At the start of 2017, chemical engineer Meredith Smith was frustrated by the statistics of workers in her industry. Women held 24 percent of all science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs, and only 14 percent of engineers are women, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports. Looking deeper, the National Science Foundation’s annual indicators report […]
Imagine you found out that all of your neighbors, like you, were planning to sell their homes within the next 10 years. Might that ignite a greater sense of urgency about when you get your own house on the market? The majority of small-business owners in Iowa face a comparable scenario as they and their […]
Jeff Weld has been running the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council since July 2011, but he’s on leave to serve as senior policy adviser on STEM education for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is an associate professor of biology at the University of Northern Iowa. How do you personally define […]
Adam Wright is the president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Co., which serves 760,000 customers in Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska. In the first part of 2018, the energy company announced it had completed two of its latest Iowa wind farms, adding to Iowa’s growing wind energy generation. MidAmerican is on a quest for […]
Joyce Pingel is vice president of information technology at Kum & Go, a company whose very headquarters under construction in downtown Des Moines will stand as a monument to innovation, not to mention the eye-popping architecture of Renzo Piano. Pingel has been heavily involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) efforts in Iowa. We […]
By Kavilash Chawla, Partner and Kelly Dittmann, Managing Director Kavilash Chawla and Kelly Dittmann, both leaders at Baton Global, offer their insights on the digital transformation going on in the financial space. Chawla is a partner at Baton, while Dittman helps in business and strategy development and digital transformation. How do you personally define innovation? In business, […]
Erin Rollenhagen, founder and CEO of the Urbandale-based software company Entrepreneurial Technologies, grew up in Ames and graduated from the University of Iowa with degrees in economics and management information systems. She has been involved in three tech startups. She is chairwoman of the Technology Association of Iowa’s board of directors. How do you personally […]
When you open your refrigerator, there’s a very good chance that every food product you see in it has been tested by a company you may have never heard of — Eurofins. Eurofins Scientific Inc., one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, has based its North American headquarters in Des Moines since 2006, when it moved its […]
Brent H. Shanks wears a few hats in the world of innovation, including the director for the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals, the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering at Iowa State University and the Mike and Jean Steffenson Chair, Chemical & Biological Engineering. How do you personally define innovation? Innovation […]
The next time communities are hit by a massive flood, researchers at the University of Iowa’s hydroscience and engineering department hope critical information could be reached with a quick ask of Alexa. That wasn’t the case in 2008. June 2018 marks 10 years since floodwaters devastated a number of northeast Iowa communities. At the time, […]