This article features top engineering colleges in Iowa that offer master and doctoral degrees in the fields of biological engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. Please be informed that each school receives national wide rank as the ranking compares all engineering schools in the United States. Some important ranking factors include average GRE scores, alumni surveys, current student interviews, institutional research publications, and peer college assessment. In the following list of best engineering schools in the state of Iowa, you can see tuition cost for both in-state and out-of-state students, acceptable rates and admissions statistics for each top ranked engineering college.
| National Ranking | Iowa Top Engineering Programs |
| 44 | Iowa State University (Ames, IA) Overall acceptance rate: 16.4% Average GRE quantitative score (master’s and Ph.D. students): 756 Tuition: In-state, full-time: $8,616 per year, Out-of-state, full-time: $20,280 per year Total graduate engineering enrollment: 997 Research expenditures per faculty member: $366,205 Engineering school research expenditures (2010-2011 fiscal year): $78,368,000 Faculty membership in National Academy of Engineering: 1.9% |
| 58 | University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA) Overall acceptance rate: 27.9% Average GRE quantitative score (master’s and Ph.D. students): 738 Tuition: In-state, full-time: $7,614 per year, Out-of-state, full-time: $22,972 per year Total graduate engineering enrollment: 446 Research expenditures per faculty member: $603,614 Engineering school research expenditures (2010-2011 fiscal year): $50,100,000 Faculty membership in National Academy of Engineering: 1.2% |
Highway 66
Route 66 is often referenced in US popular culture. The nickname “Mother of the Roads” was given to her in his book “The Grapes of Wrath” by the famous American writer, Nobel Prize winner in literature John Steinbeck, and in the sixties in America the television series Route 66 was a great success.
It was on Highway 66 that the restaurant in Monrovia, California, opened in 1937, becoming the first in the McDonald’s fast food chain known to everyone today.
Numerous motels, restaurants, and gas stations along the road flourished. Some of them were very original (like the Wigwam Motel , whose houses were built in the form of Indian huts), and some were masterpieces of architecture (like a fine example of the Art Deco cafe and Tower (“Tower”) gas station popular in the thirties in Shamrock, Texas).
In the 1950s, the US government built a new, much better highway system in the country. Now the routes no longer crossed the cities, but went around them along detour roads. Modern highways were much more convenient for motorists, but did not take into account the infrastructure of Route 66 that had developed over a quarter of a century.
Although some sections of “America’s Main Street” continued to be used as local roads, in general, it gradually lost its significance, and the motels and gas stations located on it (and only thanks to it that existed) fell into disrepair. People abandoned their habitual places and left for big cities, and their houses were destroyed. Finally, in 1985, Highway 66 was officially taken out of service, as it did not meet modern requirements.
At the same time, the old road had a lot of fans. not wanting to just forget her. In 1987, the Highway 66 Association was revived in Arizona, although now its task was to popularize the Great Diagonal Road as a historical landmark. Two years later, the same organization appeared in Missouri, and soon the rest of the states followed, along the territory of which the “Main Street of America” passed. Enthusiasts restored abandoned cafes and hotels, organized excursions and advertised Route 66 in every possible way.
Their efforts were not in vain. Significant stretches of Highway 66 were designated a “US National Scenic Highway” and in 1999 US President Bill Clinton signed the National Highway 66 Heritage Preservation Act into law. The National Museum of American History, located in the US capital Washington DC, has an exhibit dedicated to the famous road.