman was one of a select few instructors awarded a 2023-2024 Collegiate Teaching Award.

PhD candidate Ingroj Shrestha (CS - 6th year) was awarded a Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded UI computer science professor Sriram Pemmaraju $330,000 for his research project entitled "The Communication Cost of Distributed Computation". This collaborative (Medium) proposal, with collaborators Gopal Pandurangan (University of Houston) and Peter Robinson (Augusta University), is funded by the Algorithmic Foundations program at the NSF.

Click here for full list of faculty, graduate students, and staff recognized by graduating seniors.

Peng Jiang, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, which includes a $500,000 grant to will support Jiang’s current research project, entitled “Compiler and Runtime Support for Sampled Sparse Computations on Heterogeneous Systems.”

“I have seen Kristy provide peer support and mentorship to fellow business owners,” wrote Ilse DeWald, Johnson County Local Food and Farm manager, of her Woman of Influence nomination. “She contributes her marketing and event organization skills to support the collective success of businesses in Johnson County.” Sneh Patel, president of Tippie Tech and a former student of Ms. Walker’s, says Ms. Walker’s influence extends beyond the agricultural realm and into the business and higher education community.

Mingrui Liu graduated with a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Iowa in 2020. In this Q&A, Liu discusses his path to his current role of Assistant Professor at George Mason University, shares memories of his time at Iowa, and more!

Apoorv Ingle is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Iowa. Apoorv not only attends conferences, but he also helps behind the scenes as a video chair. Alongside a team of other students, an organizing committee, and several other volunteers, Apoorv works to make sure that those who attend conferences — either in-person or virtually — have all the technological support they need. In this Q&A, Apoorv talks about his experience volunteering at the 51st ACM SIGLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (POPL 2024) and shares insight into the upcoming idea of holding hybrid conferences.

Jun Wang, James E. Ashton Professor and interim departmental executive officer in the CoE’s Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, is the 2024 Scholar of the Year. The award celebrates nationally recognized recent achievement in outstanding research, scholarship, and/or creative activities. Wang’s research centers on the development of novel remote sensing techniques to characterize aerosols and fires from space. He serves as the University of Iowa’s lead investigator on NASA’s TEMPO, Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution, which Time magazine named one of its best inventions of 2023.