After eight years, Carey Novak has retired from CIRAS as a project manager, where his work focused on serving Iowa State University’s College of Engineering Capstone program. Carey came to Iowa State from Bradly University, and has previous experience at Iowa State supporting companies with technology transfer. Throughout his career, Carey’s work has been beneficial … Continue reading Retirement of Capstone Project Manager, Carey Novak
If you are a small business, nonprofit organization of any size, or a U.S. agricultural business with 500 or fewer employees that has suffered substantial economic injury as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you can apply for the SBA’s COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). This loan provides economic relief to small businesses and nonprofit organizations that are … Continue reading COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan
CIRAS hosts many training events each year on a variety of government contracting topics. We bring in government contracting experts such as attorneys, accountants, federal agencies, and other consultants so you can learn from the best. We realize that you are not always able to attend our webinars live or that a topic may not … Continue reading Government Contracting Training Videos Now Available on CIRAS Online Resource Library
It started as a single question in a loud, pandemic-influenced Sioux City popcorn factory: How do we meet our obligation to monitor employee hearing if COVID-19 social distancing requirements are blocking us from running hearing tests in the usual way? The answer, which American Pop Corn Company discovered with help from CIRAS, involves new workplace … Continue reading Iowa Manufacturers Find Immediate Value in Wearable Tech
What do the best places to work have in common? Five companies recognized as being among the best employers in Iowa credit their adoption of Lean with helping them create a culture where workers simply love to work. The Iowa Lean Consortium (ILC) gathered the five companies together for an online event earlier this year. … Continue reading Lean Culture Helped These Companies become Best Places to Work
Jennifer Garcia-Velazquez has joined CIRAS as a full-time events coordinator. Jennifer, who received her bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Science from Iowa State University, previously worked for Science Bound, Iowa’s State University’s pre-college through college program to empower Iowa students of color to pursue degrees and careers in ASTEM (agriculture, science technology, engineering and mathematics) fields … Continue reading CIRAS Staff News: Meet Jennifer Garcia-Velazquez
Did you know that the Rock Island Arsenal (RIA), which is an actual island situated between Iowa and Illinois on the Mississippi River, houses more than one major Army command and over 60 tenant organizations, both public and private entities? The five major Army organizations on the island each have different and unique buying needs: … Continue reading Did You Know? Rock Island Arsenal Overview
All building materials must meet a specific test standard in order to move forward with manufacturing. This standard, the ASTM-E84 Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials, is used to determine how various materials act upon ignition. It is a costly, complex, and large-scale standard that has been the norm. However, a … Continue reading Cone Calorimeter Available to Aid in Iowa Manufacturer Test Standards
Federal agencies have an annual goal to award at least 5% of spend on prime contracts to Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) and, for contracts which include small business subcontracting plans, the WOSB subcontracting goal is also 5%. To help meet these goals, agencies will sometimes set-aside or even sole-source opportunities to WOSBs and Economically Disadvantaged … Continue reading DID YOU KNOW?… Federal Certification for Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs)
The Iowa Lean Consortium’s Annual Conference will be coming to all corners of the state this fall, as CIRAS expands its efforts to make Lean management techniques more accessible in an Iowa facing severe concerns about workforce availability.
The Annual Conference, traditionally the ILC’s largest and most extensive yearly opportunity for Lean advocates to network and learn, was shifted online in 2020 because of the pandemic.
This year, as the world restarts itself in the wake of COVID-19, availability of people has become the number one discussion topic among Iowa leaders. How do you support growing businesses while Iowa’s population growth continues to be lower than the national average and statewide unemployment already is rapidly approaching pre-pandemic levels? How can you grow if there simply are no more people?