Students in the Public Health Program completed two projects, both of which focused on increasing awareness and use of safe road-sharing behaviors and bicycling transportation in Iowa City. The first project was focused on the creation of a communications campaign about how sharrows are understood and function as a means for bicyclers and motorists to share the road. The second concerned planning and campaigning for a temporary bike lane that was installed in Iowa City in May 2016.

Graduate students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning worked with city officials to provide recommendations and two tools for the City of Dubuque to expand its Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI).

The tools developed included the Priority Model and economic feasibility calculator for rental units. Other recommendations included strategies to engage renters and landlords; innovative funding; interdepartmental cooperation building; and participant engagement and outreach.

Graduate students in the College of Public Health worked with the Cedar Rapids Blue Zones Project™ staff to enhance engagement with the Blue Zones Project™ among target demographics in Cedar Rapids. In particular, students worked to target high school students, aging populations, and faith-based organizations around particular Blue Zones Project™ initiatives like walking MOAIs (groups of individuals forming social circles to support healthy behaviors) and cooking MOAIs.

Graduate students in the College of Public Health developed health intervention projects that focused on reductions in childhood obesity through behavior change counseling. Students worked with organizations in Muscatine such as the YMCA, Sunset Park After School Program, and local preschools.

As part of the Senior Design Capstone Course in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the students had the opportunity to complete the engineering plans for locating and constructing ball fields, new trails, parking facilities, and ancillary structures for the city of Washington.

Students in the College of Public Health worked in three groups that targeted different sectors of the Iowa population: the aging population, parents of elementary-aged children, and homeowners in Iowa City to look at the levels of radon in these sectors. Each group researched best methods to reach their audience and developed recommendations for the City and Department of Public Health to implement.