From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Insider trades on behalf of family are more lucrative than other trades, study finds
LAWRENCE — A new scholarly article from a University of Kansas professor of business compares the information content of direct insider trades made in a personal account versus indirect ones made in the accounts of family members, trusts, retirement accounts and foundations. The new research determines these trades contain more predictive information about earnings surprises and large price changes.

Geologic map for Miami County now available
LAWRENCE — The Kansas Geological Survey has released a new full-color geologic map of Miami County that highlights the type and age of rock layers found at the surface or immediately below the vegetation and soil in the county. The award-winning map provides important information about the distribution of limestones used to make aggregate for construction. Miami County’s limestone aggregate resources are increasingly important to support the transportation infrastructure needs in northeast Kansas.

Grants support increase in research-intensive courses at KU
LAWRENCE — In an effort to provide research opportunities to more students, 18 University of Kansas faculty members are working with the Center for Undergraduate Research this fall and spring to redesign portions of their courses to include a larger research or creative component. Recipients of the Research-Intensive Course Grants participate in a workshop to learn best practices, share models and refine the focus of their classes. Over 400 students were enrolled in the 2022 fall semester research-intensive courses through the program.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]
Insider trades on behalf of family are more lucrative than other trades, study finds
LAWRENCE — When people hear the term “insider trading,” they typically think of financial scandals involving Martha Stewart, Ivan Boesky or the movie “Wall Street.” But the term also has far less sinister connotations.
“Insiders trade in shares of their firms all the time,” said Jide Wintoki, Capitol Federal Professor of Finance and associate dean of graduate programs at the University of Kansas School of Business.
“But we identify a unique group of these trades made on behalf of other people who the insider may be connected to. It’s not in their own account; it’s on behalf of others. The evidence we present suggests these tend to be even more informed than the other insider trades.”
His article titled “Indirect Insider Trading” compares the information content of direct insider trades made in a personal account versus indirect ones made in the accounts of family members, trusts, retirement accounts and foundations. The research determines these trades contain more predictive information about earnings surprises and large price changes. It appears in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
A comparable analogy would be if a person wanted to place a bet on a horse race but had their spouse do it instead.
Wintoki, who co-wrote the paper with Bradley Goldie of Miami University, Chao Jiang of the University of South Carolina and Paul Koch of Iowa State University, notes that 18% of all trades are indirect insider ones. His team hand-collected data from files containing the individual Form 4s filed by insiders electronically, which are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website. The files indicate (in field No. 7) whether these are direct or indirect trades.
“Employees can do insider trades, too,” he said. “However, the reason why we have this data is that rank-and-file employees don’t have to tell the SEC, but executives, managers, the owners of the firm and directors of the firm have to do so.”
That’s the “how” part of this research. But “why” exactly do indirect trades outperform direct trades?
He said, “If you think about insider trading, they can be entirely for liquidity reasons. ‘I hold stock. But my daughter is getting married’ or ‘I need money to buy a boat.’ If you want to do that, you’re unlikely to be doing that in somebody else’s account. So if we want to narrow down which trades are most likely to be informed, there’s already one reason why you’re looking at this unusual set of trades. If you’re trading on behalf of somebody else, it’s unlikely to be unique personal liquidity.”
This isn’t necessarily done as a way of avoiding scrutiny by using someone else’s platform. Sometimes it’s as a convenient way to pass along wealth to a family member, for instance.
“If you buy shares in your own account and eventually sell the shares and give them the money, they would have to pay estate taxes,” he said. “Alternatively, if you have good news about the firm, you can just buy the shares in their own account. It’s theirs. And it’s not subject to gift taxes.”
Ultimately, the illegality of this is solely dependent on whether the watchdog agencies catch the individual who is doing it.
“Hypothetically, you can’t deliberately trade in the shares of your own firm using private information,” Wintoki said.
“When the DOJ or the SEC has enough information to indict you and prove that you deliberately and willingly traded on private information, that’s when they will take you to court for trading in your own stock.”
Wintoki spent a year as a visiting financial economist at the SEC, where he worked on securities enforcement against insider trading. He has been at KU since 2008, where he specializes in corporate and international finance.
“I’m still surprised how much more informed the indirect trades were,” Wintoki said of the key revelation in his research.
“The biggest lesson from this paper is that executives will find ways to make informed trades — and it turns out executives do that in their own accounts but even more so when they trade on behalf of other people.”

