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KU research growth fuels Kansas economy, improves lives
LAWRENCE — Research is on the rise at the University of Kansas, and the reverberations of that growth are benefiting people across the Sunflower State and beyond. Research expenditures spanning all KU campuses increased to $368.6 million in 2023, capping nearly a decade of steady expansion. Last year alone, externally funded research at KU supported the salaries of 4,372 people, and the university spent $78.9 million in 97 Kansas counties on research-related goods and services, according to a report from the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science.
KC pianist Eddie Moore pursues a pure vision with new solo live recording
LAWRENCE — Eddie Moore’s new album, “Aperture,” comprises just six songs and 16 minutes of solo piano. But it’s based on a lifetime of listening to and performing in all genres of music — not just the “jazz” that follows his title as a lecturer in the University of Kansas School of Music and for which he has become well known in the Kansas City area.
KU law school 1st in nation for 100% ultimate bar exam pass rate
LAWRENCE – All University of Kansas School of Law graduates in calendar year 2021 passed the bar exam within two years of graduation, according to the American Bar Association. The accrediting body recently released a compilation report of its findings. Among 195 ABA-approved law schools, KU posted the highest rate for ultimate pass rate nationally.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Mindie Paget, Office of Research, 785-864-0013, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU
KU research growth fuels Kansas economy, improves lives
LAWRENCE — Research is on the rise at the University of Kansas, and the reverberations of that growth are benefiting people across the Sunflower State and beyond.
Research expenditures spanning all KU campuses increased to $368.6 million in 2023, capping nearly a decade of steady expansion. Last year alone, externally funded research at KU supported the salaries of 4,372 people, and the university spent $78.9 million in 97 Kansas counties on research-related goods and services, according to a report from the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science. Vendors in 19 of those counties received more than $100,000 in purchases.
“KU research is solving big problems facing Kansans and their communities while simultaneously serving as a vital economic engine for the state,” said Belinda Sturm, interim vice chancellor for research on KU’s Lawrence campus. “Our researchers are driven by opportunities to improve human health and well-being, sustain life on our planet, enhance safety and security, and so much more. In the process, they are also educating tomorrow’s workforce, creating jobs, attracting businesses and external funding, and investing in the prosperity of Kansans.”
Among research funded during fiscal year 2023 were projects to better understand risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, sustain Kansas water resources, develop community-based models for child abuse prevention, explore the physiological mechanisms at work in opioid addiction, evaluate the long-term health of Kansas reservoirs, transform plant material into next-generation batteries to provide cleaner energy, bolster housing to withstand natural disasters, improve decision-making to prevent substance misuse among adolescents, analyze education requirements for jobs over the next decade and more.
Research expenditures are funds spent to conduct research. A majority of KU’s research — nearly 70% in 2023 — is supported by federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. KU researchers win grant dollars from these agencies through competitions designed to identify the most innovative ideas for addressing societal challenges. Other sources of KU research funding include state and local governments, private businesses and nonprofit foundations.
Advancing health, economic impact
Additional IRIS reporting shows that KU contributed $1.2 billion to the U.S. economy between 2011 and 2022, with spending from external research funding flowing to more than 7,200 vendors and subcontractors over that time. Of the 60% of KU’s spending that could be matched with specific vendors and contractors, more than 900 were small businesses. Some 650 vendors were minority- or women-owned businesses, which attracted more than $32 million in research spending from KU.
The IRIS reports encompass research spending across all KU campuses. That includes the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, where research ultimately contributes to life-changing medical advances.
“Research is continuing to grow at KU Medical Center across the board,” said Dr. Matthias Salathe, vice chancellor for research at the medical center. “Whether in basic science, clinical or community research, our scientists and researchers are exploring ways to improve health outcomes for the benefit of people in Kansas and beyond.”
