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Kansas Geological Survey scientist emeritus receives Water Legacy Award
LAWRENCE — Donald Whittemore, scientist emeritus at the Kansas Geological Survey whose groundbreaking work toward understanding and addressing a wide range of water resources issues in Kansas has touched every corner of the state, is the recipient of the Water Legacy Award, presented by the Kansas Water Office. Whittemore received the award during the 2022 Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas, which was Nov. 16 in Manhattan.

Petroleum engineering professor wins international ‘Breakthrough Research of the Year’ award
LAWRENCE — Masoud Kalantari, associate professor of chemical & petroleum engineering at the University of Kansas, leads a group that is developing a system to make hydraulic fracturing more efficient for energy producers. The project was honored in early November with the “Breakthrough Research of the Year” award at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference, sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

KU Engineering student receives prestigious Boren Award
LAWRENCE — Anthony Moon, a University of Kansas junior in civil engineering from Overland Park, has been awarded a David L. Boren Scholarship for $25,000 to study in Seoul, South Korea. The scholarships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program, a federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. Moon is a member of KU Naval ROTC and graduate of Blue Valley Northwest High School.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Julie Tollefson, Kansas Geological Survey, 785-864-2114, [email protected]
Kansas Geological Survey scientist emeritus receives Water Legacy Award
LAWRENCE — Donald Whittemore, scientist emeritus at the Kansas Geological Survey whose groundbreaking work toward understanding and addressing a wide range of water resources issues in Kansas has touched every corner of the state, is the recipient of the Water Legacy Award, presented by the Kansas Water Office.
Whittemore received the award, which recognizes significant contributions and lasting impacts on the future of water in the state, during the 2022 Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas, which was Nov. 16 in Manhattan.
“Don, more than any other individual in the last century, has significantly enhanced our knowledge of Kansas groundwater and surface water resources,” said KGS senior scientist Jim Butler, who worked closely with Whittemore for more than 30 years and nominated him for the award. “Odds are high that if there’s a water issue facing the state, Don has seen it, studied it and can accurately comment on it. The state is incredibly fortunate that he chose to devote his career to Kansas water issues.”
Among his accomplishments, Whittemore developed a saltwater “fingerprinting” method used by state agencies and consultants to differentiate natural saltwater from saltwater contamination originating in oilfield brines, a significant source of groundwater pollution in central Kansas.
“Don’s work has been central to helping identify and control that contamination, driving everything from remediation efforts to litigation,” Butler said.
Over four decades, Whittemore’s water chemistry work resulted in a better understanding of water quality in Kansas aquifers and surface water on multiple fronts — groundwater pollution in the Equus Beds aquifer, one of the primary sources of water for Wichita; potable water prospects for the Dakota aquifer in western and central Kansas; prospects for groundwater-fed irrigation in western and south-central Kansas; and bromide problems in the Kansas River, among others.
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to conduct research and service of value related to the water resources of Kansas,” Whittemore said. “Receiving the award is special to me because it means that water information users in Kansas have recognized the value of the work, as well as acknowledging the importance of research and data contributions from scientists and engineers in the state in general.”
Connie Owen, director of the Kansas Water Office, presented the award and noted that Whittemore is the first scientist to receive it. Previous awards have recognized the roles of agency heads and policymakers. “He truly leaves a legacy of knowledge that will be relied upon for generations, at the state, national and global levels,” Owen said.
Whittemore retired in 2017 after 44 years, but he continues to work with the KGS on several projects, including continuing his long-term efforts to bring greater attention to uranium contamination in the Arkansas River and High Plains aquifer in western Kansas. The uranium is naturally derived but is concentrated by evapotranspiration associated with irrigation and shallow reservoirs. The result is that the concentration of uranium in the Arkansas River as it crosses into Kansas from Colorado is above the maximum contaminant level set by the Environmental Protection Agency, a concern when the water is then used to irrigate fields or seeps into the aquifer west of Garden City.
“Without his commitment, the state would still largely be in the dark about this important issue for the future of Garden City and the agricultural areas to its immediate west,” Butler said.
The Kansas Geological Survey is a nonregulatory research and service division of the University of Kansas. KGS researchers study and provide information about the state’s geologic resources and hazards, including groundwater, oil and natural gas, rocks and minerals, and earthquakes.
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Contact: Cody Howard, School of Engineering, 785-864-2936, [email protected], @kuengineering
Petroleum engineering professor wins international ‘Breakthrough Research of the Year’ award
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas professor researcher has been honored with one of the energy industry’s most prestigious awards.
Masoud Kalantari, associate professor of chemical & petroleum engineering at KU, leads a 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 was honored in early November with the “Breakthrough Research of the Year” award at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC), sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
The award is a “significant achievement,” Kalantari said. “It gives me and my team a great feeling in terms of being highly recognized in the international domain in presence of top oil and gas companies CEOs and energy ministers.”
“I am exceptionally proud of Dr. Kalantari and his team for being recognized for Breakthrough Research of the Year at the 2022 ADIPEC Awards,” said Susan Williams, chair of the Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at KU. The research will have a significant impact on the economics and sustainability of the oil and gas industry, she said, and the partnership with UCLA, MicroSilicon and EOG Resources “provides an exceptional educational experience for our students at the University of Kansas.”
Hydraulic fracturing has been in widespread use for more than a decade to capture hard-to-reach oil in tricky geological formations, but it is an inefficient process: Energy companies rely on mostly indirect diagnostic methods to figure out where the fracks go and in mapping the fractures they’ve created to capture the most oil and gas at the smallest cost.
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.
The new technology will give engineers a better picture of complex subsurface fracture geometry, which means companies won’t have to drill so many unnecessary wells so they can minimize the environmental footprint and maximize profits to help achieve their net carbon zero goals.
ADIPEC is the world’s largest and most influential annual gathering of the energy industry. More than 160,000 people from 164 countries gathered in Abu Dhabi for the conference.
Kalantari’s project was chosen as a finalist — out of more than 1,000 entries for the 10 award categories — by a jury of experts that included executives and professionals from major energy companies, academics and members of other energy industry organizations. The awards jury included 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.
Among the attendees at the award ceremony was Linda Zarda Cook, a KU engineering alumna who now serves as CEO of Harbour Energy, a London-based oil and gas company.
“I was so happily surprised to see KU nominated for the first award presented that evening and then to be announced as the winner,” Cook said. “It made me very proud — and I was so pleased to be able to congratulate the recipient after he left the stage and share in his moment.”
Kalantari noted that the other two finalists for the award were both sponsored by Saudi Aramco, further demonstrating that KU researchers are innovating at the highest level. Aramco “has unlimited resources in terms of research and technology and money,” he said.
The award “opens up lots of opportunities for further implementation and deployment of this technology on a commercial scale,” Kalantari said. “But also it adds significant value to the entire research that I do at KU … whatever we do is at the highest possible quality and level and is pretty competitive.”
A trial run of Kalantari’s technology is expected next year in the Permian Basin (a field operated by EOG Resource), which covers much of the southwest United States.

