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Missouri scientist to discuss overdose crisis, need to improve addiction treatment systems, policies
LAWRENCE — Rachel Winograd, associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, will discuss three Missouri-based projects to reduce drug overdoses and deaths, particularly among the Black community, at 10:30 am Friday, April 22. The virtual talk is presented by the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research & Treatment at KU and is the final lecture in the center’s spring seminar series.
Two KU Engineering graduate students claim top honors at international radar conference
LAWRENCE — Jonathan Owen and Christian Jones, both University of Kansas doctoral students in electrical engineering & computer science, took first and second place, respectively, in the student paper contest at the 2022 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Radar Conference, a gathering in March of students and researchers from 37 countries. The awards continued a winning streak of sorts for EECS — Jones took first place in last year’s competition, and the department has had a top-three finisher in the contest nearly every year since 2016. Seventy-one papers were submitted from around the world for the contest.
University Theatre set to perform ‘H.M.S. Pinafore,’ a comic class clash
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas production of “H.M.S. Pinafore,” featuring KU theatre and music students, will conclude University Theatre’s 2021-22 season. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. April 29, May 3 and May 5 and at 2:30 p.m. May 1 in Murphy Hall. Kansas cast, ensemble and crew members include students from Gardner, Lawrence, Maize, Moran, Olathe, Prairie Village Spring Hill and Wichita.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Jen Humphrey, Life Span Institute, 785-864-6621, [email protected], @kulifespan
Missouri scientist to discuss overdose crisis, need to improve addiction treatment systems, policies
LAWRENCE — Longtime disinvestment in health and social supports, roadblocks to treatment, historical trauma and the addition of fentanyl to the drug supply have combined to put Black communities at great risk for drug overdoses and deaths. In St. Louis, Black residents have the highest rates of drug-involved deaths of any demographic group or region in Missouri.
Interventions and programs studied by a leading substance-use scientist in the state are aimed at changing those figures and improving health in Black communities. Rachel Winograd, associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, will discuss three Missouri-based projects to reduce drug overdoses and deaths at 10:30 am Friday, April 22. The virtual talk is presented by the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research & Treatment at KU and is the final lecture in the center’s spring seminar series.
Efforts in Missouri center around improving naloxone distribution and training in harm reduction to prevent fatal overdoses, increasing access to medical treatment for opioid use disorder in publicly funded treatment programs and investing in the health and well-being of Black individuals who use drugs in St. Louis.
Winograd said that just as a “housing first” approach has been used to address homelessness, a medication-first approach is needed to treat opioid use disorder.
“The goal of both approaches is to provide rapid and secure access to a life-saving resource with as few barriers as possible,” she said.
The idea is not only for people with opioid use disorder to get stabilized with medication as quickly as possible to reduce withdrawal symptoms, but also that maintaining that stability long-term is paramount. Anything that gets in the way of staying on life-saving treatments, like requirements to participate in other services, or arbitrary medication time limits or rules requiring complete drug abstinence, end up serving as barriers for people who would be better off maintaining their access to medication, according to Winograd.
“This causes more harm than good,” she said. “So, medication should both be ‘first’ in terms of treatment chronology but also ‘first’ in terms of our priorities for keeping people safe and alive long-term.”
Winograd will discuss efforts to create substance use system changes and help build a funding, policy and accountability landscape that values and listens to Black individuals affected by addiction and invests in local Black-led organizations and networks, she said.
Michael Amlung, associate director for training at Cofrin Logan Center and associate professor in the KU Department of Applied Behavioral Science, said the talk and other seminars offered by the center are a key component of the educational and outreach missions of the center.
“This seminar is another example of the Cofrin Logan Center’s goal of disseminating addiction science to broader audiences,” Amlung said. “The lessons learned from Dr. Winograd’s efforts in Missouri provide hope to Kansas communities also facing the growing overdose crisis.”
The Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research & Treatment is a part of the KU Life Span Institute. It brings together researchers, practitioners, KU students and community partners to address challenges in addiction.
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Contact: Cody Howard, School of Engineering, 785-864-2936, [email protected], @kuengineering
Two KU Engineering graduate students claim top honors at international radar conference
LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas School of Engineering students have received international recognition for their research on radar systems.
Jonathan Owen and Christian Jones, both doctoral students in electrical engineering & computer science, took first and second place, respectively, in the student paper contest at the 2022 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Radar Conference, a gathering in March of students and researchers from 37 countries. The awards continued a winning streak of sorts for EECS — Jones took first place in last year’s competition, and the department has had a top-three finisher in the contest nearly every year since 2016. Seventy-one papers were submitted from around the world for the contest.
“This in particular is the flagship conference in the field of radar in the world. So being able to have students even get selected to the top five is significant,” said Shannon Blunt, the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. “If from time to time you get a student in the top three, it is a big deal. The fact we’ve had several in the last few years shows KU to be a powerhouse, if you will.”
Owen took first place — along with credited co-authors Blunt, Charles Mohr, Brandon Ravenscroft, Benjamin Kirk and Anthony Martone — for his paper “Real-Time Experimental Demonstration and Evaluation of Open-Air Sense-and-Notch Radar.” The research examined methods for letting radar and 5G communications systems share the wireless spectrum without interfering with each other, an issue that became headline news earlier this year when Verizon and AT&T delayed launching 5G services near U.S. airports over concerns about flight safety.
“Never before has radar needed to avoid interfering with communications,” Owen said. “It’s a new problem because the spectrum is becoming more congested.”
Jones — along with credited co-authors Blunt, Owen, Zeus Gannon, Dan DePardo, Christopher T. Allen and Benjamin Kirk — took second place for his paper, “Development & Experimental Assessment of Robust Direction Finding and Self-Calibration,” which similarly focused on methods for getting accurate radar readings amid an increasingly cluttered wireless spectrum.
