Since 1977, the Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professorships Program has brought hundreds of eminent scholars and scientists to The University of Iowa to give public lectures and to meet with students and faculty. Following is a list of visiting professors sponsored by the Department of Microbiology.

Robert Webster, PhD, Rose Marie Thomas Chair, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, and Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds, January 9, 2007
"H5N1 Influenza: Will it Achieve Pandemic Status?"

Stephen J. O'Brien, PhD, Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, NIH, April 15, 1998
"Adapting Genes and Genomes: Lessons from Big Cats"

Holger W. Jannasch, PhD, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, April 11, 1996
"Microbes from Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents"

Howard C. Berg, PhD, Harvard University, October 3-4, 1994
"Twists and Turns of Bacterial Behavior" and "Trying to Understand the Flagellar Rotary Motor"