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Contact: Julie Tollefson, Kansas Geological Survey, 785-864-2114, [email protected]
Geologic map for Miami County now available
LAWRENCE — The Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas, has released a new full-color geologic map of Miami County that highlights the type and age of rock layers found at the surface or immediately below the vegetation and soil in the east-central Kansas county. Shaded relief provides a three-dimensional quality that accentuates the hills and valleys.
Rocks found at the surface in the county, an area of about 590 square miles, formed during the Pennsylvanian Subperiod (299-323 million years ago) when cycles of shallow seas, swamps and river channels deposited alternating beds of limestone, sandstone, shale and coal in eastern Kansas. The oldest rocks — the Hertha Limestone — crop out in river valleys in the southeastern part of the county. The youngest rocks — the Stanton Limestone — form the uplands in the northwest.
Miami County lies in the Osage Cuestas region of eastern Kansas, where gently dipping limestones and shales that underlie the entire county have been eroded to create ridges with steep, cliff-like faces on one side and gentle slopes on the other. Agriculture is important to the economy of Miami County, and the county is also home to Hillsdale Lake, a federal public water supply reservoir.
Mapped by KGS geologists Anthony Layzell, K. David Newell, Stephan Oborny, Rolfe Mandel and John Dunham, the new map provides important information about the distribution of limestones used to make aggregate for construction. In July, the map was recognized with an Excellence in Cartography award at the world’s largest conference dedicated to geographic information system (GIS) technology.
Aggregate materials are used to make concrete, mortar, asphalt and other similar products. Aggregate made from crushed stone is an essential component of the concrete and asphalt used to construct roads. Miami County’s limestone aggregate resources are increasingly important to support the transportation infrastructure needs in northeast Kansas, especially in the Kansas City metro about 25 miles north of the county.
The best Miami County limestones for aggregate production are found primarily in rock units that are part of the Upper Pennsylvanian Zarah Subgroup and include the Iola, Argentine, and Lower and Upper Farley limestones.
“The extensive exposures of near-surface Pennsylvanian limestone in Miami County are a major source of construction aggregate material needed to support urban growth in the Kansas City region and transportation infrastructure in the rest of the state,” said KGS geologist Jon J. Smith, principal investigator for the KGS STATEMAP geologic mapping project. “Paradoxically, this same growth threatens to envelop potential quarry sites, so it is very important that we identify the location and quality of limestone resources close to Kansas City before they are overtaken by urban sprawl.”
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Contact: Matt Downen, Center for Undergraduate Research, [email protected], @ugresearchKU
Grants support increase in research-intensive courses at KU

