Iowa State University Research

01/13/2026

01/12/2026

Why do we treat non-human things as if they’re human?

That question led Lingyao “Ivy” Yuan to study how people interact with digital humans and AI — and why those interactions matter in our everyday lives.

Watch the video, then read her Faces of Discovery story 👇
https://research.iastate.edu/faces-of-discovery/lingyao-ivy-yuan/

12/29/2025

Bird flu can infect mammary glands, ISU researchers find ⬇️ Click the link in comments to read more

11/11/2025

Empowering students through meaningful connections with world-class faculty and groundbreaking research is central to Iowa State’s mission of driving innovation and global impact.

“The undergraduates involved in research at Iowa State contribute to the new knowledge that is generated in every department, whether it’s English, physics, biology, or engineering. It’s important for students to be able to gain a much deeper understanding of the scientific enterprise,” said Don Sakaguchi, Morrill Professor and Director of Biology and Genetics Undergraduate Programs at Iowa State.

Continue reading how ISU is educating the next generation of researchers: https://go.iastate.edu/TTQIOP

09/25/2025

Women still make up just 5% of the skilled trades workforce, and many face the same harassment, bias and isolation documented 40 years ago in the landmark book “Alone in a Crowd.”

A welder-professor reflects on what’s changed — and what hasn’t.

https://theconversation.com/4-decades-after-the-landmark-book-alone-in-a-crowd-women-in-the-trades-still-battle-bias-a-professor-turned-welder-reflects-262307

09/05/2025

Big step for bio-based innovation in Iowa: BioMADE + Iowa State will add a multi-use fermentation facility at the BioCentury Research Farm—helping ideas like biopesticides, feed ingredients & bioplastics grow from lab to market. More: https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/isu-infrastructure-industry-partnerships-support-new-scale-facility

06/20/2025

Iowa farmers are no strangers to hardship—but how does that hardship shape the way they farm today?

A new study from Iowa State's sociologists Chris Morris and J. Arbuckle takes a closer look at the long-term effects of collective trauma—from the 1980s farm crisis to climate disasters and volatile markets—on farmer decision-making.

The findings are both sobering and hopeful:

🧠 Trauma can lead to risk-avoidance and stress-driven choices
🌾 But it can also inspire conservation, innovation, and stewardship
❤️ Most importantly, it shows that supporting farmers’ mental and emotional health is key to building sustainable agriculture

This research highlights the power of land-grant institutions to listen, learn, and lead change—grounded in real lives and rural experiences.

➡️ Read the full study here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-024-10596-x

06/09/2025

Imagine being accused of a crime you didn’t commit. The evidence is shaky, but the prosecutor offers you a deal: plead guilty and serve 15 years in prison—or go to trial and risk 55. What would you do?

For Miko Wilford, associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University, this isn’t just a theoretical question—it’s the foundation of her research into plea bargaining, one of the most consequential yet under-studied areas of the U.S. criminal justice system. Her work examines how people, including innocent ones, are persuaded to plead guilty under enormous pressure, and what that says about the system itself.

Learn more about her groundbreaking research and its implications for justice: https://research.iastate.edu/faces-of-discovery/miko-wilford/

05/18/2025

Thanks to the 2025 Bridging the Divide awards, new interdisciplinary research is just getting underway at Iowa State—and it could change lives.

Two teams of Iowa State researchers have received 2025 Bridging the Divide grants to launch innovative, cross-disciplinary projects:

SmartStep is a wearable device designed to help people walk better by monitoring their gait in real time.

A second team is combining mathematics and political science to better understand how communities respond during public health crises. By integrating insights from multiple disciplines, their work could help public health leaders and policymakers make smarter, more people-centered decisions in future pandemics.

Both projects are at the beginning stages—and both are proof that when disciplines collaborate, powerful ideas emerge.

Read the full story: https://research.iastate.edu/2025/05/12/two-research-teams-receive-2025-bridging-the-divide-grants/

05/16/2025

Inserting brief quiz questions into an online lecture can boost learning and may reduce racial achievement gaps, even when students are tuning in remotely in a distracting environment. Psychology scholars explain: https://theconversation.com/taking-intermittent-quizzes-reduces-achievement-gaps-and-enhances-online-learning-even-in-highly-distracting-environments-254046

05/06/2025

Walk into any ag-focused classroom, seed testing lab, or production field, and you're likely to hear the same thing: We’re losing people faster than we

05/05/2025

Why do sandpiles collapse without warning? What makes rockslides so unpredictable? In this article from The Conversation, Jacqueline Reber, a professor of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State University, explores new research that’s helping scientists better describe these chaotic “granular systems.”

https://go.iastate.edu/ZE053Z