Several large research grants have been awarded to the medical center in the past few years. In July 2022, the NIH awarded $27 million to support the Frontiers Clinical & Translational Science Institute, and the National Cancer Institute awarded the KU Cancer Center $13.8 million and designated it a “comprehensive” cancer center, its highest level of recognition. In October 2022, a $12 million grant from the NIH’s Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program was used to create the new Kansas Center for Metabolism & Obesity Research.
KU’s research-related economic impact extends beyond the data captured in IRIS reporting. For example, 49 active startup companies have spun out of KU or are based on KU technologies, and more than half of those companies are located in Kansas. Through the university’s relationship with the KU Innovation Park, KU researchers help attract businesses to Lawrence, Kansas City and the surrounding area — companies like Archer Daniels Midland and Garmin — that want to be close to KU researchers and students. The park system, which extends to the medical center campus, includes 71 companies and accounts for 680 private sector jobs and $45.1 million in annual direct payroll.
Influencing rankings, AAU membership
KU’s substantial research activity has helped sustain its membership in the Association of American Universities since 1909, and the university’s annual research expenditures affect its standing in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education & Research Development Survey. KU ranked 48th among public universities for research and development expenditures in the latest HERD survey, which is based on fiscal year 2022 data. The university also claimed the third overall spot in federally financed R&D expenditures in non-science and engineering fields for the second year in a row.
KU ranks 23rd nationally for federally funded social and behavioral sciences, according to the Consortium of Social Science Associations. The association formulates its college and university rankings by combining HERD survey expenditures for social sciences, psychology, law, communications and social work.
Other prominent KU rankings in the HERD survey:
No. 9: overall R&D expenditures in non-science and engineering fields.
No. 35: federally financed R&D expenditures by agencies other than the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Health & Human Services, NASA, National Science Foundation and Department of Agriculture.
No. 38: federally financed R&D expenditures in psychology.
No. 74: overall R&D expenditures among all universities.
No. 80: federally financed R&D expenditures among all universities.
The HERD survey collects information on research and development expenditures by field of research and source of funds among all U.S. colleges and universities that expend at least $150,000 on R&D. The survey included 900 public and private institutions.
IRIS is a national consortium of research universities organized around an IRB-approved data repository, housed at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. IRIS reports are based on administrative data that KU supplies to IRIS, which are then merged with other public and private datasets.
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
KC pianist Eddie Moore pursues a pure vision with new solo live recording
LAWRENCE — Eddie Moore’s new album, “Aperture,” comprises just six songs and 16 minutes of solo piano. But it’s based on a lifetime of listening to and performing in all genres of music — not just the “jazz” that follows his title as a lecturer in the University of Kansas School of Music and for which he has become well known in the Kansas City area.
“I play everything,” Moore said. “To me, jazz isn’t one style. It’s not actually a style at all. So I play everything — traditional, all of it.”
Moore grew up in Houston with parents who sang rhythm and blues and gospel music. He moved to this area a decade ago to earn a master’s degree in the jazz program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, then run by saxophone great Bobby Watson.
“I knew I was missing some things,” Moore said. “I came here to get the full scope. So while I’m super modern, you can relate to the music because you hear elements of the older jazz that you like, because I’m a student of that. And that gets back to why I practice every day. I listen to older music and transcribe it so I can bring that classic language to my modern world; so it’s grounded.”
Moore has made six albums and several singles of forward-thinking jazz with his own group, the Outer Circle. His previous solo record, “Intuition” (2022), features Moore mainly playing electric keyboard in funky collaborations with rappers Kemet Coleman and Dom Chronicles, among others. He has played with the Marcus Lewis Big Band and several other ensembles.
“There are so many aspects to music, and I sit in many different real estates,” Moore said.
Being ready to jump in any direction is one of the reasons Moore dedicates himself to the craft of music.
“If you want to be a good writer or a good conversationalist, you read and write all the time, so you’re always growing your vocabulary. For me, it’s very similar,” Moore said. “If jazz improvisation is actually a language, then I’m always trying to learn new vocabulary words to be able to tell a deeper, better story, especially over different styles of music.”