LAWRENCE — In an effort to provide research opportunities to more students, 18 University of Kansas faculty members are working with the Center for Undergraduate Research this fall and spring to redesign portions of their courses to include a larger research or creative component. Recipients of the Research-Intensive Course Grants participate in a workshop to learn best practices, share models and refine the focus of their classes.
“These courses will provide many students with the opportunity to participate in research and creative scholarship across a wide range of disciplines,” said Alison Olcott, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research. “This academic year will have the most awardees since the Research-Intensive Course Grant program was created, illustrating the importance of providing students with opportunities to do research in class as well.”
Research-Intensive Course Grants are part of the overall efforts of the Center for Undergraduate Research to provide accessible research opportunities for KU students. The goal is to support faculty who are developing these types of courses so more students can be exposed to the high-impact practice of undergraduate research. Over 400 students were enrolled in the 2022 fall semester research-intensive courses.
This academic year’s recipients were from a variety of disciplines.
“Almost everything in strategic communication is based on research, as we need to understand how an audience feels about a product, service or idea, in order to effectively communicate our message,” said Joseph Erba, associate professor of journalism. “The Research-Intensive Course Grant allowed us to collect primary data via a social media analytics software that is widely used in our profession. Students got a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at how these data are collected and used them to provide recommendations for a mock communication campaign they are working on.”
Jennifer Lohoefener, assistant research professor in electrical engineering & computer science, transformed her course this fall by incorporating research.
“The value of incorporating research into our Programming Languages course (EECS 662) is it’s brought a fresh perspective to language design that was lacking before,” Lohoefener said. “Students are encouraged to be curious and know that success is not always absent of failure. Sometimes success is failure. They’ve been given a chance to explore how today’s languages have come into existence and have developed a newfound appreciation for the scholars that have come before them.”
Fall 2022 recipients include the following faculty members:
1. Thom Allen, lecturer in architecture, Arch 177, Cities and Resources
2. Yvonnes Chen, professor of journalism & mass communications, JMC 420, Principles of Strategic Communication I
3. Joseph Erba, associate professor of journalism & mass communications, JMC 420, Principles of Strategic Communication II
4. Nisha Fernando, associate professor of interior architecture, IA 508, Interior Architecture Studio III
5. Jennifer Lohoefener, assistant research professor of electrical engineering & computer science, EECS 662, Programming Languages
6. Shuai Sun, assistant teaching professor of chemistry, CHEM 150, Chemistry for Engineers
Spring 2023 recipients include the following faculty members:
1. Rafael Acosta, associate professor of Spanish & Portuguese, SPAN 560, Not the World We Have but the One We Need (social film studies capstone)
2. Miguel Angel Albujar-Escuredo, lecturer in Spanish & Portuguese, SPAN 448, Language & Culture for Business
3. Joseph Erba, associate professor of journalism & mass communications, JMC 640, Strategic Campaigns
4. Eileen Hotze, associate teaching professor of molecular biosciences and undergraduate biology, BIOL507, Bacterial Infectious Disease Laboratory
5. Chien-Ho Ko, research professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering, CMGT 712, Construction Safety Solution Development
6. Olga Kyrylova, visiting assistant professor of film & media studies, FMS 177, Ukraine Through the Lens of Film
7. Brian Lagotte, director of undergraduate programs, Center for Global & International Studies, GIST 698, Capstone Seminar
8. David Mai, assistant teaching professor of film & media studies, FMS 303, Intermediate Animation
9. Stephen Politzer-Ahles, associate teaching professor of linguistics, LING 435, Psycholinguistics
10. Kelly Sharron, lecturer in sociology and in women, gender & sexuality studies, SOC 450, Gender and Society
11. Judy Wu, lecturer in pharmacy practice, PHAR 535, Pharmacy Skills laboratory VI
12. Jack Zhang, assistant professor of political science, POLS/EALC 666, Political Economy of Asia.

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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
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http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

Kansas Geological Survey to measure groundwater levels in western Kansas
LAWRENCE — A crew from the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas, will be in western Kansas measuring groundwater levels the first week of January. Levels are measured annually as part of a joint project conducted by KGS and the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources to monitor the health of the state’s valuable groundwater resources. Weather permitting, the KGS crew will be working near Colby on Jan. 3, Goodland on Jan. 4, Ulysses on Jan. 5 and Liberal on Jan. 6.

Cessation of Medicaid funding for neonatal circumcision examined in new study
LAWRENCE — Although it is both a religious rite and cultural practice, male circumcision is primarily done in the United States as a means of preventative health care. Yet Medicaid funding for this neonatal procedure has been decreasing for decades. A new article from a University of Kansas professor titled “The 1982 Medicaid Funding Cessation for Circumcision in California and Circumcision Rates” investigates the state’s decision to stop subsidizing Medicaid neonatal circumcision. The research finds that such funding coverage affects circumcision rates, which could magnify health care disparities.

