| Volume 1, Issue 1 | 1999 |
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Special Points of Interest:
Department of Physics and Astronomy The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1479 Phone: 319-335-1686 Fax: 319-335-1753 Email: cheryl-reardon@uiowa.edu |
Letter from the DEO
The past year has been a very exciting one for the department. Prof. James Van Allen was chosen as one of six inaugural College of Liberal Arts Alumni Fellows. Prof. Frank was invited to give this year's Presidential Lecture. Prof. Reno was named UI Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Faculty Director. Robin Paterson was awarded the University's staff excellence award. Our department continues to remain strong in faculty research, with external support coming from over 90 separate contracts and grants involving 13 different agencies. We also take tremendous pride in the efforts of all of our faculty to involve undergraduates in research projects. Over the last two years the University has generously provided over a half-million dollars to the department to modernize our elementary teaching laboratories. Thanks also go to the efforts of our laboratory coordinator, Ramon Torres-Isea, and Professors Flatté, Kletzing, Mutel, and Williamson. Through their combined efforts we have made our elementary teaching labs some of the best in the country. They are among the first labs to employ modern video-capture techniques. Student, faculty, and teaching assistant reaction to the labs has been very positive. This year promises more excitement. Beginning this fall the department has a new advisory board, consisting of alumni, teachers, students, faculty and industry representatives. I look forward to forming a partnership with the board to provide new perspectives on how we can better serve our students. Our first board meeting will take place in November. I hope you enjoy this newsletter. If you have any suggestions about how to improve this letter, are passing through Iowa City and want to tour the department, or just want to say 'Hi', please do not hesitate to call. |
From July 1998 - June 1999, the exhibit had a very successful showing at the Old Capitol Mall in downtown Iowa City. Ninety-one scheduled groups viewed the exhibit during that time, ranging from preschool and elementary classes to scouting groups and home schooling groups. The walk-in attendance during that time was 18,508.
A large portion of the exhibit has been incorporated into a traveling exhibit called "Space--Past, Present & the Future," that will tour the state of Iowa. The exhibit is currently open at the Science Station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where it will be on display through December 31, 1999. After that it will move to Des Moines to the Science Center of Iowa at 4500 Grand Ave., and will be open January 29, 2000 - May 31, 2000.
"Space--Past, Present & the Future" is made possible by the University of Iowa, the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation, and the Science Station in Cedar Rapids.
