In this issue
Research highlights | Innovation spotlight | New awards | Unsung heroes
Faculty kudos | Research development | Nuts & bolts | Events
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Melinda Adams, Langston Hughes Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies & Geography & Atmospheric Science, advocates for the benefits of cultural or ceremonial burning for people, communities and the environment.
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Beth Bailey, Foundation Distinguished Professor of History, is documenting social change in the military. "I'm passionate about trying to get historians and the general public to think of the U.S. Army as something that plays a significant role in the United States in realms other than war."
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Ted Harris, associate research professor for the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research, contributed to a global study finding microplastics in every Kansas lake he sampled.
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Marta Caminero-Santangelo, University Distinguished Professor of English, became editor of Latino Studies on July 1 — making KU the new home for the journal.
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| Early childhood researchers at KU are working to enhance language and communication skills in infants and young children at risk for developmental delay and disabilities.
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More than 100 years ago, a field crew from KU's Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum journeyed through a unique mix of Kansas counties to document the mammals, birds, amphibians and wildlife flourishing in those environments. Now Dianna Krejsa and her team are retracing their steps to evaluate changes in multiple Kansas ecosystems.
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What is the Bayh-Dole Act and why does it matter? |
Bayh-Dole is the federal act that enables universities to own inventions created from federally sponsored research. Named after its primary sponsors, Senators Birch Bayh of Indiana and Bob Dole of Kansas, the primary goals of the Bayh-Dole Act were to promote the commercialization of federally funded inventions, encourage collaboration between academia and industry, and spur economic growth through the development of new products and industries.
World War II brought the government, academia and industry together as part of the war effort, unleashing tremendous innovation. Following the war, the U.S. government sought to identify ways to sustain these activities. After much debate, it was recognized that the government, who at that time owned inventions resulting from its sponsored research, was ill-equipped to manage them effectively. Ultimately, the Bayh-Dole Act was passed in 1980 to create a uniform policy for managing inventions that applies to all universities accepting federal research funds.
Bayh-Dole allowed universities to retain ownership rights to inventions created by their employees from federally sponsored research and streamlined the process of transferring those inventions to the commercial sector. It created a consistent framework for licensing those rights to private companies (or startups) and led to increased transfer of technologies from the academic realm to industry, where they could be further developed for public benefit. Since its enactment, Bayh-Dole has led to an increase in technology transfer and entrepreneurial activities at U.S. universities and has been modeled by other countries.
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KU researchers are investigating the accessibility of wearable devices, examining the effects of carbon sequestration on concrete corrosion in Kansas, improving breast cancer immunotherapy, tracking water quality in Clinton Lake, and more — all with the aid of external funding awarded in May and June.
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Behind every successful award are teams of KU research development and administration staff who help investigators identify opportunities, prepare and submit complicated proposals under strict deadlines, and then help manage finances and compliance for funded projects. 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 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.
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Associate IT director keeps research data accessible |
Jim Rupprecht | Associate Director of Server & Cloud Infrastructure | Information Technology
When people outside of academia think of research, they often picture science labs filled with test tubes and Bunsen burners. What they might not immediately think of is where critical data from studies and experiments across all fields goes once collected.
That’s where Jim Rupprecht comes in.
Rupprecht is associate director of server & cloud infrastructure in KU’s Information Technology department. He’s worked at the university for more than 30 years, most of that time in IT.
“Jim is a positive, productive team member. He does an excellent job of communicating priorities and listening to multiple needs to support strong data security at KU,” said Kathleen Lynne Lane, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of special education.
Rupprecht’s many responsibilities include maintaining ResFS, a Microsoft file system currently used to store large datasets at KU. Researchers across STEM disciplines, social sciences and humanities need tools like ResFS to store and process data from their research. The software currently supports about 345 unique research projects.
Maintaining services like ResFS is no easy task. In May, access to the server needed to be temporarily suspended for planned maintenance. Rupprecht and others were involved in both the technical details of the upgrades and communicating the outage to researchers across campus. Rupprecht and his team worked with researchers who rely on automated or scheduled activities to arrange to copy data to an appropriate secure location outside of ResFS.
“He is approachable and committed to supporting researchers’ various IT needs,” Lane said.
Later this summer, ResFS will be replaced by another vendor. Moving to a new service comes with its own challenges, but faculty and staff who have worked with Rupprecht are confident in his ability to lead a smooth transition.
