KU International Affairs awards grants for research and collaboration abroad
LAWRENCE — KU International Affairs has awarded nearly $75,000 in travel grants to 31 KU faculty members and four graduate students to support research and collaboration abroad.
These competitively awarded funds were disbursed among faculty and students in the Spencer Museum of Art, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the schools of Architecture & Design, Business, Engineering, Education & Human Sciences, Music and Social Welfare. Through these funds, faculty and students will travel to 23 countries on four continents to conduct research, access archives, collaborate with colleagues and develop or maintain international partnerships.
All funds prioritize projects that help to expand the impact of KU research, further student success or promote healthy and vibrant communities.
Recipients will use the funds before June 30, 2027.
Faculty Grants
International Travel Fund for Humanistic Research
The International Travel Fund for Humanities Research supports KU faculty pursuing international interdisciplinary humanistic research abroad.
E Alexander, assistant professor in social welfare, will travel to Nigeria to collect data through interviews, focus groups and oral histories about labor union organization and workers' rights advocacy.
Phillip Drake, professor of English, will travel to Indonesia for the 20th anniversary of an environmental disaster to gather information about history and memory from victims’ perspectives and to develop a creative storytelling workshop for children in the area to imagine better futures.
David Earll, assistant professor of tuba and euphonium, will travel to Poland, Germany and Denmark for collaborative performances with military musicians.
Kris Imants Ercums, associate curator at the Spencer Museum of Art, will travel to China to document emerging queer artistic communities in Chengdu and Chongqing through field research and artist interviews.
Bryan Mann, associate professor of educational leadership & policy studies, will travel to Spain and Germany for collaborative research on how changing political climates are reshaping education policy.
Peter Ojiambo, associate professor of African & African American studies, will travel to Kenya to collect data on gender and education.
Nathan Wood, associate professor of history, will travel to Poland to conduct archival research on nature conservation.
Latin America Fund
The Latin America Fund supports the development or maintenance of institutional partnerships, exchanges and academic collaborations between KU and counterparts at selected postsecondary institutions within Latin America. This fund also supports faculty research projects.
J. Christopher Brown, professor of geography and environmental studies, and Luciano Tosta, director of the Center for Global & International Studies, will travel to Brazil to design a study abroad program in the Brazilian Amazon that will advance KU’s Amazon Initiative that creates transformative, globally engaged learning on climate, biodiversity, Indigenous rights and sustainable development.
Eduardo Garcia-Novelli, director of choral studies, will travel to Argentina to serve as the guest resident conductor for the Conjunto Vocal de Cámara of the city of Quilmes.
Amy Hansen, associate professor of civil engineering, will travel to Chile to conduct field-based research of shear-induced mixing across naturally occurring density gradients in rivers in collaboration with local researchers.
Katie Hoemann, assistant professor of psychology, will travel to Costa Rica to formalize research collaborations that will lay the foundation for a series of empirical studies on how emotional abilities function in Latin American contexts.
Kelsey Jorgensen, assistant professor of anthropology, will travel to Guatemala and Peru to research genetic and physiological data that investigate how evolutionary adaptations to high-starch diets can affect type 2 diabetes risk to better inform personalized public health strategies based on ancestry.
Geoffrey Landman, assistant professor of the practice of saxophone, will travel to Costa Rica for a guest artist residency at the University of Costa Rica, Escuela de Artes Musicales and to perform a concerto with the Banda Nacional de San José.
Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, senior scientist in the Center for Remote Sensing and Integrated Systems, will travel to Mexico to conduct a feasibility study for mapping a fast-vanishing glacier.
Ellen Sommer, professor of the practice of piano, and Daniel Velasco, associate professor of the flute, will travel throughout Latin America for recitals and master classes for students at the University of Costa Rica, Guatemalan National Conservatory and the Guatemala Symphony Orchestra Youth Program.
Alcides Velasquez, associate professor of communication studies, will travel to Colombia for collaborative research on public stigma toward former FARC combatants.
Ketty Wong, associate professor of ethnomusicology, will travel to Ecuador to examine newly identified archival materials related to composer Luis Humberto Salgado (1903-1977).
South, Southeast and East Asia Fund
The South, Southeast and East Asia Fund supports the development or maintenance of institutional partnerships, exchanges and academic collaborations between KU and counterparts at selected postsecondary institutions within Asia. This fund also supports faculty research projects.
Glenn Adams, director of the Kansas African Studies Center, will travel to China to explore collaborations with the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.
Trambak Banerjee, assistant professor of business analytics, information & operations, will travel to India to initiate a collaborative and interdisciplinary research program on customer satisfaction analytics for online Asian food delivery platforms and to further initiatives on a replicability analysis for a large-scale genetic association study.
Eun Ah Cho, assistant professor of East Asian languages & literatures, will travel to South Korea to conduct archival research on North Korean refugee narratives and their institutional classification within South Korea’s educational system.
Hyesun Cho, professor of curriculum & teaching, will travel to South Korea to conduct qualitative research through interviews with Korean English teachers that explore the emotional dimensions of their teaching practice.
Changming Duan, professor of educational psychology, will travel to China to conduct a collaborative empirical study that compares Western and traditional Chinese medicine models about mental health disorders.
Megan Kaminski, poet and professor of environmental studies, will travel to Japan for a research residency on Pacific coastal ecosystems, volcanic and tectonic geology and ancient forests.
Joonmu Kang, assistant professor of social welfare, will travel to South Korea to conduct research and interview members of the community about aging, poverty and home insecurity.
Rachel Krause, professor of public policy & administration, will travel to South Korea for research on municipal climate and sustainability initiatives through a comparative analysis of how efforts are implemented by cities in countries with centralized national governance structures.
Ian Lewis, associate professor of physics & astronomy, will travel to South Korea to foster research collaborations on dark matter.
Yue Li, assistant professor of communication studies, will travel to Taiwan for collaborative research that examines how artificial intelligence literacy interventions influence individuals’ evaluation of AI-generated health information.
Maya Stiller, associate professor of the history of art, will travel to South Korea for archival research and fieldwork in Buddhist temples.
Akiko Takeyama, director of the Center for East Asian Studies, will travel throughout Asia to further develop multiple collaborative research partnerships in South Korea and to foster a long-term institutional partnership between KU and the University of Mongolia.
Graduate Grants
International Enhancement Travel Grant
International Enhancement Travel grants support semester or summerlong internationally focused academic or training opportunities that do not duplicate opportunities or coursework at KU that take place in Africa.
Syed Muhammad Omar, doctoral student in psychology, will travel to Tanzania for training in qualitative and quantitative field research techniques in African settings using Kiswahili language.
Pre-Dissertation Travel Grant
Pre-Dissertation Travel Grants support six- to eight-week trips for preliminary dissertation field activities taking place in Latin America.
Cap McLiney, doctoral student in geography & atmospheric sciences, will travel to Panama to engage in participatory research mapping with the Emberá-Wounaan community of La Bonga.
Marcela Paiva Veliz, doctoral student in geography & atmospheric sciences, will travel to Chile to examine how legal, institutional and relational dynamics shape the repatriation of Indigenous human remains and cultural belongings.
Eva Sostak, doctoral student in theatre & dance, will travel to Mexico and Guatemala to explore collaborative translation and performative practices with Indigenous women focusing on Kaqchikel Maya, Yucatec Maya and Nahuatl communities.
For more information, visit the KU International Affairs website.