Life Span Institute Connections

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025

Improving school outcomes  |  OASIS |  Access to CARE |
Project Development news  |  LSI people in the media | Events and opportunities 

LSIers,

In this edition of Connections, we're featuring the work of the project development team by highlighting selected projects. While we can't include every project, I hope that it provides a glimpse of the breadth of activity in one corner of the Central Office. Future issues will continue to feature grants that have been awarded funding and recent publications authored by LSI researchers.

The LSI Collaboratory is around the corner on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. As we work through finalizing the itinerary for this day of connection with colleagues, please watch your inbox for an invitation. We'll begin sharing details about the event next week. 

I hope everyone is successfully navigating the final weeks of 2025. With the winter solstice on Dec. 21, more light begins to illuminate our waking hours in a mere 11 days. It's a date I look forward to. Cheers, -Jen

Jen Humphrey
Associate Director for Strategic Communications

A grant recently awarded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will help ensure students and youth with disabilities have what they need to be successful after high school. The University of Kansas is one of six universities to receive funding for the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) project, and has been awarded about $1.8 million of the five-year, $20 million total grant from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. 

Valerie Mazzotti, an affiliated researcher at the KU Center on Disabilities (KUCD) at the Life Span Institute and Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Special Education, is the primary investigator of the project. 

👉 Read more about the grant.

When her 2-year-old daughter was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, Wyandotte County resident Veronica Fernandez sought help from a KU research and training program that she credits with her daughter's growth: Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills, or OASIS. OASIS aims to help families and caregivers learn evidence-based strategies founded on behavioral science, such as applied behavior analysis. With limited training options available to those caring for autistic children, OASIS is a bridge between diagnosis and intervention.  

Jay Buzhardt, research professor at the  Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, and Linda Heitzman-Powell, professor of pediatrics at KU Medical Center, lead OASIS.

👉 Read more about OASIS and its impact on the Fernandez family. 

Two Life Span Institute investigators are part of a new program designed to boost collaboration among universities to prepare a new generation of leaders in special education.

Alison Zagona, assistant professor of special education at KU, and Jenny Kurth, chair of special education, will partner with colleagues at Wayne State University and the University of Arizona on Collaborative Approaches to Impactful Special Education Leadership, funded by a four-year, $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Special Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. Students at each of the institutions will work with one another as well as faculty at all three locations to prepare for a leadership post.

👉 Read more about how this project aims to develop the skills of graduate students to become leaders in teaching, research and collaboration..

Excerpt: KU’s new Center for the Advancement of Research on Eating Behaviors is changing the way we talk about eating disorders—and helping a broader range of patients get the treatment they need. 

The pressure for ballet dancers to conform to expectations around weight, athleticism and beauty were thrust into the public eye almost 30 years ago with the death of a 22-year-old dancer in the Boston Ballet, Heidi Guenther.

In 1997, Guenther’s heart stopped while she was vacationing with family. Guenther was not underweight, but had been strictly dieting and taking laxatives, which led to a heart attack. Performers, dance companies and the media debated whether the emphasis on conforming to body standards contributed to Guenther’s death.

And for the first time, the realization that eating disorders could be fatal came into sharp focus for another professional dancer, Kelsie Forbush.

Read more about CARE in the first issue of Crimson & Blue.

Pictured above are Project Development team members Becca Killen, Lisa McMillan, Kensey Colaco, Andrea Juarez, and Jamie Jones.

The project development team, led by Jamie Jones, has had a busy fall with grant submissions.

Each submission includes a multi-step process that includes a comprehensive review of sponsor guidelines, creating budgets, drafting budget justifications, reviewing proposal pieces for internal and sponsor compliance, and finally, uploading and submitting the proposal in the agency’s submission portal.

Jones noted that she’s happy with what the group has accomplished.

“I’m proud that my project development team has worked hard this fall to make certain that the high volume of LSI proposals have been submitted error-free to ensure the best chances for funding for our PIs,” she said.

The following project highlights are among those submitted to various agencies by team members in October through early December; they are among a fraction of the applications and other reports submitted by the proposal development team.

