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KU Center for Community Health & Development chosen to partner with Kauffman Foundation to improve economic mobility
LAWRENCE — In an effort to increase equity and economic mobility in Kansas City through a broad collaborative project, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation reached out to the Center for Community Health & Development (CCHD) at the KU Life Span Institute. The University of Kansas center will serve as the third-party evaluator and provide educational and action support for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Collective Impact Initiative. Through a grant of $353,000, the foundation will fund CCHD’s role in the expansive effort, including work to support foundation staff and the project’s six coalition partners.
KU announces new 2025-2029 Self Graduate Fellows
LAWRENCE – Twenty doctoral students have been selected to receive the University of Kansas’ Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year. The total value of the four-year doctoral fellowship exceeds $225,000, and this is KU’s largest cohort in the program’s history. Recipients include current and incoming doctoral students from Olathe, Overland Park, Topeka, Wellsville and Wichita, and from Kansas City, St. Joseph and Springfield, Missouri.
50 years afloat: How the KU Concrete Canoe program turned cement into legacy
LAWRENCE – Established in the spring of 1975, the University of Kansas Concrete Canoe team is celebrating its 50th year. What began as a student-led project in the mid-1970s has now grown into a tradition that has shaped generations of Jayhawk engineers, built lifelong friendships and made a splash in the world of civil engineering.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Jen Humphrey, Life Span Institute, 785-864-6621, [email protected]
KU Center for Community Health & Development chosen to partner with Kauffman Foundation to improve economic mobility
LAWRENCE — In an effort to increase equity and economic mobility in Kansas City through a broad collaborative project, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation reached out to a nearby University of Kansas center with decades of experience addressing large, complex problems.
The Center for Community Health & Development (CCHD) at the KU Life Span Institute will serve as the third-party evaluator and provide a wide variety of educational and action support for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Collective Impact Initiative (CII). Through a grant of $353,000, the foundation will fund CCHD’s role in the expansive effort, including work to support foundation staff and the project’s six coalition partners.
Christina Holt, assistant director of CCHD, said she is excited about the center’s involvement in the project and its potential to make a positive impact.
“They had a need for a third-party evaluator for their new collective impact initiative, which is their signature initiative now,” Holt said. “They are working to transform economic conditions in the Kansas City metro region. It’s really an honor to be a part of it.”
The Kauffman Foundation’s plan to reach its goal includes three approaches: improving college access and completion, enhancing workforce and career development, and supporting entrepreneurship.
The foundation invited CCHD as the independent organization assigned to provide ongoing support, evaluation and guidance for growth of the project over time for both its staff and the coalition partners.
CCHD has a long history of supporting community health and development through collaborative research and evaluation, teaching and training, and technical support and capacity building. The center is home to the free, online resource called The Community Tool Box. Translated into Spanish, Farsi and Arabic, the website draws 6 million users annually from areas throughout the world — including in Kansas City.
“When the folks from the Kauffman Foundation reached out, they had been decades-long users of the Community Tool Box,” she said. “They said, ‘When we found out that the people who developed the Tool Box are right down the road, we had to partner with you all.’”
CCHD’s role in the project includes using the Community Toolbox’s Community Check Box Evaluation System, providing tailored technical assistance and offering webinars with content adapted from the Tool Box curriculum. The funding also supports developing and expanding the Tool Box, adding to its resources on collective action, engagement and assessment.
The Kauffman Foundation is incorporating a collective impact approach with a network of community members, organizations and institutions organized into partner coalitions with broad geographic representation and community roots. The coalitions focus on areas such equity and opportunity, technology, entrepreneurship education, university research, workforce partners and others.
Allison Greenwood Bajracharya, chief impact and strategy officer for the Kauffman Foundation, said in an announcement that they are inspired by the number of organizations who have applied to partner in the initiative “to think and act differently in solving some of our regions’ most pressing systems-level challenges.”
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Each of Kansas’ 105 counties receives KU Medical Center outreach.
https://ku.edu/distinction
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Contact: Daniel Rivera, Self Graduate Fellowship, 785-864-7249, [email protected]
KU announces new 2025-2029 Self Graduate Fellows
LAWRENCE – Twenty doctoral students have been selected to receive the University of Kansas’ prestigious Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year. This incoming group of fellows is the largest cohort in the history of the Self Graduate Fellowship, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to over 220 students throughout the program’s history. In fall 2025, the fellowship reaches 57 total current fellows, making it the largest fellowship size ever.
The Self Graduate Fellowship’s mission is to identify and recruit exceptional doctoral students who demonstrate the promise to make significant contributions to their fields and society as a whole. The total value of the four-year doctoral fellowship exceeds $225,000.
The fellowship is a four-year package awarded to incoming and first-year doctoral students who demonstrate leadership, initiative and passion for achievement. The fellowship covers full tuition and fees, provides graduate research assistant support of $38,000 per year, a $12,000 professional development award, $5,000 start-up award, $3,000 textbook and technology award, and a robust professional development program.
The Fellow Development Program provides general education and training in communication, management, innovation, policy and leadership to assist Self Graduate Fellows in preparation for future leadership roles. The development program complements the specialized education and training provided in doctoral programs.
