The Univeristy of Iowa

A Rich Research History

Backed by a rich history of research on the brain and behavior and strong financial support, The University of Iowa offers a dynamic research environment within a vibrant community.

The psychology department is housed in our brand new PBS Building (top), which opened in 2020 and is a short stroll from the iconic Old Capitol Building at the center of the main campus (bottom left). Our main lab space is immediately adjacent in the connected Kenneth Spence Labs Building (bottom right).

A brief glance inside our PBS Building.

The Carver College of Medicine

Home to the Pappajohn Biomedical Building (left) and the Iowa Neuroscience Institute (INI), the medical campus is a short bike or walk from our PBS building (right, the medical campus as seen from the Old Capitol Building — it’s closer than it looks in this shot!) 

Some facilities at the INI include a Viral Vector Core, a Small Animal Imaging Core, High Performance Computing resources, and a Neural Circuits & Behavior Core that includes fluorescent light sheet microscopes for imaging cleared whole mouse brains.

Also, we have a beautfiul campus.

Straddling the Iowa River, and connected via multiple bike and walk ways, the main and medical campuses are full of beautiful buildings with a mix of classic and modern architecture, such as the Frank Gehry-designed Iowa Technology Institute labs (top, if you squint!) or Hancher Auditorium (bottom).  

Iowa City

The Greatest Small City for the Arts

Barcelona, Beirut, Jakarta, Dublin, … Iowa City?

That’s right! When it comes to cultural cache, we punch above our weight. We are one of two American cities to be named an UNESCO City of Literature, and we have a vibrant literary, art, music, film, and culinary scene. 

The Englert Theater (and other venues) host famous literary and musical guests (top left), public art abounds (top right), and Film Scene (bottom) screens small art house films, new blockbusters, and classics

Our arts scene is in part a product of our world-renowned Iowa Writer’s Workshop, which claims a coterie of prize-winning authors and poets as its own.

A few favorites — Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, Denis Johnson, Phillip Levine, Kaveh Akbar — although if you frequent the public library (we have a good one!) or enjoy independent book shops (like IC’s Prairie Lights!), you will recognize many other  names associated with the workshop.

Prairie Lights Books (top). There are a variety of lit walks around town (bottom left). Take one and let Flannery O’Connor inspire your suppressed writerly ambitions (bottom right) — “Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.”

We also have a vibrant restaurant and sidwalk cafe culture, with nationally recognized restaurants (like The Webster), a great brewpub and taproom (Big Grove Brewery), and lots of international flavors (I Love Fufu, African; Le Gourmet, Korean; Mesa-503, Salvodoran, and lots more)

Other great things about Iowa City!

  • The city is very bikeable and bike friendly — Iowa City Bike Library, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), BikeIowaCity — and mountain biking and paved/gravel cycle touring are popular outdoor pastimes here

  • Iowa City often pops up on lists of the most livable cities and towns (it’s affordable, family friendly, culturally cosmopolitan, great access to good education and healthcare, and has taken pride in and preserved local history)

  • Iowa Hawkeye sports — we are a Big Ten school with teams that compete at the highest collegiate level (you may have heard of Caitlin Clark?). While football still gets top billing, in sport-specific arenas and stadiums you can catch games for men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, women’s soccer, and more, sometimes for free

  • Free public transit

  • The Iowa summer corn sweat

  • We’ll think of more to add as we get settled!