Featured news at KU


Our top featured stories

A photo illustration of a hand refusing a vaccine from a gloved hand of a medical provider.
Messages in which a hesitant person detailed their decision about getting vaccinated also reduced resistance to innoculation, KU research shows. The findings could guide future public health communications.

Other featured news

Detail from illumination in Thomas Hoccleve’s “Regiment of Princes,” believed to show Hoccleve presenting the book to a royal patron. Credit: Courtesy British Library, MS Arundel 38

Digital scholarship illuminates life of important medieval poet

A fresh round of digital scholarship has revealed new information about the family and London network of late-medieval poet Thomas Hoccleve.
Rice-paddy snake

Rice paddy snake diversification was driven by geological and environmental factors in Thailand, molecular data suggests

A University of Kansas study of rice paddy snakes in Southeast Asia gives key details to their diversification and natural history, adding molecular evidence that the rise of the Khorat Plateau and subsequent environmental shifts in Thailand may have altered the course of the snakes’ evolution some 2.5 million years ago.
KU skyline

KU Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives prestigious NSF award for black hole research

A prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation will help Department of Physics & Astronomy researcher Elisabeth Mills continue her groundbreaking research on supermassive black holes.
Bronze Jayhawk sculpture with KU campus in background

Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives NSF CAREER Award for work on zinc-ion batteries

University of Kansas researcher from the Department of Physics & Astronomy has been chosen for a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for his innovative work with zinc-ion batteries, a sustainable alternative to the more widely used lithium-ion batteries that currently are in everything from mobile phones to electric vehicles.

Research



An analysis of media coverage following Katherine Johnson's death found the NASA mathematician made famous by "Hidden Figures" was portrayed mostly for her accomplishments. However, coverage failed to recognize the discrimination she faced.
A new paper by David Slusky, a professor of economics at the University of Kansas, estimates the causal impact of access to Medicaid on health outcomes and recidivism for those recently released from incarceration.
View of students in professional attire with research posters. Above are flags encircling the Capitol rotunda overlooking the presentation area.
Legislators and the public will be able to hear from KU Lawrence and Medical Center graduate students about the potential public and economic effects of their research during the 21st annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit.

Kansas Communities



KU Life Span Institute researcher Lyndsie Koon is leading three pilot projects assessing the effectiveness of HIFT to improve various health outcomes, including fall risk, metabolic health, strength, flexibility, quality of life, psychosocial health and more.
A new book from KU's dean of the School of Architecture & Design examines 36 small cities in Kansas for the correlation between their spatial planning and design and residents' lifestyle behaviors and health indicators.
Remote field with patches of snow, groundwater equipment in the distance. Clear blue sky.
The KGS, based at the University of Kansas, and the Division of Water Resources of the Kansas Department of Agriculture measure water levels in about 1,400 wells every year to monitor the health of the High Plains aquifer and other aquifers in western and south-central Kansas.

Economic Development



KU's Institute for Sustainable Engineering has a new name —Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering-KU (WISE-KU). The naming builds on the university’s deep relationship with The Wonderful Company, a global agricultural company co-founded and led by Stewart and Lynda Resnick.
A $3 million initiative based at the University of Kansas will empower biomedical researchers in public universities and colleges across several Plains states to carry their innovations to the marketplace.
Aerial view of Jayhawk Boulevard
An upcoming cybersecurity conference will bring together experts in the field from industry, workforce and research to KU. FBI Director Christopher Wray will be the first keynote speaker at 8:35 a.m.

Student experience and achievement



Three undergraduates at the University of Kansas are nominees for Udall Scholarships, which recognize students who demonstrate leadership, public service and commitment in the fields of tribal public policy, Native health care or the environment.  All three of KU’s 2024 nominees are competing in the environmental category. ...

DaNae Estabine, a junior and University Honors student from Olathe, is a finalist for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship. The prestigious national awards provide up to $30,000 for graduate study.
Owen Williams and Jacob Wilkus
The KU debate team of junior Jacob Wilkus, Lawrence, and Owen Williams, Lee's Summit, Missouri, have qualified for the National Debate Tournament in Atlanta from April 5-8. Wilkus and Williams were selected as at-large qualifiers based on their record over the course of the season.

Campus news



Bill Kurtis — KU alumnus, journalist, network news anchor, producer and rancher — will be featured at this spring’s annual Dole Lecture at 7 p.m. April 16. Kurtis will join Dole Institute Director Audrey Coleman for a discussion of his Kansas roots and the news that shaped the nation over the course of his seven decades in journalism.
A KU professor of English will lead the Hall Center for the Humanities, effective March 3. Giselle Anatol has led the center in an interim capacity since former director Richard Godbeer retired in fall 2022.
The 2023 KU First Nations Student Association (FNSA) Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival at the Lied Center of Kansas. Credit: Laura Kingston.
The 2024 FNSA Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 13 inside and outside the Lied Center of Kansas. The event celebrates the diversity of cultures in the community through dancing, singing and honoring the traditions of Indigenous ancestors.

Latest news

KU police vehicle

KU Police Department releases 2023 crime data for Lawrence campus

KU Police took reports of 514 criminal offenses on campus in 2023, which is a 1.2% decrease from the 520 criminal offenses taken in 2022. When looking at the 10-year average of 596 criminal offenses, the 2023 number is 13.8% below the average number of reported crimes.
Skyline of KU with clouds

Mehrangiz Najafizadeh honored with 2023 Woodyard Award

A KU associate professor of sociology is the recipient of the 2023 George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award. She will give a talk on her work during an award presentation and reception at 4 p.m. April 9 in the Kansas Union’s Big 12 Room.
Department of Theatre & Dance contingent representing at KCACTF Region V Festival. Individuals in theatre seats in a large theatre space.

Theatre design students advance to Kennedy Center national festival

Two Department of Theatre & Dance students will represent the University of Kansas in April at the national Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) in Washington, D.C., following their recent KCACTF-Region V competition.
A photo illustration of a hand refusing a vaccine from a gloved hand of a medical provider.

Study shows narrative conversion messages boost attitudes about COVID vaccinations among unvaccinated adults

Messages in which a hesitant person detailed their decision about getting vaccinated also reduced resistance to innoculation, KU research shows. The findings could guide future public health communications.