Primary Investigator: Panying Rong

Competition: NIH R01 – Parent Competition

Title: A clinically applicable objective tool to improve prodromal detection, monitoring, prediction, and stratification of bulbar involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Budget: $2,732,541
Deadline: 10/05/25

Submitted By: Lisa McMillan

Primary Investigator: Kelsie Forbush

Competition: NIH R01 - Innovative Mental Health Services Research Not Involving Clinical Trials

Title: Data-driven Eating disorder Triage and Evaluation using Clinical Technology for Early Detection (DETECTED): Improving Eating Disorder Screening in College Healthcare Through AI and EHR Integration

Budget: $3,843,028
Deadline: 10/05/25

Submitted By: Andrea Juarez

Primary Investigator: Alana Schnitz

Competition: NIH R21 – Parent Competition

Title: Developing a Data Based Intervention to Increase Language, Literacy, and Social Emotional Practices in Preschool Classrooms

Budget: $340,046
Deadline: 10/16/25

Submitted By: Kensey Colaco

Primary Investigator: Howard Wills

Competition: USDE, OESE – Education Innovation and Research

Title: Rural Innovation for States' Expansion in Literacy through Coaching and Tutoring

Budget: $15,000,000
Deadline: 10/14/25

Submitted By: Kensey Colaco

Primary Investigator: Kristy Benoit Allen

Competition: NIH R03 – Parent Competition

Title: Paternal Processing of Child Potential Threat: A Biobehavioral Assessment

Budget: $152,446
Deadline: 10/16/25

Submitted By: Becca Killen

Primary Investigator: Amy McCart

Competition: USDE, OESE – Education Innovation and Research

Title: Instructional Intensification Protocol for Accelerating Student Literacy Learning

Budget: $10,000,000
Deadline: 10/14/25

Submitted By: Lisa McMillan

Primary Investigator: Matt Mosconi

Competition: Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA) - Innovative Medicine and Precision Approaches to Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Network

Title: Kansas-Missouri Center for advancing new therapeutics in syndromic and non-syndromic autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Budget: $12,862,582
Deadline: 10/15/25

Submitted By: Becca Killen

Primary Investigator: Margarethe McDonald

Competition: NIH R21 - NIDCD Early Career Research

Title: Building speech sound disorder assessment tools for under-resourced language combinations: a multilingual child database

Budget: $558,047

Deadline: 10/17/25

Submitted By: Andrea Juarez

Primary Investigator: Carissa Cascio

Competition: NIH R01- Parent Competition

Title: Multimodal Investigation of Facial Sensorimotor Behavior in Autism

Budget: $3,865,223

Deadline: 11/05/25

Submitted By: Becca Killen

Primary Investigator: Matt Mosconi

Competition: NIH R01 – Parent Competition

Title: Executive and sensorimotor endophenotypes for understanding familial mechanisms of autism

Budget: $3,881,883

Deadline: 11/05/25

Submitted By: Becca Killen

Primary Investigator: Karrie Shogren

Competition: USDE, Office of Postsecondary Education - Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education – Special Projects

Title: Preparing the Workforce Using AI-Driven Self-Determination Instruction to Access High-Quality Short-Term Programs

Budget: $3,810,509
Deadline: 12/03/25

Submitted By: Jamie Jones

Comments from Kathryn Unruh and Matthew Mosconi were included in an article from the Kansas Reflector on reaction to misinformation about autism on the CDC's website that was published in November.

The Kansas Reflector, followed by Yahoo News, ran coverage of the OASIS program at KU, which is funded by grants led by Linda Heitzman-Powell at the KU Medical Center and Jay Buzhardt at Juniper Gardens. The Reflector produced a podcast episode around the interview with Heitzman-Powell as well.

The Kansas Reflector also interviewed Alison Zagona, an investigator with the Life Span Institute and KU assistant professor of special education, about the new special education training grant announced by the University (see above story).

Susan Carlson, AJ Rice Professor of Nutrition in the KU Department of Dietetics and Nutrition at KU Medical Center, is quoted in an article by the food and beverage publication FoodNavigator about the role of DHA intake maternal and child health and development.

In "Why Pregnant Women Should Be Eating More Fish" (login required), Bloomberg News cited a paper highlighted by KU News, and co-authored by Life Span Institute Director John Colombo and Susan Carlson (Phil Spiller, lead author), published in Neurotoxicity regarding the federal advisory on fish consumption for pregnant women.

In an article about vulnerable tenants and housing in the Kansas City area, KCUR referred to a study led by a local coalition and Christina Holt at the Center for Community Health and Development. 

The latest issue of Education and Treatment of Children showcases Juniper Gardens Children's Project's accomplishments and contributions to the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Since 1964, JGCP has occupied a noteworthy position in the history of applied behavioral science, noted Juniper director Trina Spencer.  The issue includes articles by many Juniper Gardens scientists, including Charles Greenwood, Judith Carta, Alana Schnitz, Kathryn Bigelow, Jay Buzhardt, Kathy Bourque, Dale Walker, Barbara Terry and many more. KU News will develop a future news release about the issue.

KU News and the School of Pharmacy recently highlighted the research of Zijun Wang, associate professor of pharmacology & toxicology in the School of Pharmacy and a scientist affiliated with the Cofrin Logan Center. Wang, who has been studying social isolation and how it affects mental health and substance abuse disorders, published results of studies of mouse models that found that the stress of early social isolation increases heroin-seeking behavior.

KUCD and the Manhattan, Kan., school district described a reverse job fair for high school students Nov. 13. The event was organized by the Manhattan Transition Council, supported by the My Transition My Career project at KUCD, which is led by Evan Dean.

An article in Futurism about relying on large language models such as Chat GPT for information for new parents included reference to a 2024 study authored by Calissa Leslie-Miller.

The KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences focused on KU Speech-Language-Hearing professor Meghan Davidson for a video shared through the College's social channels. Davidson, who is a Life Span Institute investigator, and the CALL Lab she leads, research how much of stories autistic children comprehend—and how we can better tell stories to them.

For more on Davidson's work, view this Q & A with her from earlier this year. 

Grant reviews 
The National Institutes of Health announced last month a new policy for grant application reviews. The policy, as described in Science Advisor, will require that NIH institutes and centers end the practice of establishing and making available a base peer-reviewed score needed for a grant's approval, and weigh factors such as the government and institute’s priorities, the applicant’s career stage and existing funding, and their geographic location. Program officers will have more power for funding decisions as well. The new policy takes effect in January 2026. Read the full policy on the NIH site.

Common Forms
The NIH is adopting the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support. This will require NIH investigators to create Biosketches and Current and Pending Support in SciENcv for application due dates and all Just-in-Time (JIT), Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) and Prior Approval submissions on or after January 25, 2026. Read the policy here.

Emergency Modifications to NIH Peer Review:
More than 370 peer review meetings were cancelled between October 1, 2025 and November 14, 2025 during the federal government shutdown. These meetings had enlisted more than 11,000 reviewers to review more than 24,000 applications. The NIH is currently rescheduling these study sections, as peer review of applications is required before making awards. Under an emergency modification notice, NIH plans to review all applications submitted for the January 2026 Councils (e.g., applications that were submitted to due dates in summer 2025). Full details describing the emergency procedures are on the NIH website. 

Save the date for these upcoming events:

The Life Span Institute Collaboratory will be Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026 at the Jayhawk Welcome Center. This annual event welcomes all Life Span Institute researchers, staff, postdocs and graduate students for a full day of presentations, learning and networking. Invitations to the event will be sent to the LSI community ahead of the holiday break.

New Directions for Addiction Neuroscience: On Feb. 13, 2026, join a conversation with Joshua Gowin, associate professor, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. Discussion 9:30-11:00 a.m., followed by colloquium at 11:30 a.m. Location, virtual participation option and additional details to come. Everyone is welcome to attend, whether or not you currently conduct neuroscience research on addiction. New Directions for Addiction Neuroscience is organized by Michael Amlung and hosted by the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment.

2026 Gatlinburg Conference:  The 2026 Gatlinburg Conference will meet in Minneapolis, Minn., October 6–9, 2026, with the theme "Artificial Intelligence in Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research." The Life Span Institute, which has led the planning and hosting of the conference in recent years, is handing off the management of the event to new conference hosts. Sign up for the Gatlinburg Conference newsletter for more updates and information. 

University alliance groups such as the AAU have shared an analysis by The New York Times that used animated graphics and text to show a shift in spending policy at NIH in the past year. The authors showed that fewer projects are funded, with less funding, and less time to spend the funds. The article includes comparisons on the number of projects funded and the amount across diverse areas funded by NIH (gift link).

Writing in Science, Katy Hinman, Ph.D., called on scientists to connect with the public to demonstrate that scientists are “drawn to this work by the same kinds of values that motivate people in all walks of life — a desire to do good, to learn more, to make a living, to explore uncharted waters, to make the world a better place, to advance technology, to teach, to help people.” In short, because the moral values that people associate with scientists affect their support for science overall, it's important for scientists to talk with members of their social networks, community and family about why they are in their fields.

Connections is produced by strategic communications staff at the Life Span Institute for affiliated researchers, staff and students. 

Writing and editing by Jen Humphrey, Christina Knott and Mike Krings (KU News)
Image credits: University of Kentucky Human Development Institute; Adobe stock; KU Marketing; "Access to Care" illustration linking to Crimson & Blue by Barry Fitzgerald; project development team image contributed by Jamie Jones; image of Meghan Davidson excerpted from video by Ranjit Arab; Collaboratory Collage by Christina Knott with photos from Drew Rosdahl.

Please submit news, kudos, achievements and other items for consideration here.

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