On Oct. 4, 2016, Jeffrey Johnston received the phone call no father ever wants to get. His oldest son, Seth, was found dead in a hotel room in Waterloo from a fentanyl overdose. When he told his two other sons about the tragedy, he framed it this way: “Boys, we…
Susie Wilhite, the director of operation at Iowa Area Development Group, handles many functions, works with a small staff and uses AI daily. She’s among the many participants that have come through Iowa State University’s Center for Industrial Research and Service AI training programs. In the past few years, several…
Conversations about artificial intelligence continued at the Iowa Legislature this year with one bill making it to the governor’s desk, said Mollie Ross, vice president of operations and government affairs at the Technology Association of Iowa. Ross said she is “incredibly proud” of the bill that passed this year, which…
When customers walk into Blanc Dental Aesthetics, a boutique dental practice founded by Dr. Lauren Patrick, they receive a “comfort menu.” On that menu are options including a warm blanket, noise-canceling headphones, Netflix and other streaming options, and an eye mask. Patrick said she is not aware of any dental…
In his last month of college, Tom Hicks failed student teaching. He called off his wedding to his high school sweetheart. Then his dad was diagnosed with dementia. “I felt like a failure,” said Hicks during a presentation at ENTREFest, an annual conference celebrating entrepreneurship and innovation. “I didn’t want…
Raul Cunarro jokes with his wife that she’s lucky to be married to someone famous. Cunarro, who resides in West Des Moines, has built an online following for his storytelling around buying dilapidated homes around Des Moines. “I specialize in transforming distressed properties into quality homes,” Cunarro wrote in an…
The Oskaloosa school district this year launched a program to get high school students real-life experiences by working on projects around the city and with local businesses. Called The Hub, students will have a donated off-campus location to work in starting this fall, in Oskaloosa’s downtown. Organizers aim to have…
Tucked in the middle of the Sherman Hill neighborhood in Des Moines is a community kitchen that is nurturing a cadre of food entrepreneurs. The 1,000-square-foot kitchen is located in the Robert Mickle Center, a former nursing home turned community center that has office space for nonprofits and small businesses….
Four Central Iowa student robotics teams are heading to the FIRST World Championship in Houston this weekend. The teams are from Waukee, Des Moines, Ames and Urbandale. Through FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), students design, build and program robots under real-world constraints, developing skills in mechanical…
Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business has launched the Murray G. Bacon Center for AI Ethics in Business, a new initiative aimed at advancing ethical leadership in artificial intelligence. Led by Professor Michael Howard, the center is a reinvention of a previous program solely focused on business ethics. The three…
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-Sarah Diehn, Business Record Editor