From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
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KPR’s Fall Membership Drive sets new record, raising $337,000
LAWRENCE – Kansas Public Radio listener-members came through for the public radio station during their fall membership drive, which took place Sept. 22-30 and raised more than $337,000 – the most successful fall campaign in KPR’s 70-year history. Members also provided more than $53,000 in challenge grants to encourage their fellow KPR fans to contribute to the station and match their gift during a certain timeframe.
New exhibition ‘The Heart Is a Fist’ opening Oct. 12 in Edgar Heap of Birds Gallery
LAWRENCE — An upcoming exhibition at the University of Kansas will feature recent works by artists from Haskell Indian Nations University and by KU alumnus Sydney Pursel, curator for public practice at the Spencer Museum of Art. “The Heart Is a Fist” runs from Oct. 12 through Nov. 4 at Edgar Heap of Birds Gallery. A reception is planned at 2 p.m. Oct. 23, with a panel discussion at 3 p.m.
KU project to responsibly maximize recovery from unconventional oil and gas reservoirs nominated for ‘Breakthrough Research of the Year’
LAWRENCE — A team led by a University of Kansas researcher is a finalist for one of the global energy industry’s most prestigious awards. Masoud Kalantari, associate professor of chemical & petroleum engineering at KU, and colleagues are developing a system to make hydraulic fracturing more efficient for energy producers. The project is one of three finalists for the 2022 “Breakthrough Research of the Year” awards at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC), which is set for next month and sponsored by the Society for Petroleum Engineers.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Joanna Fewins, Kansas Public Radio, 785-864-2468, [email protected], @kprnews
KPR’s Fall Membership Drive sets new record, raising $337,000
LAWRENCE – Kansas Public Radio listener-members came through for the public radio station during their fall membership drive, which took place Sept. 22-30 and raised more than $337,000 – the most successful fall campaign in KPR’s 70-year history. Members also provided more than $53,000 in challenge grants to encourage their fellow KPR fans to contribute to the station and match their gift during a certain timeframe.
The station relies on private support more than ever, as the majority of funds come from individuals who contribute to the station in order to ensure it can continue broadcasting and serving the community. Of the total raised, more than half now can be attributed to KPR Sustainers, or those who give monthly on an ongoing basis.
“Reflecting on the 70-year history of what is now known as Kansas Public Radio, it is clear that our public radio service is a labor of love. Like the state of Kansas motto, ‘Ad astra per aspera,’ KPR continues to reach for the stars even when faced with difficulty. In the past, KANU’s broadcast towers have fallen but rose again to continue providing service. Budget cuts have threatened to bring Kansas Public Radio down, but faithful listeners and underwriters have risen to the challenge to fill the gap and now provide more than 84% of our funding, and we couldn’t be more grateful,” said KPR Director Dan Skinner.
All donations during membership drives directly support KPR’s local and national programming, including news and talk shows from NPR, locally hosted music shows like classical music, “Trail Mix” and the “Retro Cocktail Hour,” and the equipment and technology that makes programs on KPR possible.
Although the drive has concluded, listeners can still show their support for KPR by donating online at kansaspublicradio.org.
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Contact: Jill Ensley, Department of Visual Art, [email protected]
New exhibition ‘The Heart Is a Fist’ opening Oct. 12 in Edgar Heap of Birds Gallery
LAWRENCE — An upcoming exhibition at the University of Kansas will feature recent works by artists from Haskell Indian Nations University and by KU alumnus Sydney Pursel, curator for public practice at the Spencer Museum of Art. “The Heart Is a Fist” runs from Oct. 12 through Nov. 4 at Edgar Heap of Birds Gallery. A reception is planned at 2 p.m. Oct. 23, with a panel discussion at 3 p.m.
The exhibition title comes from Joy Harjo’s poem “Break My Heart,” in which she wrote, “The heart is a fist / It pockets prayer or holds rage.” Accordingly, artworks in this exhibition “pocket prayer” and “hold rage,” some featuring the red hand of solidarity for missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW). The works also examine other issues that matter to Indigenous Americans, such as ancestral connections, boarding schools, Native stereotypes and humor.
