Science and Technology

Nearly four years after launching a federally funded research initiative to strengthen American dams and levees, University of Kansas engineers are demonstrating how that work is delivering measurable benefits to Kansas infrastructure, workforce development and public safety.

University of Kansas researcher Ilya Vakser and colleagues at Stony Brook University and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research will use a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to expand knowledge of macromolecular systems using artificial intelligence.

A University of Kansas project to design and build two cutting-edge particle detectors for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has been approved for funding through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or DOE EPSCoR.

A new study from the University of Kansas complicates the picture of primates living in North America some 55 million years ago during the Eocene. The research was published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Zijun Yao, assistant professor of electrical engineering & computer science at the University of Kansas, earned a National Science Foundation CAREER award for a project that tackles a major hurdle in healthcare technology: teaching AI to understand a patient’s full medical history without losing sight of human clinical judgment.

Sumaiya Shomaji, assistant professor of electrical engineering & computer science at the University of Kansas, is building a secure, high-tech tracking system powered by artificial intelligence. Her project, AuthenTrack, recently earned her a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award.

Recent research appearing in the journal Science overturns a long-held idea that flowering plants didn’t evolve large fruits and seeds until after the mass extinction of dinosaurs about 66 million years ago, when Earth was smacked by a giant asteroid.

Research from Erik Perrins, University Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, enabled observers on Earth during the April mission to receive high-bandwidth transmissions from the Orion capsule, such as video and audio feeds, without being corrupted by errors.

A new investigation from the University of Kansas improves detection of PFAS, a family of so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water supplies. The method, which can measure such trace pollution levels of PFAS in water more quickly and inexpensively than current techniques, recently was published in the open-source journal PLOS Water.

“Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods” (Princeton University Press) makes a cultural argument as much as an agricultural one: that perennial foods — crops that return year after year, building deep root systems and healthier soil — represent not just a different way of farming but a different way of belonging to the earth. The collection includes a contribution from Megan Kaminski, poet and professor of environmental studies at the University of Kansas.