Research and Graduate Studies @ KU

Researchers and graduate students in the news

Researcher named to National Institutes of Health advisory council
Mabel Rice, the Fred and Virginia Merrill Distinguished Professor of Advanced Studies, has been appointed to the advisory council of the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. She will join a group of 18 appointees that includes 12 leading scientists in the areas of deafness and communication disorders.

Pharmacy student wins national and state awards for leadership, service
Jeff Little, a senior in pharmacy, has won one of 12 awards for student leadership given by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and a state honor from the Kansas Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The national Student Leadership Award Program provides students with $2,500 awards, a drug information reference library and a plaque.

KU establishes autism research center
KU has established a new bi-campus autism research center supported by a combination of public and private funding. The Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training, or K-CART, will be a multidisciplinary center that promotes research and training on the causes, nature and management of autism spectrum disorders.

Researchers study efficiency of road project
Assistant professors Yong Bai and Luke Huan, and graduate students Seong Hoon Kim, Yue Li and Abhinav Peddi, are nearing the completion of a two-year study to record and evaluate construction project efficiency. They’re using the reconstruction of the Iowa Street bridge over the Kansas Turnpike to develop and test their system.

Distinguished professor urges drug firms to create new generation of antibiotics
In an issue of the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Natural Products, Lester A. Mitscher, a University Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, calls for the development of more potent antibiotics necessary to manage drug-resistant breeds of microbes.

Awards given to outstanding graduate teaching assistants
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies honored 11 outstanding graduate teaching assistants with about $6,500 in awards at a reception on April 23. A selection committee chose winners based on their commitment and dedication to teaching, departmental and student comments and level of responsibility.

KU, Haskell students present research projects at symposium
The 500 Nations Bridges to the Future Program sponsored the eighth annual University of Kansas-Haskell Indian Nations University Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 29. Students presented research on topics such as biochemistry, cell biology, chemical engineering, civil engineering, environmental studies, microbiology and psychology.

Graduate student's public art project to go on display in Kansas City
Sarah Kephart, a master’s student in sculpture, was recently selected as one of six winners in the Kansas City, Mo., Municipal Art Commission’s Avenue of the Arts project. Her creation, "It Blingz," will be installed downtown in May.

Kansas Geological Survey to update maps of four central Kansas counties
Researchers at the Kansas Geological Survey have received funding from the U.S. Geological Survey to map the geology of four Kansas counties. The $206,000 award will be matched by state funding to support ongoing geologic mapping projects in Reno, McPherson, Harvey and Morris counties.

KU computer science graduate student wins federal SMART fellowship
Mike Wasikowski, a master’s student in computer science from Omaha, is among a select group of students nationwide to receive a 2008 Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Defense Fellowship. He will receive a $25,000 stipend, book allowance, health insurance and full tuition and fees as part of this Department of Defense program.

Cancer Center receives $2 million endowed professorship
The KU Cancer Center received $2 million from the Morris Family Foundation to establish the Mark and Bette Morris Family Chair in Cancer Prevention, which will support a physician scientist specializing in breast cancer prevention.

Researchers to establish model center on language and early literacy development
Dale Walker, associate research professor at the institute’s Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, and Steve Warren, vice provost of research and graduate studies, have been awarded a four-year, $1.6 million grant to establish a Model Demonstration Center for Promoting Language and Literacy Readiness in Early Childhood.