Lab to Land
Bracing for the Storm
The UI develops sensors for rivers, soil, and air to help rural communities plan for changing conditions.
As record flooding threatened northwest Iowa this past June, a UI-built network of river sensors provided small towns with important data to support local decision-making.
The Iowa Flood Information System, or IFIS, delivered real-time information about stream levels, flood alerts, and forecasts, helping northwest Iowa communities where catastrophic flooding forced the evacuation of residents and damaged hundreds of homes.
PHOTOS COURTESY IOWA FLOOD CENTER
UI researchers use hydrologic monitoring stations to study weather events throughout Iowa.
An online tool developed by the Iowa Flood Center at the UI College of Engineering, the IFIS communicates river levels at 270 stream sensor locations updated every 15 minutes and flood alerts and forecasts for more than 1,000 Iowa river communities. It also features detailed inundation maps for cities that model how predicted flood levels could affect property and critical infrastructure.
The IFIS is one of several forecasting technologies developed by UI researchers to help Iowa’s rural communities grapple with increasingly extreme weather events—including floods, droughts, and heat waves—driven by climate change.
The Iowa Flood Center also collects data on rainfall, wind, soil conditions, and groundwater using hydrologic monitoring stations in 53 counties. This past summer, the center installed 31 new hydrostations in eastern Iowa, thanks to a $1 million federal grant from Congress’ Community Project Funding. This data helps farmers with land management decisions, as well as researchers studying extreme weather. The sensors will also support the development of an Iowa Drought Information System, which will be modeled after the IFIS.
“Recent events have shown how quickly Iowa can change from drought to flood conditions,” says Larry Weber (89BSE, 90MS, 93PhD), professor of civil and environmental engineering and interim director of the Iowa Flood Center, the nation’s only academic research center devoted to flooding. “Having a more uniform hydrostation network across the state helps us better support agencies and communities in making flood and drought mitigation, forecasting, and response decisions.”
PHOTO: JUSTIN TORNER/UI OFFICE OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
UI engineering professor Jun Wang and his team use sensors to provide weather and air quality forecasts.
The UI’s expertise with weather sensors also benefits residents beyond Iowa. The National Science Foundation recently awarded the UI a $6 million, four-year grant to lead a multistate collaboration to help Midwest agricultural communities deal with severe weather. The project, called Data-Advanced Research and Education, places UI-designed sensors in farm fields and neighborhoods across Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Arkansas. The sensors gather weather and soil data to produce model weather forecasts for agricultural communities via phone apps and interactive web tools.
“Ag-based communities in the central U.S. are disproportionally affected by climate change,” says professor Jun Wang, the UI’s James E. Ashton Chair of Engineering and the project’s principal investigator. Wang, a member of the Iowa Technology Institute who will lead a project team of 29 experts across various sectors and four universities, says the project “will strengthen communities’ resilience and grow the next-generation workforce to tackle the impacts of severe weather and climate change.”
UI scientists are also launching a project to develop new ground-based and airborne climate research capabilities. As part of this effort, the UI College of Engineering’s airborne research center, the Operator Performance Laboratory, is developing pods for its jets that will house instruments to gather atmospheric and environmental data on air quality and pollution, nitrate runoff, soil moisture, and wildfires.
“This capability for airborne research does not exist in the Midwest,” says project lead Matthew McGill, UI professor of chemical and biochemical engineering and a member of the Iowa Technology Institute. “The OPL capability represents truly untapped potential for the university to become a destination for the science community to conduct field campaigns and test new sensor prototypes.”
Fields of Innovation
From education to conservation, the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm provides a space for visionary UI research that can help protect Iowa’s land and water.
Located three miles west of Kinnick Stadium on the outskirts of Iowa City, the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm began in 1855 as part of a national social movement to provide living accommodations for society’s most vulnerable. Tenants received room and board in exchange for working on the farm, caring for livestock, and growing crops.
It’s been 36 years since the last residents left, and until 2016, the county leased the land under a crop-share model. More than 30 community partners have since collaborated to transform the county-owned, public property into a hub of environmental sustainability and education—including for University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff.
“The county chose to take the 160 acres, restore it, create community space, and help make an impact back to the community,” says Kate Giannini, a program manager with IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering at Iowa and one of many environmental researchers engaged in community-based projects at the site.
The Johnson County Historic Poor Farm now addresses many challenges faced by rural communities, serving as a living learning laboratory where education, science, and climate research intertwine. The site hosts the nonprofit Grow: Johnson County that grows fresh fruits and vegetables for local food pantries, a land access program that equips new farmers to start their own operations, a 15.5-acre pollinator plot to retain and boost biodiversity, and other environmental projects with practical applications beyond these 160 acres. White outbuildings flank the silo and red barn on the northeast end of the property, extending to greenhouses, rows of vegetables from immigrant farmers’ homelands, and instruments for measuring soil and water quality.
Every hour, a hydrostation at the poor farm installed by UI College of Engineering scientists collects data on soil moisture and temperature, rainfall, and groundwater levels. Giannini emphasizes the importance of tracking long-term data to monitor Iowa’s soil and water health. “If we don’t have water quality sensors out there, how are we measuring success?” she says. “It’s not about how much money we’ve spent on conservation; it’s about measuring improvements over time and making a positive impact downstream.”
The Johnson County Historic Poor Farm provides a public space for community members to connect to the land and local history.
UI Donald E. Bently Associate Professor in Engineering Craig Just (01PhD) and his students at IIHR are working to install instruments, like the hydrostation here, in every Iowa county as part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant to help monitor and forecast flood and drought. Two Environmental Protection Agency grants awarded to Just in 2020 also fund work at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm to study soil microbiology and its impact on the nitrogen cycle.
Just says these grants are crucial for flood mitigation and water quality, tying into statewide goals to reduce excess nitrates and restore ecological balance. Decades of nitrogen-heavy fertilizer use has impacts far beyond farming. “We’re creating these dead waterways,” says Just, “and it’s not just a health issue—it’s impacting the recreational value of the state.”
Nitrogen pollution has become one of the most pressing challenges currently facing Iowa. There’s nothing inherently wrong with nitrogen—it’s essential for chlorophyll production, building amino acids, and supporting ecosystem health. But when the soil can’t absorb it, nitrogen runs downstream, creating toxic algae blooms throughout the watershed.
Many rural towns rely on outdated water infrastructure because upgrades are financially out of reach, but removing excess nitrates is crucial for human and environmental health.
The research conducted at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm will help IIHR experts find ways to support these rural communities in enhancing and protecting their water quality. Just also underscores the importance of places like the poor farm for students to get hands-on experience with real-world issues. Whether it’s monitoring water quality or installing new technology, Just says his students aren’t just studying theory—they’re improving lives across the state.
In addition to the IIHR’s water and soil research, UI students and professors across other disciplines interact with the site to advance their studies. Willow Creek headwaters begin on the farm, near land designated for beetle biodiversity research by Andrew Forbes, UI professor and associate chair of biology. The English department and UI College of Engineering have also visited the farm for the National Science Foundation-sponsored BlueGAP project, aimed at equipping storytellers with science-based experiences to give voice to the environmental impacts of nitrogen pollution.
The range of learning opportunities at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm sets a model for rural innovation with education and science at its core. UI researchers who work with the land believe the theories and experiments tested here will impact Iowa for generations to come, laying the groundwork for sustainable solutions that benefit both the environment and local communities.