July 2025

In this issue

Research highlights  |  Innovation spotlight  |  New awards  
Unsung heroes  |  Faculty kudos  |  Nuts & bolts  |  Upcoming events

“When people think about health, they often think of health care. That is actually just one small part of how healthy a person is. Where you live, where you work, where you go to school all shape your health, and we’re finding cultural capital can as well.”

Aaron Teator secured the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty. His research group is developing new materials that have broad potential uses, including more robust, decomposable, and recyclable plastics and rubbers. Teator is the third KU faculty member to receive a CAREER Award this year.

Around $1 billion gets paid by victims of ransomware attacks each year. But is payment the right strategy? “In the short run, paying the ransom is often the easiest way out. Yet by paying the ransom, you are encouraging hackers to come back, not just for you but for everyone else.

A new study by KU researchers details the vulnerability of coronaviruses to inhibitors of a small protein domain called Mac1, which is found in all coronaviruses. The findings point toward potential antiviral therapies to combat future coronavirus pandemics. 

William Shakespeare's England, sometimes called the early modern era, was a time of great change. Studying how people in the past dealt with transition can help us understand reactions to change in the present. Jonathan Lamb recently traveled to London to view early print publications of "Love's Labour's Lost" as part of his work to create a scholarly edition of the play.  

I AM STRIVING

Amber Rowland, associate research professor in the Life Span Institute and the Achievement & Assessment Institute at KU, helps educators and students use augmented reality to practice social skills before implementing them.  

What began in the 1990s as a KU research initiative using satellite imagery to measure vegetation “greenness” has grown into the GreenReport — a trusted crop monitoring tool — and now into the next-gen Sentinel GreenReport Plus. From low-resolution imagery and homegrown research to national deployment and precise decision-support tools, the evolution of the GreenReport reflects the power of long-term vision, academic collaboration, and KU’s commitment to solving real-world problems. 

KU researchers are supporting rural transit services, advancing techniques to identify dams and levees with failure potential, combating AI-based misinformation, building trauma-informed workplaces, and more — all with the aid of external funding awarded in June.

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.

Jim Lovett | Research Project Coordinator | Monarch Watch

Protecting a threatened species requires understanding its current population. As research project coordinator for Monarch Watch, Jim Lovett helps foster this understanding for one of the most well-known and beloved butterfly species in North America.

Founded at the University of Kansas in 1992, Monarch Watch advances international education, conservation and research on the monarch butterfly, its habitat and its spectacular fall migration. Lovett joined the team in 1995 after earning a bachelor’s in biology from KU.

“While each team member takes the lead on different projects, Jim knows the inner workings of all of our projects,” said Kristen Baum, director of Monarch Watch, senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research, and professor of ecology & evolutionary biology.

As documented in a recent 60 Minutes segment, one of the central activities of Monarch Watch is its butterfly tagging project, which recruits scientists and volunteers to catch monarch butterflies and place tags on their wings to help document their annual migration from Canada to Mexico. More than 2 million monarchs have been tagged by scientists over the course of more than 30 years. Lovett compiles and verifies this data in the program’s scientific database. He also provides technical and other support for a host of essential activities through financial reporting, fundraising, marketing, and communication with the public and media outlets.

“Although these tasks are very different, Jim takes a similar approach to addressing each of them, which involves strong organizational and problem-solving skills, as well as attention to detail and extensive technical expertise in a wide range of areas,” Baum said.

Lovett is currently helping organize the International Monarch Science Symposium, which will bring together scientists from around the world to discuss current research. As the leading technology and data staff member, he will help record and retain symposium information, including presentations from more than 45 scientists.

“Jim always goes the extra mile to help people,” Baum said, “whether it is a team member or someone who reaches out about one of our programs.”

Six KU faculty members have been selected to participate in the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship program during the summer and upcoming academic year:

Five KU faculty members have been named University Distinguished Professors, recognizing their record of research, scholarship and excellence in teaching: 

RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION

The National Institutes of Health are providing guidance to researchers on the appropriate use of artificial intelligence to maintain the fairness and originality of NIH’s research application process. NIH will allow the limited use of AI for application preparation, but all applications must be consistent with the NIH Grants Policy Statement Section 2.1.2 expectation that institutions and affiliated research teams propose original ideas for funding.

Additionally, NIH will only accept six new, renewal, resubmission or revision applications from an individual principal investigator/program director or multiple principal investigator per calendar year.

As legal proceedings continue over proposed cuts to indirect costs for federally funded research grants, federally negotiated facilities & administrative (F&A) rates remain in effect. KU has received its new rates, which are intended to extend through June 30, 2028, for the Lawrence/Edwards campuses.

RESEARCH INTEGRITY

The Final Friday Human Research Ethics series is on hiatus during June and July. Please save the following dates and join us this fall:

Register for individual sessions or the entire series at the link below. Each one-hour session begins at 11:30 a.m.

KU is providing new guidance for human subjects researchers whose studies involve administering alcohol to participants. The Human Research Protection Program, in conjunction with the Office of the Provost and a designated Alcohol in Research Committee, developed the new policy and handbook linked below. 

KU Policy Library:
Administration of Alcohol in Human Research

KU HRPP website:
PI Handbook: Administration of Alcohol in Human Research (.pdf)

Please review the new policy and handbook. Questions? Contact irb@ku.edu.

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

KU Office of Research
Strong Hall | 1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045

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