Research


Featured research news

Students wearing backpacks and walking down the staircase of a school.
Yong Zhao, an education scholar at the University of Kansas, argues in a new article that education should move away from the idea of meritocracy, which fosters unnatural competition among students and unequal outcomes, to the Human Interdependence Paradigm, in which schools help every student use their strengths to guide their own education and solve problems for the world to reach their unique potential.

Science and Technology



Six KU faculty members have been selected to participate in the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship over the summer and the upcoming academic year. These scholars will visit and collaborate with faculty and students across the Big 12 Conference.
A $10,000 donation to the Kansas Geological Survey is earmarked for the development of an experimental solar array in southwest Kansas.
Keith Van de Riet, seated, holding a panel made to look like shoreline plant roots.
A University of Kansas researcher is co-author of new research seeking to ascertain how fish react to waterfront edges using a variety of underwater seawall panels made to resemble plant roots. The intent is to attract wildlife — both plant and animal — improving species diversity and water quality.

Health and Well-Being



A study published in mBio details the vulnerability of coronaviruses to inhibitors of a small protein domain called Mac1, found in all coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. The findings point toward potential antiviral therapies.
In a new study, David Slusky, professor of economics at the University of Kansas, evaluates the impact of the 2017 “Muslim Ban” on preventive care use among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) ancestry children in the U.S., finding decreased well-visits and associated vaccinations.
Infant holding hand of caregiver
A researcher from the University of Kansas Life Span Institute recently published a comprehensive review of differences in sensory processing for people with autism during the prenatal (in utero) and neonatal (birth to a few months old) phases of life.

Teaching, Learning and Behavior



"On Bigotry: Twenty Lessons on How Bigotry Works and What to Do About It," a new book by Nicholas Ensley Mitchell of the University of Kansas, takes a critical, nonpartisan look at bigotry to help readers better understand it. Mitchell writes that bigotry is taught, and, as an education scholar, believes anything that is taught has curriculum that can be analyzed.
The tool can help identify strengths in very young students and allow parents, teachers and others to start building on them from an early point in their lives and education. Previous strengths research had focused on older students and adults.
Students wearing backpacks and walking down the staircase of a school.
Yong Zhao, an education scholar at the University of Kansas, argues in a new article that education should move away from the idea of meritocracy, which fosters unnatural competition among students and unequal outcomes, to the Human Interdependence Paradigm, in which schools help every student use their strengths to guide their own education and solve problems for the world to reach their unique potential.

Arts, Architecture and Humanities



A University of Kansas professor is headed to Lake Tahoe this summer to continue his experiments refining the best types of nature-conservation signage. Jeremy Shellhorn and colleagues emphasize the importance of “telegraphic messaging” and proper tone in the effectiveness of designing warning signs in bear country.
Jonathan Hagel, an assistant teaching professor of history at the University of Kansas, is a plaintiff in a case against the state of New Jersey about the handling of the Charles Lindbergh archive. The lawsuit seeks to force the state police to allow DNA testing on envelopes used to send a series of ransom notes in the infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping case and trial.
Artwork depicting man riding on a turtle's back across the sea, with a bronze bell in tow.
Where does the triangular relationship among dragons, bells and water come from, and how has it been portrayed and explained through the centuries? Sherry Fowler, professor in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, explores those questions in “Buddhist Bells and Dragons: Under and Over Water, In and Out of Japan.”

Business, Economics and Innovation



In a new study, University of Kansas business researcher Debabrata Dey examines when organizations accede to ransomware payment demands and, in doing so, incentivize attackers to launch more attacks, elevating the chance of a future breach not just for themselves but for others.
The University of Kansas School of Business received a $10 million gift commitment from an anonymous donor that ensures the construction of a new entrepreneurship hub building that benefits the greater KU community by teaching students to solve problems in meaningful ways. The new gift supplements the donor's lead gift of $50 million in 2023.
A tech-savvy businessman checks financial information on a laptop.
In a new study, University of Kansas School of Business researcher Adi Masli examines IT-capable employees’ role in the production process of financial information, deducing that enhanced management of raw data during this process decreases technical errors and increases data processing speed.

Law, Politics and Society



A new study from KU has found that cities that base their governance style on a proactive, learning-oriented and risk-tolerant approach are the mostly likely to have implemented ambitious climate resilience strategies. The study also introduces the concept of transformative governance capacity, a measure that can gauge how cities approach climate readiness.
In a new study, ChangHwan Kim, a professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, examines why the stronger the power of race in accounting for earnings inequality among men in a local labor market, the weaker double disadvantage married women of color experience.
Collage of Zarko Boskovic, Francesco Carota, Eungsik Kim, Kelly Kindscher, Ian Lewis, and Erik Perrins: 2025-2026 Big 12 Professorship awardees
Six KU faculty members have been selected to participate in the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship over the summer and the upcoming academic year. These scholars will visit and collaborate with faculty and students across the Big 12 Conference.