Institute for Physical Research and Technology

Contact Us

(515) 294-3045
iprtinfo@iastate.edu


Institute for Physical
Research and Technology

Iowa State University
2156 Gilman Hall
Ames, IA 50011-3110

IPRT Works for Iowa

News & Updates

IPRT's Lopez Receives NDE Award

Rick Lopez, metallurgist with the Materials Group in IPRT Company Assistance, recently received the Nondestructive Testing “Better Way” award from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Air Transport Association (ATA) for the second time in five years. Lopez, along with an international team of government and airline industry professionals, was recognized for accomplishments in working with a novel inspection method that utilizes self-adhesive polymeric sensors containing vacuum channels.See IPRT news release.

VRAC Startup in the News

[PHOTO]Eliot Winer and Jim Oliver, VRAC

Eliot Winer (left), associate director of IPRT's Virtual Reality Applications Center, and Jim Oliver, VRAC director, are founders of Bodyviz.com, an Ames, Iowa, startup company that makes software for visualizing patient data from CT and MRI scans. The technology was first developed at VRAC. The effort is the focus of a recent Iowa State news release and a report on KCCI-TV.

R&D Innovator of the Year has IPRT Link

Iowa State University's Hans van Leeuwen, who has led research teams awarded back-to-back R&D 100 awards for biofuels developments, has also been named R&D Magazine's 2009 Innovator of the Year. One project that helped Leeuwen earn the honor was done with assistance from IPRT's Technology Commercialization Group. The project focused on purifying ethyl alcohol with ozone and activated carbon and involved Mello3z, LLC, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Leeuwen is an Iowa State professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering. See Iowa State news release or R&D magazine article.

CNDE Unveils New "T-ray" Facility

The new Terahertz Ray (or "T-ray") Research Facility at IPRT's Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) gives researchers a state-of-the-art tool to measure and characterize materials. Electromagnetic rays in the terehertz range can penetrate many common gases, non-metal solids and some liquids. Researchers say the instrument should produce useful data for automotive, aviation, food, energy, materials, pharmaceuticals, medical, forensics, defense and homeland security fields. See Iowa State news release.

Solar Decathlon Gets 12th;
House to State Park

[PHOTO]Iowa State Solar Decathon team

The final results are in: Iowa State's Solar Decathlon team finished in 12th place in the 2009 DOE Solar Decathlon. In contests announced Oct. 16, 2009, the team took 6th place in net metering and 5th in engineering. The house will also have permanent home: Honey Creek Resort State Park at Rathbun Lake in southern Iowa. The Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources has purchased the team's Interlock House for use as an interpretive center at the park. Iowa State also will have access to the building for energy performance monitoring. IPRT is one of the team's sponsors. See Iowa State news release.IPRT

New Materials Tests Available to
Iowa Companies

Iowa companies now have ready access to two sophisticated materials testing methods, thanks to new equipment acquired by the Materials Group in IPRT Company Assistance. A new cyclic corrosion testing chamber exposes products to harsh conditions for accelerated comparisons of coatings or alloys.  Also new is an optical emission spectrometer, which makes quantitative measurements of material chemistry for alloys based on iron, copper and aluminum. See full article for more information. IPRT

IPRT Reaches Throughout Iowa... and World

[GRAPHIC]IPRT map pinIn fiscal year 2009, IPRT worked on over 150 projects with 125 Iowa companies and organizations in 50 cities and towns. Most of this work was performed by IPRT Company Assistance, but many IPRT research centers also did projects with Iowa companies. In keeping with their world-class status, IPRT's research centers also collaborated with organizations in 37 states and the District of Columbia as well as in 22 countries around the world. See IPRT Interactions 2009 interactive map and IPRT National and International interactions map.IPRT

IPRT Impact Averages $12.8 Million

[PIE CHART]IPRT Impact

A summary of project evaluation data shows that Iowa companies with technical problems and research and development needs continue to find technical help through the services of IPRT Company Assistance.  Companies report positive impacts affecting their sales, investments and operating costs.  Of the 55% of IPRT clients responding to the survey, the estimated annual average impact over a five-year period is approximately $12.8 million per year, while the impact in FY2009 was approximately $14.5 million. IPRT

About IPRT

The Institute for Physical Research and Technology, also known as IPRT, is a network of scientific research centers at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. In addition to performing world-class scientific research, IPRT provides a wide variety of technical assistance to Iowa companies. IPRT has a close working relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory.

IPRT's broad mission is to promote interdisciplinary research in the physical sciences and engineering and specifically to foster development of new technologies.

Staffed by world-class faculty and scientists and backed by unique facilities and equipment, IPRT helps develop Iowa's economy through research, company assistance and educational programs.

IPRT works for Iowa. To learn more, please browse our pages or email iprtinfo@iastate.edu.

IPRT Facts

IPRT Company Assistance worked with 625 organizations in 173 Iowa cities and towns in 88 of Iowa's 99 counties from 2004 to 2008.

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Holiday Office Hours

IPRT's administrative offices will be open 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 23 and 24, and 7:30 a.m. to noon on Nov. 25. Offices will be closed Nov. 26 and 27.

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