“Let each work and the accompanying text lead the way into thoughtful meditation and remembrance of American histories that haunt as well as exalt us,” said David Titterington, instructor of art at Haskell Indian Nations University.
“The Heart Is a Fist” is sponsored by the Department of Visual Art and is the second show featuring Indigenous artists to be endowed by the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Exhibit Fund. The fund and gallery are named for Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne, Arapaho), a renowned artist and KU alumnus. The gallery, which located on the third floor of Chalmers Hall, is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Read more and see the full list of artists at the exhibition’s Facebook event site.
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Contact: Cody Howard, School of Engineering, 785-864-2936, [email protected], @kuengineering
KU project to responsibly maximize recovery from unconventional oil and gas reservoirs nominated for ‘Breakthrough Research of the Year’
LAWRENCE — A team led by a University of Kansas researcher is a finalist for one of the global energy industry’s most prestigious awards.
Masoud Kalantari, associate professor of chemical & petroleum engineering at KU, is leading the group — which includes UCLA, MicroSilicon Inc. and EOG Resources Inc. — that is developing a system to make hydraulic fracturing more efficient for energy producers.
The project is one of three finalists for the 2022 “Breakthrough Research of the Year” awards at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC), which is set for next month and sponsored by the Society for Petroleum Engineers.
The recognition is “truly an honor,” Kalantari said.
There were more than 1,000 submissions to the conference’s awards, according to the KU researcher, and just 27 finalists across nine categories.
“This is kind of a significant achievement,” Kalantari said, “just to compete.”
He added that the recognition is also “a great opportunity for the KU as the lead institution for the project.
“It shows we’re promoting multidisciplinary research and that we are at the forefront of developing transformational technology that helps energy producers to maximize the recovery while achieving their net carbon zero goals,” he said.
Well-spacing optimization is one of the key challenges the energy industry is facing.
Developing unconventional resources requires a detailed understanding of the geometry and complexity of the generated hydraulic fractures. Drilling expensive and unnecessary wells not only affects the business significantly but also impacts the environment negatively in terms of footprints, contaminations, and emissions, Kalantari said.
Kalantari’s $3.49 million project funded by the Department of Energy has been underway since 2019. It involves developing and field-testing wireless, battery-less, fine size (as small as 250 micrometers, equal to 100 proppant size) smart microchip sensors coupled with a physics-informed, AI-based, iGeo-sensing platform that enables real-time, cost-efficient, continuous, high resolution and “direct” fracture diagnostics.
This transformational research and low-cost technology developments and field testing in partnership with EOG Resources will aid in transitioning technology to commercial deployment, Kalantari said.
“This is what is missing in our industry,” Kalantari said. The new technology will help companies “reduce the number of unnecessary wells or inefficient wells, and it helps the business in terms of return of investment. They maximize the recovery, they minimize the cost of operation, plus they contribute significantly to minimizing the environmental footprints and achieve net carbon-zero goals.”
A trial run of the technology is expected next year in the Permian Basin, which covers much of the southwest United States.
“The beauty of this project is we are partnering with oil and gas operators,” Kalantari said. “So if it goes through the trial process and if it becomes successful, we can move forward quickly with the commercialization phase.”
Kalantari’s project was chosen as a finalist for the Society of Petroleum Engineers ADIPEC award by a jury of experts that includes executives and professionals from major energy companies, academics and members of other energy industry organizations. The awards jury includes the ministers of energy and petroleum from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt — as well as the CEOs of several oil companies such as Occidental and Baker Hughes.
That’s a welcome opportunity to put KU’s brand and research before some of the world’s top energy company executives and producers, Kalantari said.
“Now the University of Kansas application is in front of those ministers plus top people of oil and gas companies,” Kalantari said. “Hopefully we get it and we bring the recognition back home.”
The award will be announced at the ADIPEC conference on Oct. 31 in the United Arab Emirates.
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