What does it take to build a LEED-certified testing facility?  The State Hygienic Laboratory recently earned gold certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design because it was built and operates in an eco-friendly manner.

Located on the UI Research Park campus, the Hygienic Lab incorporates the rigorous design and safety requirements of a laboratory facility along with LEED elements in five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environment. It all combines for a sustainable yet very welcoming place to work.

That means that many of the construction materials were manufactured within the region to reduce the environmental burden associated with hauling materials to the Coralville site. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems were selected to minimize or eliminate the emission of compounds that contribute to ozone depletion.  Lockers and break-room chairs were constructed with 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE

UI President Sally Mason: "This is a lot more than just a laboratory facility.  It represents a promise we've made to the people of Iowa for over 100 years, and that's to protect them and help ensure that we live in the healthiest state possible."

DID YOU KNOW?
The Hygienic Laboratory monitors Iowa waterways and the air for contaminants, screens all babies for congenital disorders, and conducts surveillance for infectious diseases.  That amounts to nearly 600,000 public health tests for Iowans each year.

Most Iowans take for granted their abilities to hear and speak clearly. But for those with hearing and speech disorders, negotiating our busy world can be challenging.

The Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders?part of the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts & Sciences?offers them a place to turn.

The department is one of the nation's premier centers offering treatment, conducting research, and teaching professionals in speech and hearing sciences. Its graduate programs in Speech-Language Pathology and in Audiology are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, by U.S. News & World Report.

The department's Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic has served Iowans?adults and children?for more than 60 years. In 2011, almost 800 Iowans received care in the Department's clinics.

FYI

In addition to its clinics on the UI campus, the Department serves Iowans through innovative outreach programs, including summer camps for kids who stutter and a summer preschool program to promote spoken language skills in children with hearing loss.

DID YOU KNOW?

What's the good word?

Today's aspiring journalists must be more than just good news writers?they must be innovative strategic communicators, able to work across many technological platforms for diverse employers.

In Iowa, the demand for such skills is higher than ever, as news outlets, companies, and nonprofit organizations seek well-educated communicators to help them navigate the media landscape and be heard.

The School of Journalism and Mass Communication - a unit of the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences - is preparing Iowans of all ages to meet those demands and develop skills as communicators. For example:

* Elementary: The school offers free summer Iowa Journalism Academies to students from Des Moines and Davenport. More than 1,000 students have participated during the program's 13 years.

* High school: The school hosts the Iowa chapter of Quill and Scroll, the national high-school honor society for journalism; helping teachers in more than 300 Iowa high schools incorporate journalism instruction into the curriculum.

* College: Half of the school's undergraduate students are from Iowa.  During the 2010-2011 academic year, the school gave more than $87,000 in scholarships to students from Iowa. Its students regularly meet with, intern at, and work for hundreds of Iowa-based companies and organizations in cities and towns throughout Iowa.

* Continuing Education: The school offers graduate-level courses at Des Moines's John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center and online.  It hopes to offer an online master's program in strategic communications for working professionals.

DID YOU KNOW?

For the 2010-2011 school year, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences had a 92 percent placement rate in jobs or graduate schools for graduating seniors.  Fifty-six percent of those who accepted job offers did so in Iowa.  There are more than 48,000 alumni of the college living in Iowa, bringing their education, knowledge, and leadership into communities and professions across the state.

Iowa Flood Center expands stream sensor network in Iowa

 

The Iowa Flood Center, based at the University of Iowa, has taken advantage of the state's unusually mild start to winter by continuing to install a second batch of 50 electronic stream stage sensors across Iowa. Now fully installed, the new instruments bring to 100 the number of affordable stream sensors purchased by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and installed on the downstream side of bridges by the Iowa Flood Center.

 

Developed in part by students at the center, the sensors use sonar to measure the distance to the water's surface and send reports every 15 minutes to a database at the center's UI headquarters so that Iowans have access to real-time monitoring of water levels in Iowa's rivers and streams. A river and stream-level map of the data is available on the center's website (http://ut.iihr.uiowa.edu/ifis/#).

 

Flood center researchers say that Iowa, with its thousands of bridges, could benefit from an even wider network of information if more sensors were put into wider use. Such a system would enhance safety in the state by improving the ability to monitor stream levels and predict flooding, and by improving public preparedness.

 

FYI
In addition to developing a system of flood sensors and maps, the Iowa Flood Center plans to build a network to detect and record soil moisture content -- another factor involved in flooding.

 

DID YOU KNOW?

 

Newborn screening is the healthy first step for Iowa babies

 

A few drops of blood collected shortly after birth can mean the difference between a healthy future and a lifelong battle with chronic, debilitating conditions.  The State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa helps to make that difference for the approximately 40,000 babies born each year in the state.

 

Each year, 40 or more Iowa babies are identified with a congenital condition that, if left undetected and untreated, could result in irreversible neurological delays, coma or death.  Instead, they have the healthiest start possible in life.  How does this happen?

Shortly after the birth, six tiny drops of blood are collected from the baby's heel.  From those few drops, the Hygienic Laboratory identifies more than 30 different conditions, including PKU and cystic fibrosis.

 

It's all part of the Iowa Neonatal and Metabolic Screen Program that helps give babies the best possible start in life.

 

FYI
Like most things with newborns, time is of the essence.  The tiny drops of blood collected at birth must reach the Hygienic Lab's Ankeny facility within 24 hours of to ensure the highest degree of accuracy.  A statewide courier system picks up the samples and delivers them to the laboratory, which conducts testing around the clock.