Many of the projects focused on answers to problems that persist within the state of Iowa, from one student's search for a more efficient way to extract proteins from crops and another student's collaboration with the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Another project, presented by Iowa State University student Jason Haegele, sought to find the distance that pollen travels in an Iowa cornfield. Haegele said that once his research is completed, it will help corn producers across the country to know how far away to plant certain genetically modified crops from other crops.
"In the future, if corn is going to be used for pharmaceutical production, producers need to show conclusively that the corn has not cross pollinated with corn being grown for food use," Haegele said.
The goal of Tuesday's exhibit was to showcase a diverse range of research that undergraduates are performing at the universities, said Ricki Shine, administrative director of the ISU Honors Program.
Michael Gartner, the president of the Iowa Board of Regents, said much of the undergraduate research goes unnoticed against the high-profile research projects of faculty at the state universities.
"I am terribly, terribly impressed," Gartner said. "It is particularly satisfying for me to be here, to see all these projects because - and I know it's a cliché - they really are the future, not only of the state, but of the world."
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