Edtech startups evolve through COVID-19 to reach students, teachers Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Yen Verhoeven, CEO of the STEM learning startup Qi Learning Group, saw the workload increase overnight for teachers her company supports with professional development training. It was not just that teachers had to redesign their curriculum in days and weeks from […]
How Iowa suppliers contributed in the race to build personal protective equipment Early on in 2020, headlines of product shortages began hitting the screens and newstands. Consumers worried about finding diapers, toilet paper and disinfectant spray; organizations employing essential workers were suddenly seeking personal protective equipment for their staff. Chris Hill, the technology program director […]
The work of the Iowa State University Computation + Construction Lab can pop up anywhere. An art piece called Bluestem at the Iowa Arboretum in Madrid pays homage to Iowa’s tallgrass prairies; 80 student-designed, 3D-printed clay vases given to Iowa State donors for President Wendy Wintersteen’s inauguration likely sit scattered in offices and living rooms […]
Wednesday morning felt like a celebration of sorts as visitors swept into Gravitate Coworking’s downtown location. 1 Million Cups welcomed back visitors to the first in-person event since March 2020, when organizers shut the doors at the Science Center of Iowa’s theater for the last time. Pi515 founder and director Nancy Mwirotsi brought two summer […]
This fall, Iowa State University will begin offering a two-year Master of Science degree program in artificial intelligence, through the computer science department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. ISU expects to welcome five students in the program this fall, and eventually have class sizes of 60-70 in the next few years, said […]
Shawn Johnson will be the new chief information officer of Principal Financial Group’s Retirement and Income Solutions business to continue driving technology modernization and digital transformation across its retirement savings and solutions platform, Principal announced this week. Johnson has spent 15 years in leadership positions within the energy, health care and financial services industries. He […]
Des Moines entrepreneur Ben McDougal joined the Techstars Iowa team in a combined entrepreneur-in-residence and ecosystem development role, the accelerator announced last week. McDougal is a four-time company founder and co-founder, an author and is currently the midwest regional representative for the 1 Million Cups entrepreneurship network. The second class of Techstars Iowa begins July 19.
America’s SBDC Iowa is launching the Inclusivity Challenge, designed to support minority-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs to establish themselves for economic prosperity. The Inclusivity Challenge provides resources including customized, culturally relevant business and financial advising, business education webinars and access to the most well-connected small business networks. A kickoff event for the initiative will be […]
Hongwei Zhang and other researchers installed hardware at the Iowa State University’s Research Park for CyNet, an advanced wireless networking system that’s a predecessor to the new ARA rural broadband project. Photo provided A $16 million rural broadband research project will cover nearly 40 miles of rural communities and farmland, researchers told state and industry […]
Virtual nurse Cari Taylor at MercyOne Medical Center’s virtual nurse command office. Photo by Kate Hayden One year ago Dr. Joel Ward recalled standing on a hospital floor unit, watching his colleagues at MercyOne Medical Center endure the height of the COVID-19 emergency in health care. “You know practically everybody that you work with every […]