“The work presented by the students from University of Kansas was both of high quality, novel to the field of radar, theoretically sound and practically demonstrated, which landed them in the top five of the conference as reviewed by a panel of judges from all of the world,” said Willie Nel, chief radar engineer for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa and the lead judge for the contest. “Furthermore, they impressed the panel of judges with a well-presented, clear and concise presentation of their work and could defend their work well under the stress of a student paper final.”
Owen said KU has given him a firm foundation for his success at the conference.
“We’ve had some great successes within our lab,” he said. “I think the key to success in our lab is that the advisers consistently make sure we have all the resources and connections needed to produce relevant research in the radar field.”
Blunt said KU’s streak of success owes to a tradition of quality going back to Richard Moore, who taught in the department for more than 30 years starting in the early 1960s and started the university’s Radar Systems & Remote Sensing Lab. And EECS gives itself another advantage by working to bridge the “valley of death” between theoretical academic work and real-world radar applications used by government and industry.
“If you look across academia in general, even in the world of radar, there’s a lot of work that’s extremely theoretical. It’s basically applied math,” Blunt said. “We do that as well. But where we stand out is we take that theoretical work and put it in experimental work. We prove these things work in the real world.”
RadarConf’22 was sponsored by IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. The conference took place March 21-25 in New York City.
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected], @KUTheatre, @KUDanceDept
University Theatre set to perform ‘H.M.S. Pinafore,’ a comic class clash
LAWRENCE — Love doesn’t conform; it gets salty, particularly in “H.M.S. Pinafore,” also known as “The Lass That Loved a Sailor,” where W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan use satire to poke fun at the British class system through the lens of a love story.
This co-production with the University of Kansas School of Music concludes the University Theatre’s 2021-22 season. The comedic opera features the KU Symphony Orchestra and is stage-directed by John Stephens, professor of voice and opera, and is designed by faculty and a graduate student in the Department of Theatre & Dance.
Crafton-Preyer Theatre stage will be transformed, taking audiences into the lamp-lit nautical night and also to dock where Little Buttercup comes aboard.
“In ‘Pinafore,’ as with all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the audience is treated to an evening of beautiful and lively music, set to some of the cleverest lyrics in the English language. The story shows that life holds secrets we certainly don’t anticipate,” Stephens said. “As Buttercup sings, ‘Things are seldom what they seem ….’ Among others, we meet the class-conscious and slightly neurotic captain; the opportunistic Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Navy; and Dick Deadeye — my personal favorite — who sees through the hypocrisies of his society but is shunned due to his personal appearance.”
“H.M.S. Pinafore” plays at 7:30 p.m. April 29, May 3 and May 5 and at 2:30 p.m. May 1 in Murphy Hall. Purchase tickets online at kutheatre.com by calling 785-864-3982, or by stopping by the University Theatre box office in Murphy Hall, noon-5 p.m. weekdays. All patrons are highly encouraged to wear a mask while attending performances.
The creative team is rounded out by Dennis Christilles, associate professor of scenography, as scenic designer; Kelly Vogel, resident artist/academic associate, as costume designer; Lindsay Webster, an MFA student in scenography, as lighting designer; Francis Ho, a DMA in orchestral conducting from Nashville, Tennessee, as conductor; Tara Burgat, a student from Spring Hill, as choreographer; and Bailey Dobbins, a recent KU graduate, as stage manager.
Many of the roles are double-cast to give students more opportunities to contribute to this production, Stephens said. Individuals’ performance dates can be found on kutheatre.com. The cast consists of Bethany Dart, a graduate student in music from Bellevue, Nebraska, and Lauren Newstrom, a junior in music education from Omaha, Nebraska, as Josephine; Sarah Curtis, a second-year DMA in vocal performance, and Deanna Eberhart, a first-year graduate student in voice and church music from Kansas City, Missouri, as Little Buttercup; Daniel Loganbill, a DMA in vocal performance and church music, as Sir Joseph; Will Simpson, a graduate student in music from Prairie Village, as Captain Corcoran; Zack Devin, a second-year DMP in music education-vocal pedagogy from Robinson, Illinois, as Ralph; Eli Panek, a senior in music from Kansas City, Missouri, as Dick Deadeye; Clara Boyd, a senior in voice performance and pre-medicine double major from Moran, as Cousin Hebe; Yoseph Park, a graduate student in opera, as Boatswain; and Reed Schenkel, a junior in vocal performance from Lawrence, as Carpenter.
The women’s ensemble consists of Olly Mitchell, a freshman in theatre from Maize; Elizabeth Webster, a sophomore in music therapy from O’Fallon, Missouri; Natalie Sledd, a freshman in vocal performance from Kansas City, Missouri; Morgan Goeser, a sophomore in speech-language-hearing from Lawrence; Meg Schiliro, a junior in theatre and voice from Elmhurst, Illinois; Hannah Gassman, a sophomore in voice and theatre from Deerfield, Illinois; Arianna Stein, a senior in voice performance from St. Louis; and Stephanie Born, a sophomore in vocal performance from Wichita.
The men’s ensemble consists of Benjamin Sawchak, a senior in vocal performance from Gardner; Colin Bradt, a junior in theatre and voice from Lawrence; Joshua Nobles, a junior in music education from Sibley, Iowa; Weston Curnow, a sophomore in English and philosophy from Olathe; Christian Laredo, a music education major from East Peoria, Illinois; and Dmitry Tyshlek, a junior in business analytics from Olathe.
The University Theatre is a production wing of KU’s Department of Theatre & Dance, offering six public productions during the academic year. The University Theatre productions are funded in part by Student Senate fees and supported by Truity Credit Union. For more information on the University Theatre or to purchase tickets, visit KUtheatre.com.
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