Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025

Research Rising candidate colloquia | By the numbers | Adaptive Athletes | Recent External Awards

Have a news story, publication, event or staff highlight for us? Submit it by 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27 here.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the 2025 Collaboratory a success on Jan. 16. The photo above captures the humor and humility that characterize the collaborative partnerships discussed in the opening panel.

In a future newsletter, we will include links to some of the presentations and materials. We also plan to distribute a feedback survey that will help us shape and improve next year's event, which will be held on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. 

-Jen Humphrey, associate director, strategic communications

During the 2025 Collaboratory, LSI Director John Colombo highlighted achievements and metrics gathered for the recent self-study. Fiscal Year 2024 was a record year of external support, with more than $46M in grants, contracts and indirect costs. Those funds supported 164 projects carried out by 75 investigators at nine centers and from a diverse group of university departments. 

Beginning Jan. 27, the Life Span Institute will host three visiting candidates who are being considered for a position funded through the KU Research Rising initiative. All Life Span Institute researchers, staff and graduate students are invited to the candidate colloquia. Those talks will be held in 1031 Dole Human Development Center and offered via Zoom. Dates, candidates, talk titles and links to PDF flyers are listed below.

1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27:
Dr. Zheng Wang of of the University of Florida College of Health & Human Performance, presenting, "Aging Well with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Cognitive, Neuromotor, and Brain Deviations In Middle-And-Old-Aged Autistic Adults," 1031 Dole and via Zoom (code: 1234). Flyer available here (PDF). 

4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29:
Dr. Tiffany Woynaroski of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, presenting, "Biobehavioral Approaches to Translational Research in Neurodevelopmental Conditions: A Spotlight on Sensory Differences in Autism," 1031 Dole and via Zoom (code 1234). Flyer available here (PDF). 

1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3: 
Dr. Kimberly Carpenter of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development at Duke University School of Medicine, "Stratifying the Heterogeneity of Autism: Impact of Co-Occurring Anxiety and ADHD," 1031 Dole and via Zoom (code 1234). Flyer available here (PDF).

Collaboratory 2025 attendees walking through the Jayhawk Welcome Center last week may have seen a familiar face on magazines stacked on tables and in display racks in the building.

Kansas Alumni Magazine recently featured the work of investigator Lyndsie Koon in the fall issue. The cover article, written by Christina Knott, and an accompanying video developed by KU Marketing were the culmination of more than a year of conversations between Life Span Institute strategic communications staff and researchers in the Institute for Health and Disability Studies, as well as several visits to area gyms to meet research participants. 

"Resilience in Every Rep: KU research explores exercise benefits for people with disabilities," includes perspectives from several research participants, including Martha Hodgesmith, pictured above, a retired associate director of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the Life Span Institute. 

The article is available for free through the Kansas Alumni website. 

KCUR’s Dylan Larsen interviewed Christina Holt as part of reporting on the a recent survey of Douglas County tenants, a project facilitated by the Center for Community Health and Development. The story ran on at least two public radio stations, including KCUR (Kansas City) and KMUW (Wichita).

Kate Ng of Yahoo News interviewed Tera Fazzino for an article on ultra processed foods, and Fazzino's research also was featured in Mind Body Green. Additionally, Fazzino was interviewed for MSN.com's coverage of interim data presented at a workshop put on by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December.

Sarah Johnson-Munguia's recently published research about Latine women and body image was featured in the online publication FIERCE.

In a recent edition of LDAnalyses: From the Learning Disabilities Association of America, Douglas Fuchs of the American Institutes for Research at Vanderbilt University described the circumstances that led to the landmark grant to Professor Emeritus Wayne Sailor establishing the SWIFT Education Center, which is now led by Amy McCart. 

Recent LSI Publications

Brehmer CE, Fry H, Bishop M, Hall JP & Kurth NK. (in press). Exploring the relationship between COVID-19 risk and employment quality among a sample of individuals with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. Available online ahead of print: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10522263241302184

Landes SD, Swenor BK, & Hall JP. (2024). It is time to stop using the Washington Group questions to measure disability in U.S. federal surveys. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Lerner Center Population Health Research Brief Series. Research Brief #121. Available at: https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1259&context=lerner

Goddard KS, Kurth NK, Hall JP, Koon LM, Moore CL, & Dentleegrand KR. (2024). Strategic insights from a Delphi study: enhancing employment for -ply marginalized people with disabilities. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Science, Vol 5, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fresc.2024.1443302

Congratulations to the following researchers on their external awards announced by the KU Office of Research last fall. In the next issue of Connections, we will highlight news of an exceptional $15 million award that will be announced by KU News next week. 

