Cross-cutting Capabilities
- CIRAS (Center for Industrial Research & Service) serves Iowa’s manufacturing companies, from OEMs to job shops, representing the primary drivers of the Iowa economy. The manufacturing sector contributed 21.0% of Iowa’s total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, placing Iowa second among the states in the percentage of total GDP from manufacturing. Three industry sub-sectors that are important to the wind industry, machinery, fabricated metal products, and electrical equipment/appliances, are three of the top five manufacturing sub-sectors in Iowa. Iowa State University has a long tradition of connecting industry with university researchers to improve the US economy. In 1904, ISU developed the nation’s premier Engineering Experiment Station – the first research agency organized in an engineering school. The purpose of the experiment station was to support faculty research in the emerging areas of science and technology, and then transfer the results to the state’s industries. The ISU College of Engineering also established the Engineering Extension Service in 1913 to help in the transfer of technology from the experiment station. Today, CIRAS is charged with fulfilling the original charge to the Engineering Extension Service - to enhance the performance of industry through research, education, and technical assistance. Account Managers throughout the state meet with clients to assess needs and provide links to resources that companies can use to increase their competitiveness. Solutions are offered through a combination of direct assistance from center staff, university faculty, partner organizations, and outside consultants. CIRAS staff has expertise in biorenewables, engineering, government procurement, management practices, productivity, and quality systems. Center activities are supported in part by the Department of Commerce/NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Department of Defense/DLA Procurement Technical Assistance Program, the Department of Commerce/EDA University Center Program, and the Department of Agriculture BioPreferred program. Iowa State University is one of a handful of research universities in the US that have a center that manages such a wide variety of industry assistance programs and with a mission to improve the profitability of industry. Last year 577 companies in Iowa reported $122 million in new investments, $7 million in costs saved or avoided, $62 million in sales gained or retained, and 1,658 jobs added or retained as a result of the research, technical assistance, and education they received from CIRAS and its partners.
- The Iowa Energy Center, created by Iowa’s General Assembly in 1990, conducts and sponsors research, demonstration and education in energy efficiency and renewable energy. With funding from a surcharge on intra-state sales of electricity and natural gas, the Energy Center is administered by Iowa State University, but authorized to work through competitive awards with all of Iowa’s educational institutions and private non-profits. Over the years, a number of Energy Center projects have involved collaborations of eligible grantees, typically university faculty, working with industry on collaborative projects. Energy Center funded projects that may be of specific interest include:
Wind Assessment and Calculator – The Energy Center funded 6 years of field data collection on the wind resource in Iowa. That assessment is captured on the Energy Center’s Web site as annual and monthly maps and a calculator that can give a first cut estimate of the output of many commercially available wind turbines at over 2000 locations around the state. The Energy Center also has provided its raw data to numerous wind developers working in Iowa.
- Tall Towers Project – In conjunction with co-funding provided by the US Department of Energy through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Energy and Waste Management Bureau (http://www.iowadnr.gov/waste/index.html), the Energy Center is now in the field data collection stage of an update to the wind assessment. This project, working with AWS Truewind, involves installing data collection instruments on towers at four dispersed locations in the state to a height of 250 m above the ground. When data collection is completed, the Energy Center’s on-line maps will be revised and extended. Data mining techniques to optimization of wind farm operation in partnership with MidAmerican Energy, who is providing data from one of their wind farms for the research. The Energy Center operates the Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program, created by Iowa’s
General Assembly in 1996 to provide reduced interest rate loans for the construction of renewable energy projects, including wind turbines, in Iowa.
- Ames Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated research facility of the U.S. Department of Energy that is run by Iowa State University. For more than 60 years, the Ames Laboratory has sought solutions to energy-related problems through the exploration of chemical, engineering, materials, mathematical and physical sciences. Established in the 1940s with the successful development of the most efficient process to produce high-purity uranium metal for atomic energy, the Lab now pursues a broad range of scientific priorities.
- IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering is one of the nation’s premier and oldest fluids research and engineering laboratories, and educates students and conducts research in the broad fields of hydraulics and fluid mechanics (annual budget of $13 million). A distinguishing feature of IIHR is its state-of-the-art capabilities for computational modeling, laboratory experiments, and field measurements. This permits varying, yet complementary, approaches for investigation and solution of a wide range of problems in hydroscience and engineering. Research facilities include a variety of hydraulics flumes, wind tunnels, a ship towing tank, an ice laboratory for winter environment, a mobile hydrometeorology laboratory, and advanced equipment for laboratory and field research.
- Center for Computer Aided Design (CCAD) (annual budget of $12 million) conducts basic and applied research in the design, optimization, modeling, and simulation of materials, structures, vehicles, and mechanical and bio-mechanical systems, to advance the educational and research mission of the College of Engineering, and to transfer research results to a broad spectrum of academic, industrial, and government constituencies. It is the home of the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS), which has become one of the most advanced driving simulators in the world. Over the years, the center has branched out into a variety of aspects concerning computer-aided design, including digital human modeling, simulation, reliability and durability analysis, cognitive modeling, and operator performance analysis. CCAD has grown to over 100 researchers and permanent staff and has created many strategic partnerships with government and corporate entities.
Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research
- The Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER) at The University of Iowa is the result of a group of scientists with interests in the areas of global change and environmental sciences getting together in the Fall of 1988 to discuss the implications of global change. In November of 1989 the group hosted a symposium, Preparing for Climatic Changes: A Midwest Perspective. Subsequently a seminar series was formed and prominent speakers were invited to campus. In the Spring of 1990 the Board of Regents Environmental Research.
- CGRER promotes interdisciplinary efforts that focus on the multiple aspects of global environmental change, including the regional effects on natural ecosystems, environments, and resources, and on human health, culture and social systems. Center membership is composed of interested faculty members at any of Iowa's colleges and universities. Currently there are 50+ CGRER members.
Iowa Energy Center
- The Iowa Energy Center, created by Iowa’s General Assembly in 1990, conducts and sponsors research, demonstration and education in energy efficiency and renewable energy. With funding from a surcharge on intra-state sales of electricity and natural gas, the Energy Center is administered by Iowa State University, but authorized to work through competitive awards with all of Iowa’s educational institutions and private non-profits. Over the years, a number of Energy Center projects have involved collaborations of eligible grantees, typically university faculty, working with industry on collaborative projects. Energy Center funded projects that may be of specific interest include:
Wind Assessment and Calculator – The Energy Center funded 6 years of field data collection on the wind resource in Iowa. That assessment is captured on the Energy Center’s Web site as annual and monthly maps and a calculator that can give a first cut estimate of the output of many commercially available wind turbines at over 2000 locations around the state. The Energy Center also has provided its raw data to numerous wind developers working in Iowa.
