Student experience and achievement

The University Awards, among the most prestigious awards presented at KU, were established to recognize students who embody service excellence, dedication or whose academic achievements are stellar.

Twenty-two students have been selected to receive the KU Madison and Lila Self Memorial Scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year. The merit-based scholarship is awarded to outstanding seniors from KU who will be transitioning into their first year of a graduate degree program at the university in fall 2024.

The Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research has awarded $7,500 in funding this spring for student research to be conducted this year. Seven students will receive assistance through the research center’s 2024 Student Research Awards.

More than 130 undergraduate students participated in the 27th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium this year. The symposium took place online April 15-19, and volunteer judges selected 28 individual presentations and three group presentations to receive Outstanding Presentation Awards.

The University Career Center has announced the 2023-2024 Student Employee of the Year (SEOTY) as Daphne Tibbetts, who works for the Department of English in the History of Black Writing (HBW) research center.

Annie Chuning, Kara Hageman, Natalie Lind and Luke Parker were each honored for their exceptional research and presentations at an event that assembles the top graduate student researchers in the state of Kansas. Their work delved into topics including the effects of food insecurity on rural Kansans' health and solutions to orthopedic joint infections.

Eleven University of Kansas students were honored for their leadership on the Lawrence campus at the Tradition of Excellence Award ceremony, co-hosted by KU Endowment, the KU Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Endowment Board.

Dirt Works Studio, an academic design-build studio at the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design, has designed and is currently building Phoenix House, a small, solar-powered house designed to assist members of the Lawrence community in transitioning from houselessness to a secure home.

Icorium Engineering Company, a sustainable engineering startup and spin-out company from KU, recently placed fifth overall and won more than $180,000 in investments and nondilutive cash and in-kind prizes at the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition at Rice University in Houston.

On March 30-31, two KU Law students competed in the William & Mary Colonial Cup Transactional Law Competition. Third-year law student Matthew Firnhaber and second-year law student Amanda Brauninger beat out teams from across the country, taking home the award for “best draft.” This win marks the 3rd first-place finish at a transactional law competition in as many months.