Four faculty members awarded Research-Intensive Course Grants for Fall 2025

LAWRENCE  — In an effort to supply research opportunities to more students, four University of Kansas faculty members will be working alongside the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships this fall and into the spring. While working with the center, they can redesign portions of their courses to include a larger research or creative component.

Recipients of Research-Intensive Course Grants are provided with opportunities to participate in a workshop to learn the best practices, share models and sometimes redefine the focus of their class. They also receive ongoing support from the faculty fellows and staff members in the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships.

Research-Intensive Course Grants are offered to provide all KU students with accessible research opportunities. This fall’s recipients are from a variety of different disciplines:

Zay Dale

Zay Dale, assistant professor of English, is teaching ENGL 590: Black Bodies in British Literature.

“Throughout this class, students will learn about the importance of tracing Black bodies through archival research, and in doing so, students will examine how British authors and artists were thinking of both the Black body and of metaphysical Blackness,” Dale said.

Dale’s course redesign includes trips to the Spencer Museum of Art to examine art alongside race, culture and politics. He said larger goal of the class is to have students visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City “to continue the research of tracing Black bodies in art, literature and media." 

Patrick Lansdon

Patrick Lansdon is an assistant teaching professor offering BIOL 637: Introductory Biochemistry Lab.

Lansdon said the primary purpose of the mini-grant is to support the revision of the computational module, ensuring it aligns with the structure and rigor of the other laboratory modules.

“Specifically, the revision would focus on helping students develop a formal research question that they can investigate using the existing computational tools,” he said. “By fostering this hands-on, inquiry-driven experience, the module will enhance students’ critical thinking, data analysis skills and overall engagement with the course material.” 

Austin Sullivan

Austin Sullivan, assistant professor of the practice in the School of Professional Studies, is teaching HSCI 599: Health Science Capstone, where students are working on grant proposals.

After the grant proposal is made, students will conduct mock virtual study sections where they will review and score each other’s proposals.

“Grant writing integrates the research process and teaches valuable transferable skills beyond their use in academia,” Sullivan said. “This proposed alteration resulting from this mini-grant would provide students with hands-on experience writing grants while addressing a critical learning gap by exposing them to the entire research process in a feasible, collaborative method.”

Judy Wu 

Judy Wu is an associate teaching professor of pharmacy practice teaching PHAR 512: Pharmacy Skills Laboratory I-B. Her changes to the lab are intended to reflect changes in the profession and current social issues, she said.

She said she would choose different articles for the curriculum. In addition to preclinical and clinical research, one article would focus on vaccine development and one on drug development.

“Therefore, not only do students learn the process from preclinical to clinical, but they will also understand the difference between vaccine and drug design,” she said. “Second, I plan to add a reflection assignment after the presentation. The reflection includes two parts: similarities and differences between vaccine and drug development followed by vaccine safety.”

About the grants

The Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships will open applications for Research-Intensive Course Mini-Grants for the fall 2026 semester in April 2026. Faculty and instructors who are interested in applying and have questions are encouraged to email The Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowship.