In this issue

Research highlights  |  Innovation spotlight  |  New awards
Unsung heroes  |  Faculty kudos  |  Recognition roundup
Research development  |  Nuts & bolts  |  Events

A $3 million Small Business Innovation Research award will fund a partnership between Design-Zyme and KU molecular bioscientist Scott Hefty to develop a new vaccine targeting Lyme disease, which infected more than 63,000 people in the U.S. in 2022.

Under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, employers may pay subminimum wage to workers with physical or mental disabilities. A partnership between the state of Kansas and researchers at KU’s Life Span Institute is exploring ways to increase capacity in the state to employ people with disabilities in higher-wage jobs with potential to improve opportunities and quality of life. 

Rebekka Schlichting, assistant professor of journalism, is producing two documentaries about modern efforts by tribes to reclaim ceremonial homelands and reintroduce buffalo to the plains.

A new project led by KU will bring together scientists around the world who study interactions between plants and microscopic fungi — processes that are critical to life on Earth but are mostly unseen and taken for granted. 

According to one study, the Midwest and Great Lakes regions account for only 7% of all venture capital deals. To address this, the KU Innovation Park has launched the Oread Angel Investors network to encourage alumni, parents, friends and others engaged with the university to invest in KU-affiliated startups.

Our understanding of evolution and the role genes play in how features are passed down primarily comes from studying animals in the past and comparing them to the present. But some organisms, such as certain flowers or viruses, reproduce more rapidly than animals, making it easier to study how genes are passed from one generation to the next. John Kelly, professor of ecology & evolutionary biology, plants and studies fast-reproducing flowers to better understand genes.  

The KU Center for Technology Commercialization is the technology transfer office for KU and a "One KU" office serving researchers on all campuses.

As a part of our efforts to better engage and connect with our community, KUCTC is happy to share our FY 2024 annual report. We hope this report provides valuable insights into some of the changes we're making and our progress toward supporting “Innovation for All KU.”

KU researchers are uncovering the biochemical mechanisms of hepatitis C, engineering high-temperature magnets in atomically thin materials, evaluating violence prevention outreach programs, examining digital learning for those impacted by the criminal justice system and more — all with the aid of external funding awarded in September.

Behind every successful award are teams of KU research support staff who help investigators identify opportunities, prepare and submit complicated proposals under strict deadlines, help manage finances and compliance for funded projects, and more. They are the unsung heroes of KU research, greasing the wheels of innovation and discovery.

In each issue of KU Discoveries, we shine a spotlight on a research support staff member deemed particularly outstanding by colleagues. Click the button below this month's story to nominate a deserving candidate from any unit on campus.

Claudia Bode | Education, Outreach & Diversity Director | Kansas NSF EPSCoR Office 

Undergraduate research experiences are key to a career in academic research. Claudia Bode runs a program that facilitates these experiences for Kansas students.

Bode is the education, outreach & diversity director at the Kansas National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or Kansas NSF EPSCoR. In that role, she co-developed the program’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), an 8-week summer experience during which students conduct research guided by faculty mentors from either the University of Kansas, Kansas State University or Wichita State University. The program prioritizes Kansas applicants but is open to students from other parts of the country. It prepares students to talk about their work before giving them an opportunity to present their findings. The REU is part of the Adaptive & Resilient Infrastructures driven by Social Equity (ARISE) project managed by Kansas NSF EPSCoR.

“A similar program for ARISE-related research did not already exist in Kansas, so the team had to create one from the ground up — no small feat,” said Doug Byers, assistant director of Kansas NSF EPSCoR. “With Claudia’s experience and background in this area, she was able to provide immeasurable guidance to co-develop this program alongside faculty at the partner institutions.”

Beyond the REU, Bode oversees other essential elements of Kansas NSF EPSCoR. She helps onboard new faculty across multiple universities to ensure they stay up to date on funding opportunities. She also introduces them to the project handbook and policies and assists with required trainings. Bode takes a lead role in organizing regular project-wide meetings and symposia.

“Claudia takes tremendous initiative in tackling tasks with minimal supervision,” said Belinda Sturm, director of Kansas NSF EPSCoR and professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering. “Most of the time these tasks are created because of her own strategic planning, as she understands how to break down larger initiatives to assess needs.”

Bode’s time at KU began as a doctoral student in the early 2000s. In 2003, she received a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship to research stem cells and teach at Haskell Indian Nations University. In 2006, she joined the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, one of KU’s designated research centers. She transitioned to the EPSCoR office in 2021.

Bode’s successes help keep Kansas higher education institutions on the map among peers.

“Claudia has a very cheerful disposition and looks forward to collaborating on work-related activities,” Byers said. “She is very approachable and always willing to help. Her outgoing nature is part of why Kansas NSF EPSCoR is recognized by peers nationally as a reputable state office.”

The Great Hall dome of the National Academy of Sciences building.

For many scholars, being selected as a member of one of the three National Academies — Sciences, Engineering or Medicine — is one of the highest professional honors. Why? Because NAS, NAE or NAM membership represents being acknowledged as one of the best and brightest scientific minds. Members become part of a group that examines and assembles evidence to address complex problems of major importance to society. In short, their work has enormous impact. 

Along with other highly prestigious awards and fellowships, membership in national academies is an indicator the AAU uses to assess the distinction of an institution’s faculty as part of its overall evaluation of member and prospective institutions. Since 1979, 42 of KU’s faculty have been awarded membership in a national academy. Twelve of KU’s current faculty are members or fellows of one or more national academies.

These awards recognize individuals for their accomplishments in research, scholarship and creative activity in the fields of humanities and social sciences, basic sciences, biomedical sciences, and applied sciences. Faculty from any Kansas Regents institution are eligible. 

Amount: $10K | Deadline: Nov. 1

This award honors an outstanding unclassified academic staff researcher on the KU-Lawrence campus who has had significant influence in their field and/or a productive record of important research that has expanded intellectual or societal insights. 

Amount: $10K | Deadline: Nov. 1

The Staff Achievement Award and the Postdoctoral Achievement Award are intended to recognize the numerous contributions of unclassified professional staff and postdoctoral researchers to the research mission of KU, honoring outstanding individuals who have had a tangible impact on the research labs and projects in which they work. 

Amount: $5K | Deadline: Nov. 1

These awards support members of our research and creative community as they apply their expertise to profound and persistent challenges related to attaining the goal of racial equity. Eligibility is open to Lawrence and Edwards campus faculty and academic staff (whether or not tenure-track), without regard for field or discipline.

Racial Equity Award Grant Writing Workshop
Monday, Nov. 4 | 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Register on Zoom

Amount: Up to $20K | Deadline: Nov. 15

GENERAL

In concert with the entire Lawrence and Edwards campuses, the KU Office of Research will be closed over winter break as outlined below. In order to be proactive in meeting the research community’s needs, we have established deadlines that will help ensure we are providing necessary services while allowing staff to use the winter break leave they have earned. 

All proposal documents with deadlines between Dec. 25 and Jan. 2 must be to Pre-Award Services by Tuesday, Dec. 17 to provide sufficient time for proposals to be submitted by Dec. 24. We request 2 – 3 weeks for proposal preparation and 5 days for proposal review, so please let us know if you’re aware of an early January proposal deadline. Please reach out to your Office of Research contact as soon as possible for other general questions regarding December or early January business.

Winter break hours
Closed: Wednesday, Dec. 25
Reopen: Thursday, Jan. 2

We appreciate your assistance and wish you a restful, re-energizing break!

RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION

The National Science Foundation has issued a Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 25-011) to notify the research community about the mandatory use of multifactor authentication (MFA) for Research.gov sign-in, effective Oct. 27, 2024. All external users must first complete a one-time MFA enrollment process. Instructions and additional resources are available on Research.gov.

If you have a proposal due on or after Oct. 27, Pre-Award Services will assist you with the MFA enrollment process. Please contact kucrpremgmt@lists.ku.edu with questions about the new MFA requirement for NSF proposals or to request assistance with any upcoming proposal.

The U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule in April that increases the required salary for positions that are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements. The first increase to $43,888 went into effect on July 1, 2024. The second increase to $58,656 (for full-time staff) takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, with a KU payroll effective date of Dec. 22, 2024.  

Office of Research is working with Human Resources and will contact units with impacted sponsored research staff to ensure compliance by the Jan. 1 effective date. Any questions regarding these changes can be sent to ovcr@ku.edu. 

RESEARCH INTEGRITY

As of Oct. 25, 97% of KU employees have met their conflict of interest reporting requirements! Many thanks to all who have completed their annual disclosure profile update. If you are part of the 3% who still need to complete your update, please contact COI staff with any questions. 

Although most people have reported, many supervisors still need to provide their comments on employee disclosures. If faculty or staff report to you, please check the myDisclosure system to see if you have supervisor reviews to complete. Your comments and insights about how disclosed interests and time commitments relate to an employee’s role at KU are valuable to institutional review of the disclosures.

Do you have questions about how to review an employee’s disclosures or what to address in your supervisor review comments? Email coi@ku.edu to schedule time to speak with COI staff.  

CITI RCR online training is now offered in 2 parts on KU’s CITI course registration page. Office of Research worked with CITI to make this change in response to faculty requests for flexibility to assign a subset of modules in the full course. The split maintains the full curriculum; it does not shorten the content of the full course. Each part will generate a unique certificate upon completion. 

CITI RCR training is required for all personnel supported on NSF and USDA-NIFA sponsored projects. For those registering for CITI RCR after Aug. 28, when the change was made, Part 1 and Part 2 must be completed successfully to fulfill the agency RCR training requirement.

At this time, completing the CITI training fulfills the requirement going forward for participation on other NSF and USDA grants. CITI RCR training may also be used on applicable NIH grants to provide an overview of required curriculum topics, as a supplement to the required in-person RCR training.

Questions? Comments? Content suggestions?
Mindie Paget  |  Office of Research  |  mpaget@ku.edu

KU Office of Research
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