KU Engineering SELF Fellows design bus bench prototype for city of Lawrence
LAWRENCE — Engineering students at the University of Kansas have designed and built a prototype of a new bench for bus stops in the city of Lawrence. The ADA-compliant project was part of a revamped leadership program for undergraduates in the School of Engineering, designed to give students hands-on design and project management experience on real-world projects.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Brownie Wilson, Kansas Geological Survey, 785-864-2118, [email protected], @ksgeology
Kansas Geological Survey to measure groundwater levels in western Kansas
LAWRENCE — A crew from the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas, will be in western Kansas measuring groundwater levels the first week of January.
Levels are measured annually as part of a joint project conducted by KGS and the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) to monitor the health of the state’s valuable groundwater resources.
Weather permitting, the KGS crew will be working near Colby on Jan. 3, Goodland on Jan. 4, Ulysses on Jan. 5 and Liberal on Jan. 6.
Most of the measured wells tap into the High Plains aquifer, a massive network of underground water-bearing rocks and the main source of water in the region. The rest draw from deeper aquifers or shallower alluvial aquifers along creeks and rivers.
Based on 2022 precipitation patterns and widespread drought conditions in western Kansas, Brownie Wilson, KGS water-data manager, expects this winter’s measurements to show an overall decline.
“The lack of moisture across much of Kansas this past year is on par with what we saw in 2011 and 2012,” Wilson said. “Most of the High Plains aquifer region of Kansas has been under some level of drought condition since the start of the year, and that trend is continuing right into 2023. This has resulted in increased pumping demands that have stretched into the fall and early winter. As such, we are expecting water levels to be down across the state.”
The High Plains aquifer underlies portions of eight states. In Kansas, it encompasses three individual aquifers — the Ogallala aquifer, the Equus Beds around Wichita and Hutchinson, and the Great Bend Prairie aquifer around Pratt and Great Bend.
Groundwater levels in much of the state’s portion of the Ogallala aquifer, especially in southwest Kansas, have been on the decline since water use started to rise in the mid-20th century. Dry years lead to increased water usage, primarily for irrigation, which in turn typically causes greater declines in water levels.
The KGS and DWR measure depth to water in more than 1,400 wells in 48 counties, primarily in January to avoid as much as possible skewed data associated with short-term declines caused by widespread pumping during the growing season. This year, KGS will measure 582 wells, and crews from the DWR’s field offices in Garden City, Stafford and Stockton will measure 827.
Wells are accessed with landowners’ permission, and many have been monitored for years, although new wells are added as older wells become inaccessible or to fill in spatial gaps in the monitoring network. The majority are within the boundaries of the state’s five Groundwater Management Districts (GMDs), which are organized and governed by area landowners and water users to address local water-resource issues.
Historical annual measurements for each well are available on the KGS website. Results of measurements made in January 2023 will be added in late February.