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Contact: Angela Perryman, Office of Study Abroad, 785-864-3742, [email protected]
KU Engineering student receives prestigious Boren Award
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas junior from Overland Park has been awarded a David L. Boren Scholarship for $25,000 to study at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2023.
Anthony Moon, who is majoring in civil engineering, will complete courses in Korean language, East Asian languages and cultures, and civil engineering during his time abroad.
The David L. Boren Scholarships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program, a component of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office. NSEP is a federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills.
Boren Awards provide U.S. undergraduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the United States. In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year.
Moon is the son of Joseph and Moonju Moon of Overland Park and a graduate of Blue Valley Northwest High School.
Moon has chosen to study in South Korea to further his academic studies and build his knowledge and understanding of the Korean language and culture. As a member of KU Naval ROTC, Moon took part in Project Global Office, an intensive language training program designed to support future military officers in the development of the linguistic and cross-cultural communication skills necessary for effective leadership across all branches of service.
During his year abroad at Yonsei University, Moon will continue to build his language capacities and immerse himself fully in Korean life. Additionally, as an individual of Korean descent, Moon hopes to learn more about himself, his heritage and how he can best support diplomatic relations between the U.S. and South Korea as a future naval officer.
This year, the Institute of International Education, which administers the awards on behalf of NSEP, received 458 applications from undergraduate students and awarded 208 Boren Scholarships. The selected Boren Scholars will study 38 languages in countries throughout Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. The most popular languages include Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Swahili, Turkish, Japanese and Indonesian.
Since 1994, over 7,400 students have received Boren Awards and contributed their vital skills to careers in support of the critical agency missions throughout the federal government.
An independent not-for-profit founded in 1919, IIE is among the world’s largest and most experienced international education and exchange organizations. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in applying for the Boren Awards should contact IIE at [email protected] or visit borenawards.org.

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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

KU lands grant to train more Kansas teachers working with ESOL students
LAWRENCE— The University of Kansas has secured funding to prepare more teachers with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) endorsement and to provide professional development for early childhood educators working across Kansas as well. The research team has already secured partnerships with the Shawnee Mission and Kansas City Turner school districts, and they will recruit additional partners across the state.

2023 Engaged Leaders Series will feature scientist, author Beronda Montgomery
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries and The Commons will host the 2023 Engaged Leaders Series, a lecture program featuring Beronda Montgomery, scholar and author of “Lessons From Plants.” Montgomery will present a virtual talk titled “Leading by Nature: Lessons from Plants on Leading Well” at 9 a.m. Jan. 12, 2023.