“Jim has done a great job leading and communicating past server disruptions,” said Julie Popiel, chief of staff to the vice chancellor for research. “So I know we’re in good hands as we switch to a new provider.”
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Ian Crossfield, associate professor of physics & astronomy, was awarded time on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of a “hot Neptune” in another solar system.
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Evan Franseen, professor of geology, senior scientific fellow at the Kansas Geological Survey, and co-director of the Kansas Interdisciplinary Carbonates Consortium, received the 2023 Honorary Membership Award from the Society for Sedimentary Geology for “excellence in professional achievement and extraordinary service to the Society.”
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Heather Getha-Taylor, professor of public affairs & administration, received the American Society for Public Administration Jonathan P. West Outstanding Scholar Award from the Section on Personnel Administration & Labor Relations. The award recognizes a scholar who has made substantial contributions to academic literature in the field of public personnel administration.
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Briana McGeough, assistant professor of social welfare, will participate in the Early Stage Investigator program as a visiting professor at the University of California-San Francisco, where she will receive intensive training in community-engaged LGBTQ research focused on substance use and minority stress as a part of The Pride Study.
- Robert Rowland, professor of communication studies, presented the keynote address at the 10th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The society also presented Rowland with the ISSA Distinguished Research Award, a prize awarded to scholars who have made a substantial contribution to the study of argumentation.
- Christophe Royon, Foundation Distinguished Professor in physics & astronomy, received a gold medal from the Mexican Society of Physics, Division of Particles and Fields, for his leadership and contributions in his field and for his support of the Mexican High Energy Physics community.
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Daniel Tapia Takaki, associate professor of physics & astronomy, had recent results of work by his research group highlighted in a CERN News article, “ALICE shines light into the nucleus to probe its structure.” CERN is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.
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NIH Writing Workshop wraps up with Aug. 3 webinar |
KU’s NIH Writing Workshop kicked off in May with a seminar focused on “Strategies to Be More Competitive at the NIH” and continued in July with a panel of KU faculty sharing their strategies for preparing successful NIH funding proposals. The final webinar is scheduled for next week:
Thursday, Aug. 3 | 11 a.m. – noon
NIH Workshop Webinar: Competitive Subsidiary Documents
With Alix Norris of Tn Consulting
This event is open to the entire KU community and does not require participation in the remainder of the 2023 NIH Writing Workshop.
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Frontiers offering mock study section for NIH proposals |
Frontiers Clinical & Translational Science Institute is offering pre-submission review of NIH grant proposals through its Mock Study Section program. The program simulates the actual NIH peer review process and is open to clinical and translational researchers at KU. Frontiers offers investigators a chance to receive (1) feedback on an R or K-series grant proposal before submitting final applications and (2) scores/written critiques from three reviewers with relevant expertise. Final scores will be assigned and returned to the applicant following discussion at the MSS meeting on Nov. 27.
How do I request proposal review? Submit an online letter of intent by Aug. 25. The letter of intent requires a draft “specific aims” page and a list of three suggested reviewers from Frontiers partner institutions who have appropriate expertise. Invited researchers will be asked to submit the narrative components of their grant application by the October deadline. Visit Frontiers’ Science Communications page for more information or register online as a reviewer, applicant or observer.
Questions? Contact Nicole Nuckolls at nnuckolls@kumc.edu.
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Changes coming soon to Streamlyne login |
In the near future, Streamlyne users will notice a change when they access the system. Instead of automatically being routed to the KU Single Sign-On (SSO) page, users will see a page that will give the options of either using 1) SSO or 2) “local sign on.” Streamlyne users — including faculty approving proposals — should use KU Single Sign-On.
In addition, please note that notification emails for proposal approvals will now include the PI name and lead unit.
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Review integrity, bias awareness training will be required for NIH reviewers |
The National Institutes of Health is committed to maintaining integrity and fairness in the peer review process. Toward this effort, the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review has developed two reviewer training modules that will be required for all reviewers beginning May 2024:
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- The “Review Integrity” module raises awareness of actions that breach review integrity and provides tools to prevent and report them.
- The “Bias Awareness and Mitigation” module raises awareness of potential biases in the peer review process and provides strategies to mitigate them.
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Both trainings have been successfully implemented by CSR for multiple review cycles, with many thousands of reviewers having taken the trainings prior to serving on review panels.
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Questions? Comments? Content suggestions?
Mindie Paget | Office of Research | mpaget@ku.edu
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