Home | Iowa Technology Institute - The University of Iowa

Schnell takes reins as ITI director

Tom “Mach” Schnell has taken the helm as director of the Iowa Technology Institute, effective April 15, succeeding Karim Abdel-Malek, who had led the research institute for 20 years.

Schnell’s vision is to deepen the connection between ITI faculty and industry as well as leverage interdisciplinary research to attract large-scale grants.

Explore the latest research at OPL

The University of Iowa's Operator Performance Lab, directed by Dr. Tom "Mach" Schnell, is a flight testing laboratory with a fleet of jets, helicopters, Humvees, and UAVs.

Iowa professor's innovation among Time magazine's best inventions of 2024

Yang Liu, University of Iowa associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and an ITI faculty affiliate, co-founded Unify Medical, which released a digital loupe technology called Amplio to support image-guided surgical procedures. Amplio made Time magazine's best inventions of 2024.

Explore Our Mission Areas

Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

Aerospace Technology

Biotechnology

Environment and Energy

Human Modeling and Simulation

Systems and Sensors

Explore Our Partnerships

ITI has a number of strategic partnerships with academic institutions, consortia and membership organizations, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. These help fund and support our research and development.

See partnerships

Recent News

Iowa PhD student's algorithm becomes global resource through industry partnership

Friday, December 5, 2025

College of Engineering

Jonah Marks, a University of Iowa PhD candidate in chemical and biochemical engineering, created a better way for scientists to find "transition states" in chemical reactions that are essential to design new medicines, better catalysts, and advanced materials.

UI scholars find laser technology could make surgeries safer

Thursday, November 13, 2025

College of Engineering

Researchers at the University of Iowa have found they can bend high-tech lasers without sacrificing performance – a key milestone in bringing advanced laser systems into hospitals, labs, and fieldwork.

NASA sponsors UI research to advance wildfire air quality forecasting

Monday, November 10, 2025

College of Engineering

A $500,000 NASA grant led by Xi Chen, principal investigator, and Jun Wang, co-investigator, will leverage state-of-the-art satellite-based measurements of aerosol optical centroid height (AOCH) — a key indicator of smoke layer altitude.

More news