The history of The Ames Project

 Via Iowa Public Radio, a podcast about Harvey Wilhelm: 

You may be hearing more about the Manhattan Project because of Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer. What you may not have heard is Iowa State University's important connection to the Manhattan Project.

Author Teresa Wilhelm Waldof shares the work of her grandfather, Harley Wilhelm, an Iowa chemist who was based in Ames. Wilhelm's large contributions to producing pure uranium moved the Manhattan Project forward. His work also lead to the creation of the Ames Project and Ames National Laboratory. 

This tidbit from Professor Wilhelm's Wikipedia page is interesting (emphasis mine): 

 After graduation, Wilhelm joined the faculty of the Intermountain Union College in Helena, Montana, where he taught chemistry and coached the football team. His coaching efforts were unsuccessful, and he returned to Iowa State as a graduate assistant, becoming an instructor in chemistry in 1929. He earned his Ph.D. in 1931, writing his thesis on "Band spectra produced by certain explosion mixtures" under the supervision of W. H. Jennings. He then joined the Iowa State faculty, becoming an assistant professor in 1940, and associate professor in 1944, and ultimately a full professor in 1945. He continued to play baseball, pitching for Ames Merchant, a semi-professional team for many years.

According to this, he pitched into middle age. Can't imagine opposing batters were happy about being struck out by a professor.