‘Everybody’ opens at KU Theatre Dec. 2, promising audience participation, dark comedy
LAWRENCE — A play opening soon at the University of Kansas will shine a spotlight on that terrifying, illusive question: What would you do if Death called? University Theatre performances of “Everybody” will be Dec. 2-4 and Dec. 6-8 in the William Inge Memorial Theatre at Murphy Hall. Kansas cast and crew members include students from Kansas City, Larned, Lawrence, Maize, Overland Park, Perry, Topeka and Wichita.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
KU lands grant to train more Kansas teachers working with ESOL students
LAWRENCE— Students learning English face many challenges, even in ideal conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated those, causing students to lose supports for various reasons. The University of Kansas has secured funding to prepare more teachers with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) endorsement and to provide professional development for early childhood educators working across the state as well.
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition awarded a five-year, $2.29 million grant to researchers in KU’s Department of Curriculum & Teaching for Project PEACE, which will promote English language learners’ academic achievement and cultivate educational equity through support of future teachers and development of current educators.
Most teachers will work with English language learner students in their careers, yet many do not have TESOL endorsement. Project PEACE will help Kansas teachers learn skills and strategies to provide evidence-based supports and ways to engage students in curriculum.
“Teachers may not always have ESOL endorsement because it is not required. We want to help them get endorsed and be more effective English language learner educators,” said Kwangok Song, associate professor of curriculum & teaching and principal investigator of the project.
Song will collaborate with co-principal investigators Hyesun Cho, associate professor of TESOL; online professional development leader Barbara Bradley, professor of literacy education; and educational equity coordinators Lonna Summers Rocha, associate teaching professor of TESOL; and Karen Jorgensen, teaching professor of literacy education, all at KU. The research team has already secured partnerships with the Shawnee Mission and Kansas City Turner school districts, and they will recruit additional partners across the state.
Project PEACE will work with cohorts of preservice and in-service teachers who are undergraduate and graduate students, respectively, at KU throughout the project, helping all attain TESOL endorsements. It will also provide online professional development programs for early childhood educators. Both preservice teachers and in-service teachers will learn strategies to effectively engage English language learner students. A common problem in schools is students who are identified as English language learners may be interpreted as the students being unable to participate in curriculum, and thus they may not always receive equitable opportunities. The program will equip future and current teachers with effective strategies to invite students in classroom activities to participate and to share methods they have successfully used as well.
“English learners come from families that do not speak English in the home. Teachers may not be aware of the supports these students need in school,” Song said. “Communication in the classroom is not always effective in these situations. We hope to provide teachers with strategies teachers can use to enhance educational equity.”
The project will begin offering support for preservice and in-service teachers who pursue ESOL endorsement in summer 2023. In all, Project PEACE will be able to secure endorsement for 48 preservice teachers and 55 in-service teachers and offer professional development for about 100 early childhood educators from across Kansas by 2027. Throughout the project, the research team will gather quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate and refine the offerings. They will collect data on participants’ content knowledge and information on how teachers put the skills to work in their classrooms.
The timing of the project is vital, as the pandemic made clear some of the challenges English language learner students commonly face as well as the new challenges it created. Students from low-income immigrant families were especially negatively affected, as many lost in-school supports and often did not have internet access for online learning when schools were forced to close. By boosting skills of teachers across the state, TESOL teachers will be in a better position to help all students achieve their full academic potential, Song said.
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Contact: Alicia Marksberry, KU Libraries, [email protected], @kulibraries
2023 Engaged Leaders Series will feature scientist, author Beronda Montgomery

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries and The Commons will host the 2023 Engaged Leaders Series, a lecture program featuring Beronda Montgomery, scholar and author of “Lessons From Plants.”

Montgomery will present a virtual talk titled “Leading by Nature: Lessons from Plants on Leading Well” at 9 a.m. Jan. 12, 2023. A virtual discussion with Montgomery and KU community members will follow at 10 a.m. Feb. 7, 2023.

Montgomery is the vice president for academic affairs and the dean of Grinnell College. She is a scholar, writer and science communicator with research interests in plant biochemistry, equitable mentoring and progressive leadership. A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Plant Biologists, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Academy of Microbiology, she was named one of Cell’s 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America and won the 2021 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award and the 2022 Adolph E. Gude, Jr. Award for outstanding service to the science of plant biology for her book.

“Lessons From Plants,” available online through KU Libraries, explores the transformative and dynamic lives of plants and how humans can learn from them. Montgomery dives into the botanic experience and shows how society can improve by better appreciating not just what plants give us but also how they achieve their own purposes. Her talk will focus on her perspectives on leadership and cultivating a vision of purpose.

“The Commons was created as a way to examine the relationships between natural and cultural systems, and this is exactly what Beronda is doing,” said Emily Ryan, director of The Commons. “We don’t have to only be learning from the Western canon of higher education, but rather there are so many sources of knowledge around us, and it’s a really powerful thing to be able to consider and see those in different ways.”