The goal is to make it look easy, Moore said.
The new solo recording is a whole different vibe stemming from – and recorded at – Moore’s steady biweekly gig at the high-style Corvino Supper Club in Kansas City, Missouri. Moore said he likes to stretch out there, not breaking between songs but rather setting a mood.
“When I sit down to record this record, I was thinking about my stories, and how I wanted it to sonically sound – the overall experience of the piano,” Moore said. “I wanted the listener to be sitting where I’m sitting, which is why you hear the environment. It’s clearly not a studio record. So you hear me moving on the seat. … I’m a human being in a live environment, sitting on things that make noises. We’re so used to hearing these perfect, sterile records. That’s why I chose to do it live.”
Moore said he modified the baby grand at Corvino to “sound darker,” a la German composer-pianist Nils Frahm.
“I think this record is unique because it’s my full vision,” Moore said. “I recorded it and engineered it with my friend Jaylen Ward. We experimented with different mic techniques. And then I’m the one who mixed it. So these are the ideas I wanted to capture on solo piano, and how I wanted to have it sound.”
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.
https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Julie Francisco, School of Law, 785-864-9205, [email protected], @kulawschool
KU law school 1st in nation for 100% ultimate bar exam pass rate
LAWRENCE – All University of Kansas School of Law graduates in calendar year 2021 passed the bar exam within two years of graduation, according to the American Bar Association. The accrediting body recently released a compilation report of its findings. Among 195 ABA-approved law schools, KU posted the highest rate for ultimate pass rate nationally.
The ultimate bar passage rate for law schools is a measurement of a graduating class’s bar exam success over a two-year period. Graduates have four chances to take the exam during that two-year period. While passing the bar on the first try is optimal, passing eventually is critical since the ABA maintains an accreditation standard that at least 75% of a law school’s test-taking graduates must pass a bar exam within two years of earning a diploma.
In addition, nearly 92% of KU Law graduates who took a bar exam for the first time during the 2023 calendar year passed. This achievement places KU Law 26th in the nation for first-time bar pass rate.
“Because KU’s first-time pass rate is so high, it only makes sense that our ultimate pass rate is also high,” said Dean Stephen Mazza. “But the fact that our students achieved a 100% ultimate rate is extraordinary and speaks to their grit and determination.”
KU Law graduates who took the Kansas and Missouri bar exams for the first time in 2023 passed at rates well above the state averages. In Missouri, 100% of KU test-takers passed the bar on their first attempt. That showing outpaces by 15.7% the Missouri average of 84.3%. KU graduates taking the Kansas bar exam for the first time in 2023 achieved a 90.5% pass rate, placing the school 13.3% above the Kansas average of 77.2%.
KU Law’s bar passage rates have improved dramatically since the school implemented its Free Bar Prep Program in 2018. The program offers all students a postgraduation Themis Bar Review course that includes a simulated bar exam and a Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination preparation course. The bar prep program also includes a first-year diagnostic exam that tests students’ understanding of core concepts, a bar exam preparation course for credit during the spring of their third year and assistance from the law school’s director of bar preparation when studying for the bar. KU Law graduates who took the bar exam in 2021 were in the first class to participate in all three years of the Free Bar Prep Program.
Alumni gifts support the Free Bar Prep Program, making it possible for KU Law to be one of a few law schools nationally to offer a commercial, postgraduation bar review course at no cost to students.
“While other law schools may offer similar programs, they build the cost for the prep program into tuition,” Mazza said. “At KU, alumni giving helps graduates clear the final hurdle to becoming a lawyer without the financial pressure of paying for a commercial bar review course.”
With an institutional focus on removing obstacles to ensure that a legal education and career is attainable for all students, KU Law has been consistently recognized as a “Best Value Law School” by National Jurist magazine. Currently, KU Law is ranked the No. 4 Best Value Law School in the nation.
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