Greetings, Honors alumni and friends, and Happy New Year! You should have received your copy of With Honors in the mail last month. If we didn't reach you by post, you can access the newsletter online, and we hope you'll consider sending an updated address to honors@iastate.edu so we can stay connected.
Here are a few of the fall highlights in case you missed them.
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Congratulations, Graduates! |
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On Saturday, December 17, nineteen students from six colleges graduated from the University Honors Program. Meet the grads: Graduate Profiles
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Honors continues to offer its poster session in a virtual platform so family, friends, and alumni around the world can view the independent research students completed as a requirement of graduating from Honors. Forty-four upper-division students presented their posters in person on December 7 in the Memorial Union Great Hall.
We invite you to browse what they've been working on this year. Topics range from training a service dog to the influence of lighting on campus safety to the off-target effects of Spinal Muscular Atrophy therapeutics.
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First-Year Program Retreat |
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Here's our throwback to the fall FHP retreat. This video is sure to bring back memories! |
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Students in Kelly Reddy-Best's new Honors seminar, Fashion Museums and Social Justice, recently presented “Women at Work!” an exhibit they curated for ISU’s Textiles and Clothing Museum. This hands-on seminar introduced students to research in material culture, with a focus on the intersection of fashion and social justice. It's an excellent example of project-based learning, with students conceptualizing, researching, and producing the exhibit over the course of the 16-week seminar. As a class they developed the exhibit theme; curated the displays, selecting items from the Textiles and Clothing Museum's collection of approximately 8,500 objects; wrote interpretive labels and the exhibition script; and hosted a public presentation. For more information about the exhibit, go to the Textiles and Clothing Museum's Galleries and Exhibitions website.
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The pandemic may be largely behind us, but virtual interviews aren't going away anytime soon. They're now an integral part of job searches, scholarship and fellowship applications, the graduate school application process, and landing an REU or internship. As part of our professional development series Honors hopes to offer students some "expert advice" on how to prepare for and successfully participate in a virtual interview. If you are an HR professional, a recruiter, have been part of a search committee, or are a recent interviewee/job candidate, we'd love to hear from you. What do you find helpful during virtual interviews? What's the number one mistake? How can students best prepare? Your tips and tricks will be compiled and shared with students via social media, blog posts, and e-mail blasts. Use this form to share your advice: |
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Ashlyn Haack, '22 Mechanical Engineering
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One of Ashlyn Haack's favorite things about her time at Iowa State was the opportunity to try so many different activities. Many of those activities were tied to her Honors experience, including undergraduate research as a first-year student, being an FHP leader, and producing a soundtrack for The Fashion Show for her honors project. Read on to be amazed at what she accomplished in four years, from academics to intramural sports, participation in music groups and student orgs, and a study abroad experience. The list is both inspiring and exhausting!
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At Iowa State, Anna Garbe found the opportunities and support she needed to turn her passion for helping others as a hospital volunteer into a career path in medicine. Garbe had been nervous about attending a larger university until she tagged along to Ames during a high school friend’s campus visit and discovered she felt right at home. She was able to enjoy a wide range of experiences at Iowa State that included high-impact research in the Sakaguchi Lab as well as exploring the cathedrals of France with Jean-Pierre Taoutel, an associate teaching professor of French and longtime Honors seminar instructor.
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Natalia Rios Martinez, '23 political science, international studies, public relations
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When Truman Scholar Natalia Rios Martinez graduates from Iowa State this spring, she will have completed three majors and landed internships at the local, state, and federal government levels. She also seized the opportunity to present her independent research to a roomful of professionals at a national conference - an intimidating experience for most scholars and especially a student. Rios Martinez credits Iowa State for offering undergraduate students meaningful research opportunities and is grateful for her many experiential learning opportunities.
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In Honors we talk a lot about building community, and that doesn't need to end when you graduate and leave campus. Find an established local or regional group of Cyclones near you through the Iowa State Alumni Association. ISUAA is connecting Cycolnes everywhere! |
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Adam Eichhorn: Troubleshooting barriers to 3D printing in space
Every year, hundreds of Honors students join research teams that work in libraries, laboratories and local field sites that extend beyond the classroom. In the case of Adam Eichhorn, "beyond the classroom" means simulated outer space.
Adam Eichhorn, a senior in materials engineering, recently completed his honors project investigating a key challenge to 3D printing in space. Printing custom devices aboard the international space station allows astronauts to create solutions to simple needs faster than NASA can send devices from Earth. However, printing devices with circuits requires a specialized method in microgravity. It also requires the usage of capacitive nano inks, many of which aren't reliably stable and thus unusable after a long storage and launch cycle.
Eichhorn's honors project research, conducted under associate professor of materials science and engineering Shan Jiang, had him synthesizing multiple samples of nano ink in an effort to optimize its stability and efficacy across various conditions. His research resulted in a poster presentation last spring to the Iowa Space Grant Consortium.
Support Student Research and Innovation
Honors students are actively involved in investigating problems and identifying solutions that shape new frontiers of knowledge. Faculty-led research grants offer core funding for many of projects in which our students participate, but supplemental funding is often required to support undergraduate participation.
Adam Eichhorn received a University Honors Program Grant to help defray costs associated with his honors project. These awards of up to $750 are made possible through the generous financial contributions of Honors alumni and friends like you. When you make a gift to Honors, you create opportunities, inspire innovation, and foster growth, and our students - and our world - are better for it! Consider making a gift today.
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