Iowa State University of Science and Technology, generally referred to as Iowa State, is a public flagship land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. It is the largest university in the state of Iowa and the 3rd largest university in the Big 12 athletic conference. Iowa State is classified as a Research University with very high research activity (RU/VH) by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Iowa State is also a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), which consists of 62 leading research universities in North America.