create | cure | explore | imagine | discover
The Dare to Discover campaign showcases researchers, scholars, and creators from across the University of Iowa on banners throughout downtown Iowa City. The campaign is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Click on the student profiles to learn more about the personal stories behind the faces of discovery and creativity.
Saba Ali
Dare to
Launch Careers
Under Ali’s leadership, HOPE was selected as one of 12 of Gov. Terry Branstad’s STEM Scale-Up projects in 2012-13.
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James Ankrum
Dare to
Bioengineer Cells
Cell-based therapies have demonstrated incredible capabilities to profoundly heal what was previously un-healable.
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Natoshia M. Askelson
Dare to
Promote Nutrition
Learning to make healthy choices as a child carries over into adulthood, improving quality of life.
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Eloy Barragán
Dare to
Choreograph Grace
Throughout his career, Eloy Barragán has stretched the boundaries of dance.
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Nicholas Bowman
Dare to
Understand Undergraduates
When we have a more educated society, everyone benefits.
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Azeez Butali
Dare to
Prevent Clefts
Azeez Butali is exploring innovative ways to prevent cleft palates.
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Barry Carter
Dare to
Prevent Heart Disease
One American dies every 39 seconds from cardiovascular disease, yet these deaths are preventable.
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Chris Coffey
Dare to
Design Trials
The question was simple: does medication that prevents adult migraines also work for children?
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Will Coghill-Behrends
Dare to
Advance Educators
Will Coghill-Behrends equips both undergraduates and experienced instructors to be better innovators in the 21st century.
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Mary Cohen
Dare to
Lift Voices
Choral singing has the power to connect body and spirit in communion in a way that both creates beauty and affirms humanity.
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Charles Connerly
Dare to
Sustain Communities
Charles Connerly has a unique take on how to build a community that will thrive generation after generation.
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David Cwiertny
Dare to
Track Pollutants
David Cwiertny explores the risks and impacts of unregulated pollutants in the environment.
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Sandra Daack-Hirsch
Dare to
Grasp Genetics
Sandra Daack-Hirsch never loses sight of the human side of her research on genetic disorders.
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Peter Damiano
Dare to
Assess Policy
Peter Damiano regularly shares research findings with policymakers to help them understand the nuances of challenging policy issues.
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Bill Doucette
Dare to
Heal Communities
Bill Doucette uses individual social psychology, exchange, and organization models to study pharmacist and physician behavior.
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John D’Agata
Dare to
Question the Essay
John D’Agata pushes the boundaries of the essay in the classroom.
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Ed Folsom
Dare to
Share Whitman
Co-directed by Ed Folsom, the Walt Whitman Archive was one of the first major digital humanities projects.
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Claire Fox
Dare to
Celebrate Culture
Claire Fox and her co-editors have developed a teachable anthology that explores the Latino cultural contributions to the Midwest.
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Jon Garfinkel
Dare to
Flip Classrooms
We learn best when we learn by doing—Garfinkel’s classroom models the business world.
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Michael Gibisser
Dare to
Stretch Filmmaking
Mike Gibisser’s work as a filmmaker and artist draw together divergent subjects or time periods.
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Paul Gilbert
Dare to
End Alcoholism
Paul Gilbert conducts research to understand and address alcohol-related disparities.
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Donald Gurnett
Dare to
Explore Space
Don Gurnett’s unpretentious Midwestern demeanor masks his legendary contributions to space exploration.
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Michael Henry
Dare to
Detect Cancer
Research breakthroughs discovered in Michael Henry’s lab in 2012 have the potential for new methods for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
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Herb Hovenkamp
Dare to
Define Antitrust
Hovenkamp is one of the most widely cited antitrust scholars.
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Brandi Janssen
Dare to
Sustain Agriculture
As a trained anthropologist, Janssen takes a broad approach to farming safety, health and sustainability.
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Amy Lee
Dare to
Identify Pathways
Amy Lee studies voltage-gated calcium channels and their roles in the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
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Julia Leonard
Dare to
Reimagine Books
For Julia Leonard, the book in its entirety, both content and physical form, is a subject for historical research and a form in which to make art.
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Xi Ma
Dare to
Bridge Barriers
Building community starts with knowing your neighbor’s name.
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Alan MacVey
Dare to
Be Creative
MacVey is a fellow in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre and Past President of the National Association of Schools of Theatre.
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Daniel McGehee
Dare to
Improve Vehicle Safety
Daniel McGehee has been obsessed with car crashes for over 20 years.
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Karla McGregor
Dare to
Liberate Language
McGregor researches how people with developmental language disorders learn, remember, and use words.
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Ana Merino
Dare to
Promote Poetry
Blending cultures allows Ana Merino to sing the song of her native Spain with Americana as the harmony in both poetry and in literature.
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Kristy Nabhan-Warren
Dare to
Teach Empathy
Broadly Kristy Nabhan-Warren’s research looks at what American Catholics and Protestants share in common.
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Kumar Narayanan
Dare to
Map the Brain
Kumar Narayanan is working to map the circuitry of the brain to better understand Parkinson’s disease.
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Edith Parker
Dare to
Boost Health
Edith Parker’s research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of community health promotion interventions.
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Eli Perencevich
Dare to
Make Hospitals Safer
Infectious disease physician Eli Perencevich to prevent and treat hospital-acquired infections.
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Jason Rantanen
Dare to
Shape Law
Jason Rantanen’s scholarship has moved patent law forward in innovative ways.
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Kelli Ryckman
Dare to
Prevent Prematurity
Kelli Ryckman and colleagues found a reliable metabolic profile for estimating an infant’s gestational age using only a drop of blood.
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Donna Santillan
Dare to
Fight Preeclampsia
Donna Santillan and her research collaborators discovered a biomarker that serves as an early warning flag for preeclampsia.
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Renita Schmidt
Dare to
Inspire Literacy
Renita Schmidt and her collaborators have been rethinking the definition of what it means to be a “strong girl.”
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Jerry Schnoor
Dare to
Protect the Environment
Jerry Schnoor has cultivated evidence-based scholarship to equip decision makers with unbiased environmental solutions.
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Sarah Seo
Dare to
Decode Jurisprudence
Sarah Seo examines the history of the automobile to explain the evolution of jurisprudence and the meaning of freedom.
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Charles Stanier
Dare to
Clear the Air
Charles Stanier is leading a grassroots effort to improve community health and attract increased economic development.
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Fatima Toor
Dare to
Catch Cancer
Early cancer detection is critical for survival. With Toor’s device, a simple blood test will function as a liquid biopsy.
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Sarah Vigmostad
Dare to
Personalize Treatment
Using advanced computational tools Vigmostad equips patients and providers to make better decisions.
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Marcia Ward
Dare to
Advance Telehealth
Marcia Ward has devoted her career to health services research, especially rural healthcare delivery and health outcomes.
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Jessica Welburn
Dare to
Investigate Inequality
Jessica Welburn’s research explores the dynamics of racial inequality and urban inequality in the post-Civil Rights Era.
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Catherine Welch
Dare to
Measure Comprehension
Cathy Welch developed the next generation of Iowa Assessments to replace the classic K-12 test.
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Adrien Wing
Dare to
Promote Rights
Wing invests her great experiential and academic knowledge in the next generation of justice advocates.
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Joseph Yockey
Dare to
Incorporate Conscience
Joseph Yockey explores unique ways in which laws can encourage social enterprises to develop and flourish.
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Kang Zhao
Dare to
Predict the Unknown
Diving deeply into data, Zhao has unlocked new insights that can help Hollywood investors predict the profitability of movies.
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