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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]
Cessation of Medicaid funding for neonatal circumcision examined in new study
LAWRENCE — Although it is both a religious rite and cultural practice, male circumcision is primarily done in the United States as a means of preventative health care. Yet Medicaid funding for this neonatal procedure has been decreasing for decades.
A new article in the journal AIDS and Behavior titled “The 1982 Medicaid Funding Cessation for Circumcision in California and Circumcision Rates” investigates the state’s decision to stop subsidizing Medicaid neonatal circumcision. The research finds that such funding coverage affects circumcision rates, which could magnify health care disparities such as lower rates of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and urinary tract infections.
“California’s 1982 decision to defund Medicaid male neonatal circumcision was associated with a 25 to 31 percentage point decrease in West-Medicaid circumcision rates compared to the changes for other groups and other states in this time period,” said David Slusky, professor of economics at the University of Kansas. “Overall this shows that insurance funding decisions have a key impact on families’ health care decisions.”
Co-written by KU economics alumnus Ryan Wendling (who worked on the project as an undergraduate research assistant) and infectious disease physician Rebecca Linfield of Stanford University, this research is the first to use the California case as a natural experiment to see how a defunding policy change affects contemporaneous circumcision rates.
The potential medical benefits of circumcision are well-known: This includes decrease of HIV (up to 60% in clinical trials in multiple countries in Africa), sexually transmitted infections, rates of urinary tract infections and rates of penile cancer.
“Male neonatal circumcision is quite inexpensive relative to other procedures — about $215 per procedure — and therefore a cost-effective way to prevent disease,” Slusky said.
According to his research, Medicaid now pays for any¬where from 30% to 70% of all U.S. births across states. In 1990, only California (1982) and North Dakota (1986) had ended Medicaid coverage of neonatal circumcision. By 2011, a total of 17 additional states had adopted similar policies, with only Colorado reversing its decision in 2017. California cut Medicaid neonatal circumcision funding in 1982 primarily for budgetary reasons.
While this result has affected people based on their income, it also does so based on race.
“Medicaid insures those with lower incomes, which unfortunately in our country is a disproportionately larger share of Black and Hispanic populations than of other populations,” he said. “Newborn males from these groups were therefore more likely to be covered by Medicaid and thus more likely to be affected by defunding Medicaid male neonatal circumcision.”
A KU faculty member since 2015, Slusky specializes in health economics and labor economics. He has conducted research on a variety of topics, including the Flint water crisis, COVID-19 restrictions and abortion care.
“Our results are another example that financial nudges matter. There was no change in circumcision availability, let alone mandates or cultural norms. And there will always both be families that will circumcise their sons regardless of cost and families that won’t even if it’s free. But we show that for a substantial number of low-income families, the financial cost makes a difference,” Slusky said.
“State policymakers need to keep that in mind when they decide what is and is not covered by Medicaid.”
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Contact: Cody Howard, School of Engineering, 785-864-2936, [email protected], @kuengineering
KU Engineering SELF Fellows design bus bench prototype for city of Lawrence
LAWRENCE — Engineering students at the University of Kansas have designed and built a prototype of a new bench for bus stops in the city of Lawrence. The project was part of a revamped leadership program for undergraduates in the School of Engineering, designed to give students hands-on design and project management experience on real-world projects.
Community leadership is especially emphasized during the SELF fellows’ sophomore year. In the past, students utilized their entrepreneurial skills to raise funds for local nonprofit agencies. However, in 2021-22, SELF Program Coordinator Gowri Nagarajan helped pivot the project to instead engage the fellows in unique training in project management. In addition to serving a local agency’s needs, SELF fellows use their community service project as an opportunity to hone their engineering and design expertise.
“It’s always been a focus to develop leadership, to develop entrepreneurial and business skills,” said Paige Salas, a junior in civil engineering from Kansas City, Kansas, who led the bench design team. “With this academic term, I think we’ve been able to put that into practice while helping others.”
The city of Lawrence has provided transit service to its residents for two decades. But its bus stops have often been no-frills affairs — often a simple sign next to the street with no other accommodations provided. The benches that do exist are often ad hoc affairs, provided by neighborhood residents on their own initiative.
So when transit officials were approached by Nagarajan, they were ready to standardize the process a bit — looking to ensure the benches are sturdy, easy to build and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The SELF students produced a design that can be duplicated by those neighborhoods and private individuals, and they built a bench as proof of concept.
“Their criteria was very clear,” Nagarajan said of city transit officials. “They did not want us to build 180 bus benches across the Lawrence community. They wanted us to help them find the Ikea way of doing these benches.”
City leaders said they were pleased with the final product.
“Not only did they build us a really functional, sturdy bench, they also documented the steps it takes to build that bench,” said Felice Lavergne, a transit planner for the city. “That really helps those groups build benches that we know will work for us, and they can be as creative as they want with paints or different touches like that. It’s really a huge win for everyone.”
The transit system isn’t the only winner. SELF students worked on five community projects during the 2021-22 school year and are now working on another half-dozen projects during the current term — projects that range from designing, building and installing a “little library” and key fob system for Lawrence Public Library, to providing enrichment structures for cats at the Lawrence Humane Society.
“I will go and work with local community partners, and I’ll tell them: ‘We have amazing engineers. Do you have any problems you’re facing which you could delegate to us?’” Nagarajan said.
Students benefit from the projects not just by applying their engineering talents but by practicing project management skills. They meet with the agencies, learn about their needs and requirements for projects that range far beyond simple design considerations. The students on the bus project even took their proposal to the Lawrence City Commission for an explanation.
“We did a lot of work on the engineering side, making sure that this was a safe bench for everybody to use, and mainly that it was ADA compliant so that everybody in the community could use it,” Salas said. But her team also “got to work on the more legal side of coming up with legal documents that we signed together. We walked through the project management side of everything and then even worked on something simple as budgeting. We spent a long time working on that.”
Salas also got to see the human effect of her work. “I think as an engineer, I learned how to be more inclusive with our design,” she said. “Our population in Lawrence is incredibly diverse, and so make sure to account for in our design all the populations that could be impacted. That was my biggest takeaway.”
City transit officials are working with a new group of students on another project, a sound-dampening system for the city’s noisy paratransit buses.
“I know they’re sophomores, but they work at almost a professional level, so it’s really nice. And they’re learning how to work with clients,” Lavergne said. “That’s really different than a lot of other potential groups that you can work with because they’re so focused on those skills. It’s been really outstanding to see the work that they can produce at this level.”
And that’s work that will give SELF fellows the chance to benefit the Lawrence community that is home to KU.
“The growth we have as engineers, as leaders and as members of this community is truly incredible,” Nagarajan said.
The Self Engineering Leadership Fellows (SELF) Program was established in 2007 as the result of a contribution to the KU Endowment Association from Madison “Al” and Lila Self. The Selfs’ intention for the program is to identify and develop students who have a passion for engineering and possess a “fire in the belly” mentality.
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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs