[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 924 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                        March 11, 2008.
Whereas Iowa State University of Science and Technology was established by the 
        Iowa General Assembly on March 22, 1858, as the Iowa Agricultural 
        College and Model Farm in response to the State of Iowa's desire to 
        provide higher education opportunities to farm families and working 
        classes in Iowa, predating the passage of the Federal Morrill Act by 4 
        years;
Whereas on September 11, 1862, Iowa became the first State in the United States 
        to accept the terms and conditions of the Morrill Act creating the land-
        grant system of colleges and universities;
Whereas the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, known today as Iowa State 
        University of Science and Technology, received Iowa's land-grant charter 
        on March 29, 1864, making it one of the first land-grant institutions in 
        the United States;
Whereas Iowa State University was a pioneer in all 3 parts of the land-grant 
        mission, including--

    (1) allowing access to all, regardless of race, gender, or social 
class;

    (2) practical research; and

    (3) outreach;

Whereas Iowa State University fulfilled the 3 parts of the land-grant mission 
        by--

    (1) creating the first land-grant institution to be coeducational from 
its opening, with 16 women in its first class; future suffragist Carrie 
Chapman Catt was an 1880 graduate; and George Washington Carver was the 
first African-American student, earning a bachelor's degree in 1894 and a 
master's degree in 1896, and was also the institution's first African-
American faculty member;

    (2) establishing the United States' first Engineering Experiment 
Station and domestic economy experimental kitchen, and one of the first 
agriculture experiment stations; and

    (3) organizing the Farmers Institutes in the winter of 1869, by Iowa 
State President Adonijah Welch, and organizing the nation's first county 
Extension Service in 1903 in Sioux County in northwest Iowa by Professor 
Perry Holden;

Whereas some of the most important technological advancements of the modern 
        world were the result of research at Iowa State, including--

    (1) development of hybrid seed corn in the 1920s;

    (2) pioneering work on soybean oil extraction and producing ethanol 
from corn and other plant materials by Professor Orland Sweeney in the 
1930s;

    (3) invention of the electronic digital computer in the late 1930s by 
Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry, whose 
Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the first to incorporate the 7 basic 
principles of modern computing;

    (4) laying the foundation for the modern plastics industry with 
polyethylene research by Professor Henry Gilman;

    (5) development of the process still used today to refine pure rare-
earth materials, including reactor-grade uranium, by Professor Frank 
Spedding and Harley Wilhelm, as a result of Iowa State's key role in the 
Manhattan Project in WWII;

    (6) development of modern livestock animal genetics by Professor Jay 
Lush; and

    (7) first field-testing of a genetically altered plant (tobacco) in 
1987 and genetically altered tree (poplar) in 1989 by Professor Robert 
Thornburg;

Whereas Iowa State hired one of the first permanent campus artists-in-residence, 
        with sculptor Christian Petersen holding that position from 1934 to 1955 
        and providing hundreds of sculptures and other art objects to the 
        university, whose Art on Campus collection today includes more than 600 
        major public works of art;
Whereas Iowa State has had a technology transfer office since 1935, longer than 
        all but one other university in the United States, and is acknowledged 
        today as a leader in putting technology to work, being cited as a 
        ``model of economic development'' and ``licensing powerhouse'' in a 2007 
        study commissioned by the National Science Foundation;
Whereas Iowa State University is today spearheading new advances in science and 
        technology, including new materials, information sciences, green 
        architecture, biological research, and the development of biorenewable 
        fuels and other resources to support the bioeconomy and the Nation's 
        independence from nonrenewable petroleum resources; and
Whereas more than 257,000 degrees have been awarded by Iowa State, and its 
        graduates include heads of State, leaders of industry, great 
        humanitarians, and gifted scientists, whose work has improved the 
        quality of life for people worldwide: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives congratulates Iowa 
State University of Science and Technology for 150 years of outstanding service 
to the State of Iowa, the United States, and the world in fulfilling its mission 
as a land-grant university; and thanks the State of Iowa for its visionary 
leadership in the beginning of the land-grant movement in the United States of 
America.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.