National rankings reflect Iowa's enduring leadership in communication sciences and disorders.

Inspired by her personal experiences as an individual with hearing loss and her time spent teaching children who are D/deaf, Williams-Kane aspires to combine academic scholarship with community impact to create meaningful connections. This community-focused scholarship allowed her to be recognized by the Office of the Vice President for Research’s 2026 Dare to Discover campaign, which highlights impactful University of Iowa students and postdoctoral researchers, scholars, and creators on banners across downtown Iowa City.

An annual program administered by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Arts and Humanities Initiative awards three different types of grants to faculty members to fund creative work and research projects.

May Guo, PhD, FGSA, associate professor at the School of Social Work, has long worked to advance the field of aging. Guo’s research focuses on minority aging, immigration, social determinants of health, and mental and cognitive health in later life stages, and her extensive work in the field of gerontology led to her recognition as a fellow by the Gerontological Society of America.

On March 27, third-year University of Iowa student Nina Osborne was working at the UI Admission Visitors Center when she checked her email. In her inbox, she read that she had been awarded a 2026 Goldwater Scholarship, the country’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship for students pursuing research careers in mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering.

The course Ancient Origins of Religious Conflict changed third-year student Grace Lin's path from biology and human physiology to ancient civilizations and religious studies.