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Ingrid Stölzel

Composer elevates voices of women poets on new recording

Stock market indicator progressing upward toward the right over an image of a bar graph representing stock market movement.

KU research shows JOBS Act backfired, resulting in acquisitions of companies instead of increasing IPOs

A photo of Joseph R Pearson Hall, home of KU's School of Education and Human Sciences

KU professor co-edits book designed to address special education workforce crisis

Lisa Dieker, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education at KU, is co-editor of a new book that proposes adopting a whole-systems approach to recruit, train, support and retain quality special educators. The book focuses on the rights and needs of vulnerable students who are most affected by the special education workforce crisis.

Science and Technology

Research traces evolution of anglerfishes’ famed fishing-rod lures

Variously horrific- or alien-looking, many female anglerfishes sport long, protruding lures used for enticing prey or signaling during mating. Now, research from the University of Kansas is giving new detail to the evolutionary history of anglerfishes’ lures.

Groundwater levels in the Kansas High Plains aquifer see first overall increase since 2019

Preliminary measurements by the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) show an overall increase in 2025 groundwater levels across Kansas High Plains aquifer regions, due in part to periods of above-average rainfall. In south-central Kansas, water levels increased an average of nearly 2.5 feet — the highest since 2019.
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A presenter and audience member confer over a research poster at the 2025 KU-Haskell Research Symposium.

Haskell, KU student researchers to present their work at the 26th annual symposium

Twenty-nine undergraduate and postbaccalaureate scholars supported by research training programs at Haskell Indian Nations University and KU will present posters of their research at the 26th annual Haskell-KU Student Research Symposium on April 17.
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Health and Well-Being

Study shows cigarette smoking almost twice as likely for people living with chronic pain

Researchers have analyzed responses from more than 195,600 Americans surveyed over 10 years. The key finding: Chronic pain is tied to smoking and vaping at higher rates.

Researcher offers communication tips for combating military mental health stigma

KU professor Rikki Roscoe has contributed to the new book “Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populations,” detailing ways to reduce stigma and secrecy among soldiers and veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health issues.
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Stock photo of woman sleeping in bed.

Study reveals how dreams affect emotions in day-to-day life

A KU clinical psychology scholar sought to test whether emotions experienced within dreams — like fear and joy — change feelings the following morning. Garrett Baber and colleagues published the findings in the peer-reviewed journal Sleep.
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Teaching, Learning and Behavior

With history standards prone to politicization, ‘minimalism’ approach would benefit teachers, scholar argues

Stephen Jackson, education scholar at the University of Kansas, writes in a new article that history education standards are prone to politicization and only stoke the culture wars without improving what students learn. He instead proposes "standards minimalism” and points to Kansas and Maine as two states with exemplary standards.

Finding Easter eggs in entertainment boosts enjoyment, fan behavior, study finds

Research from the University of Kansas has shown that when people found “Easter eggs” — hidden objects, characters or references to another story in their entertainment — they reported enjoying the movie or entertainment more and that they were more likely to engage in fan behavior, like posting about it online.
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A photo of Joseph R Pearson Hall, home of KU's School of Education and Human Sciences

KU professor co-edits book designed to address special education workforce crisis

Lisa Dieker, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education at KU, is co-editor of a new book that proposes adopting a whole-systems approach to recruit, train, support and retain quality special educators. The book focuses on the rights and needs of vulnerable students who are most affected by the special education workforce crisis.
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Arts, Architecture and Humanities

Filmmakers save stories of Topeka’s Bottoms neighborhood

A 30-minute version of the documentary “Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms” premieres at 6 p.m. March 27, closing out the related exhibition at the University of Kansas Department of Visual Art’s Off-Site Art Space downtown.

Music theorist finds chord’s ‘third nature’ in composition suppressed during Soviet era

Music theorists have previously described how certain chords contain the possibility of flowing smoothly into other similar-sounding chords, which they refer to as the chord’s “second nature.” Now a University of Kansas professor of music theory has published a paper that sets out the “third nature” of a chord.
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Ingrid Stölzel

Composer elevates voices of women poets on new recording

A University of Kansas professor has released a new album, “Three Silent Things: Vocal Chamber Music by Ingrid Stölzel,” featuring the settings of female poets’ writing, including one by Kansas native aviator Amelia Earhart.
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Business, Economics and Innovation

Strategies for fixing out-of-control tipping practices revealed in new article

In a new article, Rob Waiser, assistant professor of marketing, examines how tipping — a social process once confined to hospitality — is now appearing in unexpected places and becoming more expensive. But when designed thoughtfully, it can reinforce customer centricity rather than undermine it.

Social media discussions fueled ‘meme stock’ events and significant short squeezes, research finds

In a new article, Angel Tengulov, assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas, examines how discussions on social media fueled the association between retail trading and subsequent stock returns during the “meme stock” events of 2021 that sparked massive short squeezes.
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Shelves display cans of infant formula.

States that imposed total abortion bans spend millions more in nutritional food programs, research finds

Lilly Springer, doctoral candidate in economics at the University of Kansas, found that states that implemented total abortion bans by the start of 2023 experienced a 1.6% increase in the overall birth rate. They also experience 4.3% and 2.1% increase in monthly postpartum women and formula-fed infant WIC participation, respectively, leading to an additional $6.9 million in food costs.
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Law, Politics and Society

KU researcher proposes strategies for political depolarization in, outside classroom

In two recent publications, a University of Kansas communication studies researcher prescribes constructive approaches to political polarization both in the classroom and in society more broadly.

KU research shows JOBS Act backfired, resulting in acquisitions of companies instead of increasing IPOs

Alex Platt, KU School of Law professor, has published research showing that the JOBS Act of 2012, which was intended to revive the IPO market, has had the opposite effect. Instead of making it easier for companies to go public through the IPO process, it has resulted in "dual-track bias," which has led many companies to sell to larger companies instead.
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Several young people's hands hold flags of Malawi in the air, with the sun in the background.

Research finds efforts to end child marriage in Malawi leave out local knowledge, culture

University of Kansas researchers propose viewing the problem through an African feminist lens that would engage culture, local customs and knowledge to address an issue that has persisted despite legal reforms.
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