The late Madison and Lila Self launched and permanently endowed the Self Graduate Fellowship in 1989, motivated by their strong belief in the vital importance of developing leadership for tomorrow. Madison Self was a 1943 KU graduate in chemical engineering. Lila Self attended KU with the Class of 1943.
The new Self Graduate Fellows for the 2025-2029 cohort:
- Raechel Camones, of Kansas City, Missouri: bachelor’s degree in biology health science, Missouri Western State University; first-year doctoral student in the interdisciplinary graduate program in biomedical sciences, KU Medical Center.
- Rachel Cionitti, of Olathe: bachelor’s degree in physics & astronomy, KU; expected master of science in physics, University of Missouri-Kansas City; incoming doctoral student in physics & astronomy.
- Alaura Custard, of Overland Park: bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics, KU; expected master of science in geology, KU; incoming doctoral student in geology.
- Danielle Dotson, of St. Joseph, Missouri: bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with emphasis in biochemical engineering, minor in biomedical engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology; first-year doctoral student in bioengineering.
- Anna Ferkul, of Shakopee, Minnesota: bachelor’s degree in microbiology, minor in psychology, KU; first-year doctoral student in the interdisciplinary graduate program in biomedical sciences, KU Medical Center.
- Jennifer Greer, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland: bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Mississippi State University; incoming doctoral student in chemistry.
- Kenzie Grover, of Lodi, Wisconsin: bachelor’s degree in biology, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point; master of science in biology, Northern Michigan University; first-year doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology.
- Dustin Hall, of Wellsville: bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, University of California, Irvine; incoming doctoral student in aerospace engineering.
- Alex Hey, of West Chicago, Illinois: bachelor’s degree in zoology and fish, wildlife and conservation biology, Colorado State University; expected master of science in ecology & evolutionary biology, KU; incoming doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology.
- Sydney Houser, of Topeka: bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology-neuroscience, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; first-year doctoral student in pharmaceutical chemistry.
- Chad Lakin II, of Springfield, Missouri: bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Missouri State University; first-year doctoral student in chemistry.
- Jared Melendrez, of Hacienda Heights, California: bachelor’s degree in biotechnology, California State University San Marcos; incoming doctoral student in the interdisciplinary graduate program in biomedical sciences, KU Medical Center.
- Jasmine Perea, of Seward, Alaska: bachelor’s degree in environmental public health, Alaska Pacific University; doctoral student in environmental and water resources science.
- Rene Sabala, of Brawley, California: bachelor’s degree in chemistry, California State University, Chico; incoming doctoral student in chemistry.
- Claire Sabolay, of Belleville, Illinois: bachelor’s degree in chemical & petroleum engineering, KU; first-year doctoral student in chemical & petroleum engineering.
- Kit Savoy, of Olathe: bachelor’s degree in biological sciences, minors in chemistry and theatre, KU; incoming doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology.
- Connor Sullivan, of Overland Park: bachelor’s degree in computer science, KU; first-year doctoral student in electrical engineering & computer science.
- Amina Tbaba, of Wichita: bachelor’s degree in chemistry, California State University, Long Beach; first-year doctoral student in neuroscience.
- Makayla Williams, of Muskogee, Oklahoma: bachelor’s degree in anthropology, minor in sociology, Augustana University; first-year doctoral student in anthropology.
- Emily Winnicki, of Medina, Ohio: bachelor’s degree in anthropology and biology, minor in history, The College of Wooster; incoming doctoral student in anthropology.
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KU spent $78.9 million across Kansas on research-related goods and services in FY23.
https://ku.edu/distinction
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Contact: Emma Herrman, Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, [email protected]
50 years afloat: How the KU Concrete Canoe program turned cement into legacy
LAWRENCE – This year marks a milestone for the University of Kansas Concrete Canoe team. Established in the spring of 1975, Concrete Canoe is celebrating its 50th year. What began as a student-led project in the mid-1970s has now grown into a tradition that has shaped generations of Jayhawk engineers, built lifelong friendships and made a splash in the world of civil engineering.
From learning to float …
The KU Concrete Canoe Program was launched with a simple yet bold idea: What if concrete could float? In the hands of creative KU engineering students, that question became a challenge. Inspired by the first collegiate races in 1970, leading to a regional competition that began at Kansas State University the previous year, David Darwin, now a distinguished professor, took the lead in developing KU’s own team.
“When I got to KU in the fall of 1974, I thought that we ought to have a concrete canoe team,” said Darwin. “We started racing that spring up in Manhattan with our canoe, KAN-U.”
KAN-U, a play on both the word “canoe” and the KANU radio station, was made of three-quarter-inch steel conduit, half-inch hardware cloth (wire) and concrete that was lighter than water. In spite of the lightweight concrete, the boat weighed over 300 pounds. The team didn’t win that year, but the knowledge it took home helped the next Concrete Canoe team bring members closer to a trophy.
An addition to the student races were the faculty races, which have now been discontinued. According to Darwin, these races were “a big deal.”