Awards below are listed with investigator name, grant title as listed by the office, and sponsor:

Evan Dean, "KS Department of Labor Equitable Transition Model," Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing.

Tera Fazzino, "Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Kansas," University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute.

Kandace Fleming, "Implementation of the New Pediatric Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline in Rural Families and Clinics: A Randomized Clinical Trial," and "Talk with Me Baby: Leveraging Well-Child Care to Enhance the Early Home Language Environment," both funded through the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute.

Kelsie Forbush, "Building Healthy Eating and Self-Esteem Together for University Students (BEST-U): A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of an mHealth Intervention for Binge-Spectrum Disorders," National Institutes of Health.

Jean Hall, "Disability Perspectives on the Adverse Health Effects of Medical Ableism," Washington State University.

Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, "Frontiers: University of Kansas Clinical and Translational Science Institute," University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute.

Peggy Kemp, "Kansas Inservice Training System (KITS) - Part C tiny-k Infant/Toddler Program," Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Lyndsie Koon, "The Impact of Weight Loss on Alzheimers Disease Risk in Adults with Down Syndrome," University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute.

Valerie Mazzotti, "ELEVATE: Equipping Learning, Empowering Vision, Achieving Transitions, and Engaging Families - A Doctoral Leadership Initiative," University of Oklahoma.

Suzanne Myers, "KBOR Literacy Blueprint Research and Development," Kansas Board of Regents.

Amy McCart, "Idaho Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education (ID-AWARE) Year 5," Idaho State Department of Education.

Margarethe McDonald, "Predicting experience-specific bilingual speech development using machine learning," American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

Raúl Rojas, "Meeting the needs of young Hispanic autistic children: Developing a culturally and linguistically sensitive intervention to alleviate core social challenges," University of Texas-Dallas.

Robin Shafer, "Multi-modal sensory feedback mechanisms of fine and gross motor control in autism spectrum disorders," National Institutes of Health.

Karrie Shogren, "Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment Among People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities" Virginia Commonwealth University; and "Disentangling Intervention Practices Aligned with Motivational, Agentic, and Self Theories (MAST): An Integrative Meta-Analysis and Scoping Review," University of Texas-Austin.

Dale Walker, "Project Eagle: Early Head Start," University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute.

AIRE Data Analytics Open Labs

The AIRE Data Analytics recently announced its spring schedule of monthly open labs. The open labs are a chance for users to drop in and ask any questions regarding OAC Enterprise Dashboards, OAC Report-Building Functionality and Visual Analytics Dashboards using Tableau. AIRE staff will be available to answer questions and provide hands-on training with attendees; no presentation is being prepared or provided by AIRE staff. Individuals who want to attend are encouraged to fill out a brief (optional) survey, which includes questions about what data/system researchers need assistance with. 

Upcoming sessions are:

Tuesday, February 18, 10:00 am-11:30 am - Anschutz Instruction Center on the 3rd floor of the Anschutz Library.

Tuesday, March 25, 10:00 am-11:30 am - Anschutz Instruction Center on the 3rd floor of the Anschutz Library.

Tuesday, April 15, 10:00 am -11:30 am – Edward Campus, Regnier 150

Additionally, Individual virtual appointments are available; send an email with a brief description of your question to aire-help@ku.edu.

One Day One KU to be held February 20-21

One Day One KU, the University's 24-hour fundraising day, will be from noon to noon, February 20-21 this year. In prior years, KU Life Span Institute donors—many of them staff, investigators and students—have contributed to fund our new accessible van, research awards, and support for autism, addiction, and child development research programs. 

While the KU Life Span Institute is not raising funds for any specific project this year, everyone is encouraged to participate and draw attention to the area of KU you are most interested in supporting. 

In the next issue of Connections, we will have more details on becoming a One Day One KU ambassador and other ways to support the Life Span Institute, or any other area of KU. 

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

Writing and editing by Jen Humphrey
Photo of Lyndsie Koon by Steve Puppe
Photo illustrations by Christina Knott, Adobe Stock and KU Marketing
One Day One KU video by KU Endowment

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

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