• Architecture assistant professor Ulrike Passe is part of Iowa's five-year, $22 million project to build research capacity in renewable energy and energy efficiency, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Iowa Power Fund. Passe leads a group measuring energy use in existing buildings and testing new technologies, using the Interlock House at Honey Creek Resort State Park--a solar-powered house originally built by Iowa State students for the 2009 U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon.
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• In partnership with the Iowa Department of Public Health, landscape architecture associate professor and extension specialist Christopher J. Seeger co-developed the award-winning I-WALK (Iowans Walking Assessment Logistics Kit), which uses smartphones, GPS and GIS technology to help communities create a Safe Routes to School program. Piloted in 12 Iowa elementary schools in 2011, I-WALK expanded to 17 additional schools in 2012.
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• A collaboration led by the industrial design department could save farmers' lives in Iowa and beyond. In an attempt to prevent tractor-rollover fatalities by reducing emergency response time, the team, composed of experts from Iowa State and the University of Iowa, developed a tractor-mounted communications device that alerts family and emergency personnel of a rollover when it happens. Testing is under way.

Did you know? The College of Design's undergraduate architecture and landscape architecture programs rank among the top 11 programs in the nation in the annual DesignIntelligence ranking survey. 60% of licensed architects and 30% of licensed landscape architects working in Iowa are Iowa State alumni.