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Iowa State replica of first electronic digital computer going to Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum of Mountain View, Calif., will be the new home for Iowa State University's full-scale, working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) for at least 10 years. The replica of the first electronic digital computer was completed and demonstrated in 1997 as a tribute to the late innovators of the ABC, John Vincent Atanasoff, a former Iowa State professor of physics and mathematics, and Clifford Berry, a former physics graduate student.

News release.

A 79-year-old woman who dropped out 60 years ago graduates from Iowa State Dec. 19

Shirley Burns Smith dropped out of Iowa State to marry engineering student Vic Smith in 1949. They lived in married student housing until he graduated in 1950. Last year, she and Vic returned to Iowa State (and to married student housing) so she could finish what she started. On Dec. 19, the 79-year-old Smith will receive her diploma -- 60 years after she left school.

ISU psychologist studies how product messages influence our willingness to pay

Kevin Blankenship, an assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State, led two recent studies of 280 students finding that those who were given a message that assigned greater value to an alarm clock were willing to pay an average of $15 more for that clock than the subjects who were given an opposite message.

Two ISU design programs rank in top 20 nationally

Iowa State's programs in landscape architecture and architecture are among the top 20 in the nation, according to a new survey of practitioners by DesignIntelligence, a bimonthly publication for leaders in design professions. The magazine's annual report, "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools," is the only national college ranking survey that focuses exclusively on design. Landscape architecture and architecture are in the College of Design.
News release.

President Geoffroy's Nov. 30 budget message to faculty and staff

In a Nov. 30 update to Iowa State faculty and staff, President Geoffroy said downsizing and restructuring may be inevitable in order to maintain a high level of excellence at the university in an era of "severely reduced" resources.

Read President Geoffroy's letter.