5 minute read
Lab Notes
Overheard
“You’ll always be welcomed home here at IIHR.”
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— IIHR DIRECTOR GABRIELE VILLARINI TO IIHR ALUMNA YIBING SU, WHO SPOKE AT THE AUGUST 19, 2020, IOWA FLOOD CENTER MEETING
“Iowa really knows. They’ve modeled and mapped the state, they have great data visualization tools, and they have really effective outreach and communication. To really have a complete flood approach, you have to do all of those things.”
— SaM MaRIE HERMITTE, TEXaS WaTER DEVELOPMENT bOaRD, DURING a FaCT-FINDING VISIT TO THE IOWa FLOOD CENTER, IN THE GAZETTE, JaN. 8, 2020
“I will cherish this issue for the rest of my life.”
— IIHR aLUMNUS JOHN LOUIS VaDNaL, ON THE CENTENNIaL ISSUE OF IIHR CURRENTS
“Considering the current state of the world, the inclusion of the 1918 flu epidemic in the timeline was eerie to me.”
— IIHR aLUMNUS bRICE STaFNE, ON THE WORLD EVENTS TIMELINE IN IIHR CURRENTS
“Opened up my copy of the IIHR Currents this am to the new issue on ‘Celebrating Our Centennial.’ What a beautiful publication! Congrats to all.”
— RObERT R. TWILLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOUISIaNa SEa GRaNT COLLEGE PROGRaM
“The party is just getting bigger!”
— IIHR DIRECTOR GabRIELE VILLaRINI, ON THE RESCHEDULED BIG SPLASH!, aUGUST 26–28, 2022
“Climate change has arrived. It’s becoming more visible, more obvious each year. And it’s touching us all.”
— CONNIE MUTEL, RETIRED IIHR SENIOR SCIENCE WRITER, IN GAZETTE OP-ED, OCT. 7, 2020
Lab Notes
Get Ready for the IIHR Centennial + 2!
IIHR marked its 100th birthday in 2020, but the global pandemic forced the institute to postpone most of the festivities until 2022. Last October, however, we got a taste of what we can look forward to. Hancher Auditorium, co-organizer of The Big Splash!, created “Hancher Illuminated,” a program of socially distanced performances, enchantingly illuminating the building and grounds and setting up ingenious performance and viewing spaces. Quixotic, one of our partner organizations collaborating on The Big Splash!, designed an array of spots outside the building highlighting UI student performers. Get ready to see more like this in 2022!
And for now, you can whet your appetite with videos of the event at https://hancher.uiowa.edu/2020-21/hancher-illuminated
IIHR’s Ricardo Mantilla (left) and Casey Harwood created a series of lab videos for students taking classes remotely.
Some 60 years after IIHR Director Hunter Rouse created a groundbreaking series of educational films on fluid dynamics, two IIHR faculty members have followed his lead.
— RICaRDO MaNTILLa, FLUID DYNaMICS CO-TEaCHER
As co-teachers of the University of Iowa College of Engineering’s Fluid Dynamics course in fall 2020, Ricardo Mantilla and Casey Harwood wanted to help remotelearning students experience the labs they would normally have been able to do in person. Harwood and Mantilla produced a series of videos in the college’s new fluids lab covering three experiments: Measurement of Fluid Properties; Finite Control Volumes; and Flow in Pipes.
“IIHR has a decades-long commitment to fluids education,” Mantilla says. “You can see that in the fluids lab itself, which features refurbished, modernized versions of some of the classic educational experiments designed by Hunter Rouse. Casey and I share Rouse’s commitment to top-notch fluids education for our students. The videos made it possible for students to experience laboratory research even during the pandemic.”
In anonymous course evaluations, students said they appreciated the effort to give them the lab experience through the instructional videos. “The lab videos created were wicked cool,” one student wrote. Another said, “The way remote labs were conducted this semester helped me to understand more of the complex topics we learned this semester, even though I wasn’t actually there.”
The videos were produced with support from IIHR and the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
The films are available on the IIHR YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/yx9rhrlv
Demanding Change: Everyone’s Work
In 2020, the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers reawakened Americans to the need for action against entrenched, systemic racism in all sectors of our society. Responses nationwide have been swift and numerous, as many Americans demand social justice.
At the University of Iowa College of Engineering, IIHR’s Sarah Vigmostad has taken on a leadership role for the college’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council. Vigmostad, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, co-chairs the group of faculty, students, and staff with Senior Human Resources Director Cathy Koebrick.
Vigmostad understands the urgency to make progress. “It feels so important,” she says. “How can we leverage our best intentions and have a positive impact on the experiences of every one of our students, faculty, and staff?” Vigmostad says the council’s vision is that of a vibrant, diverse college community where each student, faculty, and staff member is welcomed, supported, and valued for their unique contributions and perspective.
The council is urging all members of the COE community to learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion and how we can each support social justice. For instance, through the BUILD (Building University of Iowa Leadership for Diversity) program, the university offers free courses on implicit bias, cultivating an inclusive classroom, and other aspects of DEI. Vigmostad is proud to see her faculty colleagues asking how they can support the social justice movement in their classrooms and research programs.
In her own classroom, Vigmostad participated in #ScholarStrike, talking with her students about structural racism and health inequities, as well as sharing current challenges with algorithmic bias in machine learning. She was encouraged and moved by the response. “Students reached out throughout the rest of the semester to tell me they were still thinking about what we’d discussed. It was a great opportunity to show students some of the ways that, as engineers, our work can impact society either positively or negatively — technology is not immune to racism, and thinking otherwise is dangerous.”
Vigmostad’s hope is that the council can help leverage, connect, and build upon DEI efforts taking place in individual departments, centers, or classrooms. She is glad to play a role but knows she can’t do it alone. “This is everyone’s work.”
Lab Notes
Dancehall Cave
Maquoketa Caves State Park offers one of Iowa’s most adventurous hikes and a chance to explore some of the state’s geological wonders. Learn more about Iowa parks, Iowa geology, and the Iowa Geological Survey (IGS) on the new IGS website:
https://iowageologicalsurvey.org
Photo by IIHR photographer Aneta Goska
