Featured news at KU


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Students learn in the Prairie Acre site on the Lawrence campus
The University of Kansas, in collaboration with five other regional higher education institutions, has been awarded a five-year, $3.5 million National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation grant. The award will establish the Aligning STEM Trainees for Enterprising Research (ASTER) program and fund undergraduate research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Other featured news

Fraser Hall in fall

KU English professors awarded NEH grant for 2025 AI, digital literacy institute

KU researchers received an NEH Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grant to fund their project, AI & Digital Literacy: Toward an Inclusive and Empowering Teaching Practice, an in-person institute administered in partnership with the National Humanities Center, in June 2025.
Students learn in the Prairie Acre site on the Lawrence campus

KU leading multi-institutional program to support undergraduate STEM research and student retention

The University of Kansas, in collaboration with five other regional higher education institutions, has been awarded a five-year, $3.5 million National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation grant. The award will establish the Aligning STEM Trainees for Enterprising Research (ASTER) program and fund undergraduate research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
A microscopic view of saliva collection from a non-infectious female mosquito.

Study of mosquito spit could lead to therapies for viruses like West Nile and yellow fever

With a new two-year grant of $250,000 per year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, Anita Saraf currently is analyzing samples of noninfectious mosquito saliva in the fight against “arboviruses” — viruses spread by arthropods like mosquitoes.
Book cover of "Macroevolutionaries"

New book ‘Macroevolutionaries’ explores intersection of evolution, art and popular culture

University of Kansas paleontologist Bruce Lieberman co-wrote “Macroevolutionaries,” a collection of natural history essays, with fellow paleontologist Niles Eldredge in the tradition of their late Harvard mentor and famed science popularizer, Stephen Jay Gould.

Research



An analysis of a national health survey showed individuals with pre-existing disabilities who contracted COVID suffered long COVID at much higher rates than their nondisabled peers. This exacerbates existing barriers to health care access and inequities in health, requiring an adjustment of health policy, researchers say.
University of Kansas scientists are playing leading roles in a real-life waste-to-treasure story poised to create a more sustainable future for humanity.
A microscopic view of saliva collection from a noninfectious female mosquito.
With a new two-year grant of $250,000 per year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, Anita Saraf currently is analyzing samples of noninfectious mosquito saliva in the fight against “arboviruses” — viruses spread by arthropods like mosquitoes.

Kansas Communities



The Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas published a new data dashboard showing the flow of federal funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into Kansas. As of March 2024, over $11.5 billion has been expended across the state through programs funded by the CARES Act and ARPA.
Kansas Geological Survey scientists, in collaboration with independent oil and gas company Mull Companies, recently drilled and cored a well in Lyon County to evaluate layers of underground rock that may be enriched in critical minerals — non-fuel minerals and elements that are vital to electronics and other advanced technologies.
Duotone photo illustration of a woman looking at computer screens with financial data
A $500,000 Forging Opportunities for Research, Growth & Entrepreneurship grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce will help KU create software, infrastructure and financial mechanisms needed to bridge the gap between academia and industry, growing the state’s economy while enhancing the university’s teaching and research missions.

Economic Development



For the second year in a row, the University of Kansas has landed a spot on the National Academy of Inventors' top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents list. The 2023 list showcases universities that play a pivotal role in advancing the innovation ecosystem within and beyond the United States.
Research expenditures spanning all KU campuses increased to $368.6 million in 2023, capping nearly a decade of steady expansion. Last year alone, externally funded research at KU supported the salaries of 4,372 people, and the university spent $78.9 million in 97 Kansas counties on research-related goods and services, according to a report from the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science.
Douglas A. Girod, chancellor of the University of Kansas (left), and Akira Nagasaki, Deputy Head of Mobility Business Division, Panasonic Energy (right)
Panasonic Energy and the University of Kansas today announced that they have signed an agreement aimed at promoting the development of next-generation technologies and the cultivation of specialist expertise in the field of lithium-ion batteries.

Student experience and achievement



The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently awarded KU’s Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE) program $300,000 in new funding for the 2024-25 academic year.  The funding will increase KU’s IC CAE award with a focus on expanding the study of China.
The names of more than 6,500 graduates at the University of Kansas for summer and fall 2023 and spring 2024 have been announced by the University Registrar. Many graduates and candidates for degree celebrated by participating in KU Commencement, which took place May 12.
Group of dressed up students seated at a table and clapping
The Department of Theatre & Dance recently distributed more than $200,000 in awards and scholarships to 70 students. They include Kansans and students from across the U.S. and around the world.

Campus news



“Native Fashion,” which opens Sept. 1 at the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, explores the diversity and ingenuity of wearable artworks produced by Native people from the 19th century into today.
As the fall semester begins, a refreshed vision of the Campanile area is starting to take shape. Construction crews over the summer have replaced aging pavement in the plaza area and surrounding sidewalks and stairways. Stone repairs and upgrades to the electric panel and service entry will begin in the fall, as well as new landscaping efforts.
New faculty gather for group photo during 2024 New Faculty Orientation
On Aug. 19, the Office of Faculty Affairs welcomed faculty members from all 12 academic units across the Lawrence and Edwards campuses at its Fall New Faculty Orientation, held at the Jayhawk Welcome Center.

Latest news

Group of dressed up students seated at a table and clapping

KU Theatre & Dance announces 2024 award and scholarship recipients

The Department of Theatre & Dance recently distributed more than $200,000 in awards and scholarships to 70 students. They include Kansans and students from across the U.S. and around the world.
View looking up at the corner of the Marvin Hall Forum's glass exterior facade against a blue sky and scattered white clouds.

School of Architecture & Design announces fall 2024 Architecture Lecture Series

Elizabeth Diller, founding partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Wolf Prize laureate and recipient of the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded for architecture, will present the opening lecture of the fall series Sept. 13 on the KU Lawrence campus.
Fraser Hall in fall

KU English professors awarded NEH grant for 2025 AI, digital literacy institute

KU researchers received an NEH Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grant to fund their project, AI & Digital Literacy: Toward an Inclusive and Empowering Teaching Practice, an in-person institute administered in partnership with the National Humanities Center, in June 2025.
Lawrence campus view in fall.

Fall 2024 Educate & Act Series for university community will focus on voter education

The Educate & Act series at the University of Kansas, led by The Commons, the Center for Service Learning and the Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity, will host three hybrid events this semester for students, staff and faculty. The series begins Sept. 17.