Research

Robbyn Anand leads team that will tackle critical water challenges
The leaders of the latest Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Initiative (PIRI), led my Associate Professor Robbyn Anand, Department of Chemistry, are leveraging the best insight and knowledge and latest technology of our time to deliver innovative and impactful solutions for improving water purification for human health and national defense purposes.

August 20, 2025
Tracking Gulf of Maine acidity, outlook for commercial shellfisheries
A team of researchers led by Alan Wanamaker, professor in the Department of the Earth, Atmosphere, and Climate, studied the annual bands built by crustose coralline algae to help build a history of seawater chemistry in the Gulf of Maine.

August 20, 2025
Food, pesticides, and public perception: What’s behind the label?
What do you really know about the pesticides on your food? For many consumers, the answer is not much. Ask Katie Dentzman, a rural sociologist at Iowa State University, who is examining neonicotinoid use in potato production and what it means for agriculture, regulation, and the environment.

August 15, 2025
Nature, engineered
Nature creates the blueprint – Yan Zhao reengineers it. Zhao, a professor of chemistry at Iowa State University, is using micellar imprinting to design synthetic materials that mimic the functions of natural enzymes and antibodies. His lab’s cutting-edge techniques are driving innovation in areas related to disease and plastic recycling.

August 8, 2025
How scientists track molecules to improve chemical separations
Iowa State researchers are studying how solvents behave at the smallest scales to support the development of more energy-efficient methods of separating chemicals.

August 4, 2025
The logic of belief: How do we know what’s true?
At first glance, philosophy and science might seem worlds apart – one grounded in careful reasoning, the other in measurable experiments. But for Iowa State Associate Professor of Philosophy Stephen Biggs, both disciplines are driven by a shared goal: figuring out what’s true.

July 15, 2025
Higher ed’s relationship with marriage? It’s complicated – and depends on age
According to research by John Winters, professor of economics, the longer someone stays in school, the more likely they will delay getting married – but education does not reduce the overall likelihood of being married later in life.

July 8, 2025
How personality traits shape sleep quality
Zlatan Krizan (Hannah Olson-Wright) According to research by an Iowa State University psychologist, how well you sleep may depend as much on your personality as it does on your habits. Zlatan Krizan, professor of psychology, has spent more than a decade studying how personality traits affect both the perception and…

June 9, 2025