In 1935, a University of Iowa laboratory was the first to record human electroencephalograph (EEG) activity, led by pioneering investigator Lee Edward Travis.

Travis was a founding father of Speech-Language Pathology in America, and was one of the 25 charter members of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and was instrumental in setting up one of the first speech-pathology programs in the country located at the University of Iowa.