“We’d always have one faculty team,” he said. “Over the next 10 years, that would usually be Stan Rolfe and me.”
That first year, Darwin and Rolfe came in third place. The next, they came in second. Finally, in 1977, Darwin and Rolfe took home first place in the faculty canoe race, and they didn’t lose for at least 10 years after that.
“After Stan and I won the faculty race in 1977, the students kicked in and won the whole thing for years,” he said.
Since the beginning of the program, the rules and regulations of the competition have changed and shifted. In the beginning, teams used whatever resources they were able to get their hands on to create the best possible canoe, including actual racing canoes.
“There was a canoe shop on Michigan Street, and the owner was happy to talk to us about canoes,” Darwin said. “He lent us a racing canoe and we put it in the flume and measured the whole canoe and designed ours off of that.”
Now, there are complex rules to follow in creating a concrete canoe, and 3D-printing a canoe based on a racing canoe won’t cut it. KU wasn’t the only team to use a wide range of strategies to make the best canoe it could, however.
“At the national level, we had some heavy competition with the mechanical engineers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville,” Darwin said. “That’s one of the NASA sites, so they’d use all sorts of space-age materials in their canoe. In those days, you could paint a canoe with epoxy or anything else you wanted to use, so the very best canoes didn’t look like they were concrete.”
Some teams used fiber-reinforced or thermal-setting polymers that would create a really strong boat. Now, in 2025, the canoes are purely cementitious materials.
“This year’s canoe is a work of art,” Darwin said. “There’s not a bit of epoxy in the thing at all. If they don’t win the best-looking canoe out there, I don’t know what will.”
This year’s canoe took home second place overall at the 2025 Mid-America Student Symposium, as well as first place in project proposal and second place in technical presentation.
“I think the Concrete Canoe program is a real fixture in civil engineering departments,” Darwin said. “I think it’s going to have a good, long life.”
… To sailing the seas
As KU Concrete Canoe celebrates 50 years of innovation, this year’s team honored the past by pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with its boldest design yet: Jayhawk’s Revenge.
Led by Dominic Arbini, junior in architectural engineering and captain of the canoe from Fenton, Missouri, the team set out not just to build a canoe, but to raise the standard for the years to come.
“We’ve gotten third and second place in recent years,” Arbini said. “Jayhawk’s Revenge was about taking revenge on those close calls and aiming for our best performance yet.”
This year’s canoe includes a reimagined shape and upgrade features, including gunnels and a more paddle-friendly design aimed at making the racing experience smoother and more inviting for new members.
“Concrete is uncomfortable,” Arbini said with a laugh. “So, we tried to make it as race-friendly as possible.”
The biggest transformation came in the aesthetic approach. Departing from vinyl and stains, the team committed to a 100% concrete-based decoration, using pigmented concrete to create vivid, fully integrated visuals. At the heart of the design? A hand-crafted pirate treasure map featuring the KU campus, representing the team’s second home – the first being, of course, the concrete lab.
“Every inch of this canoe is concrete,” said Arrington Farmer, graduate in architectural engineering and graduate adviser for the program, from Edwardsville, Illinois. “Every design aspect that we chose this year was just trying to push us to be better and better. At some point, we said, ‘Well, we’re already doing so much. Let’s go a little bit farther.’”
This year’s build also reflected the evolution of a post-COVID comeback. After the team briefly dissolved in 2021, a few determined students – including Farmer and former captain Cam Figgins, graduate in civil engineering, from Shawnee – restarted the program.
“This was the first year where a lot of members of the exec board had some experience and had some idea of what we were doing,” Farmer said.
For this year’s team, the journey was one of constant adaptation and community-building. From a cracked canoe to cold, rainy competition conditions, the KU Concrete Canoe team embraced the challenges head-on. Those moments that aren’t necessarily fun in the moment but quickly become unforgettable in retrospect are what the team now lovingly refers to as “Type II-fun.” Long nights, messy labs, surprise challenges — all now memories the team treasures.
“Every time I went to the lab this year, I got to spend time with my friends,” Arbini said. “It kept me motivated. This has been the best part of my college experience.”
Farmer, who plans to move to Texas after her graduation in May, agrees.
“I don’t think we’ll remember the hard times as much as we’ll remember the wins, the laughs and the people. That’s what sticks with you.”
There are many words of wisdom both Arbini and Farmer, as well as Darwin, can offer, but mainly the best thing to do is just to show up.
“It’s intimidating to join a technical club,” Arbini said. “But just be there, ask questions and get involved. We love what we do, and we want to share it.”
“There are no stupid questions,” said Farmer, “especially in a project this unconventional. New members often bring ideas we haven’t thought of.”
Heading into his last year as captain, Arbini hopes to continue to grow the knowledge of building a concrete canoe to pass down to the next 50 years of teams, but for the most part, he just looks forward to growing the community and changing the narrative of engineering-focused activities.
“I’d love to push to have more events on the lake so that we can not only bring people in but show them that we’re not just a bunch of nerds in a lab,” said Arbini with a laugh. “We do have fun. I want to build up a good team so the program can continue to grow when I’m gone.”
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Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
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