Iowa State University Research Strengths

Iowa State University of Science and Technology was founded in 1858 and became Iowa's land-grant university in 1864. Historically it has played a major role in scientific and technological advances in agriculture, veterinary medicine, home economics, engineering, and many of the basic sciences underlying these fields.

Today, Iowa State University (ISU) is recognized both nationally and internationally for its strong programs in agriculture and engineering and in the basic sciences. In recent years, Iowa State has launched bold new research and technology transfer initiatives in such important areas as

Agricultural Biotechnology Agricultural Economics and Policy Department of Economics Center for Agricultural and Rural Development Agricultural Product and Market Development Center for Agricultural and Rural Development Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station Animal Diseases Animal Genomics Bioinformatics Biorenewables Office of Biorenewables Programs Iowa Energy Center Center for Crops Utilization Research Combinatorial Chemistry Food Safety and Security Human Computer Performance Human Computer Interaction Virtual Reality Applications Center Human Nutrition Food Science and Human Nutrition Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition Center for Research on Dietary Botanical Supplements Information Sciences iCube - Information Infrastructure Institute Virtual Reality Applications Center Computational Intelligence, Learning, & Discovery Bioinformatics Human Computer Interaction Plant Genomics Center for Plant Genomics Plant Sciences Institute Materials Science Department of Materials Science & Engineering Ames Laboratory Nondestructive Evaluation Programs Dealing with Rural America Institute for Social and Behavioral Research Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute

Iowa State University is among the nation’s leading universities in research and technology transfer accomplishments. In FY 2004 Iowa State’s sponsored funding for research, public service and educational programs reached a record $274 million, of which $163 million was for research alone, also a record. In the latest survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers, Iowa State ranked 1st among all universities in licenses and options executed on its intellectual property and 3rd in licenses and options yielding income. ISU is one of the top three U.S. universities in the development of patentable biotechnology.