Co-presented by KU Libraries and The Commons, the Engaged Leaders Speaker Series brings the voices of leading engagement scholars to KU to lead intentional conversations that emphasize open, equitable, divergent and critical thinking to guide the future university. Both KU Libraries and The Commons are among places on campus that connect university activity with broader audiences and perspectives.

“There is so much engaged work being done on the KU campus that we don’t always know about,” said Sarah Goodwin Thiel, faculty & community engagement librarian at KU Libraries. “Bringing in other leaders who are focusing on engagement supports the efforts of our own campus scholars and brings a lot of new information to our people.”

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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected], @KUTheatre
‘Everybody’ opens at KU Theatre Dec. 2, promising audience participation, dark comedy
LAWRENCE — A play opening soon at the University of Kansas explores a topic that’s become ever more relevant in recent years: death. “Everybody,” a production of the University Theatre within the Department of Theatre & Dance, offers opportunity for community members to mourn, laugh at and reflect on the show’s absurdity and the tragedy of dying.
With quick, offbeat humor and contemporary dialogue, the play by Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins shines a spotlight on that terrifying, illusive question: What would you do if Death called? “Everybody” is a contemporary, experimental adaptation of the classic morality play “Everyman.” The production is directed by KU doctoral candidate Timmia Hearn DeRoy.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 and at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4 in the William Inge Memorial Theatre at Murphy Hall. Tickets can be reserved at kutheatre.com, by calling 785-864-3982, or in person noon-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at the box office in Murphy Hall.
“This production is a love letter to our community. An opportunity to collectively generate space for healing in the midst of ongoing trauma. From COVID-19 to international security instability, from the challenges of climate change to deep-rooted inequities, fears and realities of Death lurk at every corner,” DeRoy said. “Laughter and reflection bring us closer to each other and allow us to grapple with our fears and find strength in each other. Thank you for joining us on our journey.”
Each night the audience will choose which member of the ensemble cast will face Death and who will play the people, things and morals which made up their life. Breaking the fourth wall and inviting audience participation, “Everybody” reflects on religious belief, confronting your existence, the imperfection of humanity and on why we form connections to people or possessions. What does it mean when a friend says, “I would die for you?”
DeRoy is a theatre and film developer and gender rights activist. She was a founding member of the Trinidad and Tobago PRIDE Arts Festival, former director of the School for the Arts at the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, the Caribbean’s oldest theatre company, and former marketing manager at the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival. She has directed and developed numerous productions in Trinidad and Tobago, including “An Echo in the Bone” by Dennis Scott (2012) and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare. She has also worked in production and casting in film and television in both Trinidad and Tobago and Toronto, Canada. More recently DeRoy directed “10,000, A One-Woman New Play Development” by Victoria “Tori” Smith at the Lawrence Arts Center. DeRoy’s research focuses on how we tell stories and utilizes social justice, disability justice, anti-colonial and transnational feminist frameworks. She holds a bachelor’s degree in theater studies from Yale University. Learn more about the director at www.timmiahearn.com.
The creative team is rounded out by Taiane Lacerda, a second-year MFA student from Florianopolis, Brazil, as scenic designer; Rana Esfandiary, assistant professor of scenography, as costume designer; Quintin Castro, a senior in theatre design from Larned, as hair and makeup designer; Hazel Youngquist, a senior in theatre performance from Perry, as lighting designer; Brad Mathewson, a senior in English and theatre in culture & society from Topeka, as dramaturg; and Connor Maloney, a sophomore in theatre design from Wichita, as stage manager and assistant director.
The audience will vote who portrays the character of Everybody as selected from the pool of ensemble members playing Somebody. Ensemble members are ShonMichael Anderson, freshman in theatre and voice from Wichita; Zoe Arp, freshman in political science from Overland Park; Diego Rivera-Rodriguez, senior in theatre performance and film & media studies from Lawrence; Lauren K. Smith, a senior in theatre performance from Topeka; and Jayden Warf, a freshman in theatre from Winchester, Virginia. Additional cast members are Olly Mitchell, sophomore in theatre in culture & society from Maize, as usher/God/understanding; Sergio Alicea, a doctoral student from San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Death; Hannah Gassman, a junior in theatre and voice from Deerfield, Illinois, as Girl/Time; and Mickey James Pluta, a senior in theater performance and economics, as Love. Layla English, a first-year theatre performance major from Kansas City, serves as the understudy for all non-Somebody parts.
The University Theatre and University Dance Company are production wings of the University of Kansas’s Department of Theatre & Dance, offering five to six public productions throughout the academic year. The University Theatre and University Dance Company productions are funded in part by KU Student Senate fees, and the theatre’s season is supported by Truity Credit Union.
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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