What are Iowa State’s most unique fields of study?

Iowa State University offers some of the most unique fields of study, including a minor in artificial intelligence, innovative medical technology programs, and an upcoming sports journalism major.

With the new academic year beginning Monday, Aug. 26, here is a closer look at some of Iowa State’s most interesting degrees:

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Iowa State University students Jonah Vancil, a sophomore at left, Humza Maqsood, a freshman at center, and Nate Hasso, a freshman at right, work with ChatGPT in an English class on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. The university is among schools and colleges across the country grappling with how to help students and faculty realize benefits of the recently launched artificial intelligence system and others like it while preventing academic dishonesty.

Artificial intelligence

Iowa State was the first in Iowa to offer a master’s degree in artificial intelligence in 2021. The university also has an undergraduate minor that allows students to apply AI to a variety of fields.

Iowa State’s data science and artificial intelligence programs include:

• An Introduction to Applied AI course, which can apply to any major on campus.

• Research workshops and programs for undergraduate and graduate students that demonstrate how AI skills can be applied to different domains. The programs also cover AI ethics and responsible development of machine learning models.

• An AI jumpstart program for high school teachers

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Yee Chan, left, and Nigel Reuel are developing small, low-cost, contact-free, electromagnetic biosensors to monitor the growth of therapeutic cells.

Biomedical engineering

Iowa State’s biomedical engineering bachelor’s degree launched in the fall of 2023 with 53 students and has grown to 109 students this fall.

Students in this degree will learn to design medical devices that interact with biology. They will also create software programs to test new drug therapies.

Biomedical engineering was the most requested degree by incoming students for several years, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering Ian Schneider said. Data also indicated Iowa State was losing about 90 students each year because the degree wasn’t offered.

“That was coupled with biomedical engineering having a strong research presence in the College of Engineering already, and the need from a labor standpoint,” Schneider said. “All of those provided the motivation for developing this degree.”

Iowa State students are passionate about biomedical engineering because see how impactful it is. Schneider said many students have family members who suffer from some sort of chronic illness, have cancer or had some kind of traumatic injury or disability.

“The opportunity to be able to solve problems that have affected their family members is really motivating for them,” Schneider said. “That makes them really excited in the classroom.”

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Digital Health

Iowa State is offering a new master’s degree in digital health. The program is 100 percent online and offered through the Department of Kinesiology.

Digital health is a forward-thinking program designed to equip students with the skills they need at “the intersection of” health care and preventative care, Master of Digital Health, Director of Graduate Education Kira Werstein said.

“The mission of the program is to prepare students specifically to use digital technologies to make health interventions more precise, efficient, accessible and more affordable,” Werstein said. “The way that we do this is through a curriculum that focuses on application, using a wide range of digital health topics and technologies.”

The curriculum explores wearable devices, mobile health, telehealth, and health information technology and includes analyzing data collected from those technologies.

Werstein said there has been substantial interest from prospective students around the world.

“We’re pretty excited to have a diverse range of students,” Werstein said. “That can really enrich our class discussions, and create for an engaging, collaboration discussion among students in courses.”

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Sports Media and Communication

The Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication will offer a bachelor of arts degree in sports media and communication next year.

The degree will prepare students for a variety of career pathways, such as strategic communicators and social media managers. Students will learn about a variety of platforms like talk radio, podcasts and broadcast networks.

The degree was created by analyzing student interests, Greenlee School associate director Jan Lauren Boyles said.

“We think this will be a great environment for growth, and students will emerge from the degree with a variety of transferrable skills,” Boyles said. “We really think it will be a slam dunk success in the university.”

The major is grounded in students learning through experience. In addition to a required internship, students must spend 300 hours in the field. They will also have the opportunity to create content with campus media and entities around central Iowa.

The Greenlee School is also working with global colleagues to provide study-abroad opportunities to gain experience covering international sporting events.

Boyles said the school has already drawn interest from prospective students. At least 100 new majors are projected in the first five years of the program.

“That (projection) is a fairly conservative number,” Boyles said. “We think we will meet and exceed that number, but right now that is our target.”

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Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Discover Iowa State’s most unique degree programs

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