As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the School of Urban & Regional Planning developed strategies and recommendations to position and market Jackson County as a top choice in the region for young families making residential location decisions. 

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning created a Vision Plan to support Cedar County's efforts to earn Great Places designation through the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

Concurrent with the development of the Cedar County Comprehensive Plan, students developed a Cedar County visioning document to support an application for Iowa Great Places designation, a competitive program administered by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. 

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning created a Comprehensive Plan for Cedar County.

Clinic law students, who are second or third year students at the University of Iowa College of Law participating in the Community Empowerment Law Project (CELP), explored strategies, through a legal lens, to decrease blighted properties and increase affordable housing in Eastern Iowa.  In particular, they examined whether a Land Bank might be a feasible strategy in Iowa. 

Students from a variety of disciplines taking Community Development in the Upper Midwest produced videos that tell stories from the Grant Wood Loop, located in eastern Iowa, through their own experiences in the region and interviews with local residents. 

In a report to the Delmar Economic Development Group, a graduate student in the School of Urban & Regional Planning completed an independent project that provides recommendations and identifies resources that help achieve a community-driven vision for the City of Delmar.

Through a graduate assistantship from the Tippie College of Business, an MBA student worked alongside IISC staff to develop recommendations for retail inventory management policies and procedures for the DeWitt Referral Center, a non-profit organization that serves a resource for local families experiencing hardship or crisis. 

Environmental Engineering students evaluated decentralized wastewater treatment alternatives for three sites in Lake Delhi, a popular recreational area in Eastern Iowa, demonstrating various designs and solutions that could be considered throughout the Lake Delhi community. 

As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created the design and management of a pocket neighborhood for a site near Maquoketa, Iowa for the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA).

Graduate students in the School of Urban & Regional Planning course Community Development in the Upper Midwest worked with 4^th-6^th graders from the Delwood Community School District in Delmar, IA to produce videos and books that tell the story of the community through interviews with longtime residents. 

Students from the School of Journalism & Mass Communication created a strategic communications plan for East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) that established internal standards for communicating to members and residents in their region. 

In a report to The Edgewood Museum Corporation, students in Heidi Lung's "Museums in the Digital Age" class recommended appropriate methods to digitize historical artifacts for a new community museum and developed a comprehensive communications plan for the organization.

Students in the Entrepreneurial Management Institute: Business Consulting class conducted research and made recommendations on best competitive practices to attract entrepreneurs and small entrepreneurial businesses to locate in downtown Lost Nation.

Students from the School of Journalism & Mass Communication created a strategic marketing plan to attract artists and art enthusiasts to the Maquoketa Art Experience, a non-profit organization with a physical community space in downtown Maquoketa.

Students from the Tippie College of Business Marketing Institute created an integrated marketing communication plan that includes the new branding for the City of Maquoketa.

As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created the design and management of a pocket neighborhood for the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA).

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning provided an update to the program structure and plans for The Petal Project, one of Prosperity Eastern Iowa’s (PEI) flagship economic development programs.

In a report to the the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), a student in the Geographical & Sustainability Studies: Senior Project Seminar class completed an independent project that evaluated spatial relationships between Brownfields sites and public school buildings, using free and reduced lunch rates as an indicator of vulnerability.  

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning developed a process to inventory and prioritize brownfield sites on behalf of the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), and conducted a feasibility study for a regional land bank.