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

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People underestimate AI capabilities due to ‘exponential growth bias,’ study finds

LAWRENCE — A new scholarly article from a University of Kansas professor of business examines the human biases that underestimate artificial intelligence’s full capabilities. In his study, Nate Meikle examined the effects of motivated reasoning and exponential growth bias on human judgment. Questions tested how participants might envision the interaction between AIs and humans decades from now. “We are, on average, going to be surprised at how quickly AI progresses and potentially surpasses human capability,” he said.

 

School of Business to recognize 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Business will honor executive Jason “Jay” Meschke with its 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award on April 18 during a private event. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1980 and his MBA in 1982, both from KU. Meschke is the president of CBIZ EFL Associates and CBIZ Talent & Compensation Solutions.

Researcher reclaims 16th century Moroccan woman leader from obscurity

LAWRENCE – While growing up in Morocco, Amal El Haimeur was never taught about Sayyida al-Hurra, the country’s 16th century “pirate queen” who overcame sexism to lead and defend the people of her city-state and region. The KU professor then embarked upon a research journey through cities and archives across Morocco, combing through rare scholarly resources, that resulted in the article titled “Sayyida al-Hurra: A Forgotten North African Queen and Military Leader,” published in the first edition of the new KU scholarly journal Africana Annual.

 

Full stories below.

 

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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]

People underestimate AI capabilities due to ‘exponential growth bias,’ study finds

 

LAWRENCE — When asked to name the greatest potential threat to humanity, many scientists believe artificial intelligence (AI) to be a top contender. Yet there seems to be very little currently being done to ensure its safety.

“We are, on average, going to be surprised at how quickly AI progresses and potentially surpasses human capability,” said Nathan Meikle, an assistant professor of business at the University of Kansas.

His new paper, titled “Unaware and Unaccepting: Human Biases and the Advent of Artificial Intelligence,” examines the human biases that impede AI’s assessment. His experiments find that people are prone to underestimate AI capabilities due to exponential growth bias and people reject the aversive implications of rapid technological progress even in cases in which they themselves predict the growth rate.

The new work is published in Technology, Mind, and Behavior.

“We’re motivated to believe things we want to have happen,” said Meikle, who co-wrote the paper with Bryan Bonner of the University of Utah.

“Most of us don’t want to live in a world where AI is smarter than humans. And because we want humans to be superior to AI, there’s a chance that we are sticking our head in the sand. We don’t want AI to surpass human intelligence. Therefore, we think it’s not going to happen.”

Motivated reasoning emerges most often when the facts are ambiguous.

“For instance, I don’t want to get cancer. Say my odds of getting cancer in a lifetime are 40%. But because I don’t want cancer, and because I can look to my past and say, ‘I’m reasonably healthy, and I’ve never had cancer,’ I’m prone to underestimate my odds of getting cancer, and I might think the probability is only like 20%,” he said.

But exponential growth bias (which is our inability to accurately estimate exponential growth curves) becomes even more skewed when a concept turns more abstract.

“A simple example is would you rather have a billion dollars or would you rather have the money from doubling a penny 64 times?” he said. “Our intuition tells us to take the billion. But from doubling a penny, you’re actually looking at more than 184 billion dollars. And this example is especially relevant to AI because AI has been progressing at an exponential rate, in tandem with computing speed.”

To verify this theory as it relates to underestimating AI, Meikle recruited several hundred participants in the U.S. and conducted two experiments that examined the effects of motivated reasoning and exponential growth bias on human judgment. The questions tested how participants might envision the interaction between AIs and humans decades from now. (Sample: Imagine 20 years into the future and AIs are equal in intelligence to humans. How positive do you feel about the future you just imagined?)

“An AI doesn’t need to be way smarter than us to pose an existential risk,” Meikle said.

“Genetically, we share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees. But it’s just that little bit of extra intelligence which allows us to be at the top of the food chain. And so if an AI were to become more intelligent than humans — which I think there’s a reasonable probability of happening very soon — then maybe the AI adopts a goal that is not consistent with human flourishing … and we’re in trouble. Or, even more believably now, people use AI to manipulate other humans.”

An Idaho native, Meikle came to KU in 2021. He is a former receiver with the BYU Cougars. (He caught a dozen passes in the 2005 Las Vegas Bowl.) He also hosts a podcast titled “Meikles and Dimes,” where he interviews guests about leadership, including Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Meikle teaches courses in leadership and ethics at KU.

Meikle said he personally employs AI all the time.

“I’m getting to the point now where I use ChatGPT every day. It’s one of my most commonly opened apps — just asking it questions about what happened here, what happened there,” he said.

Is he fearful it might eventually replace him?

“Does it bother me that a calculator can run calculations better than me? No. And so in some ways, we don’t care. But I think we’re especially concerned about if artificial intelligence takes our jobs,” Meikle said. “I don’t mind if a calculator can calculate faster than me. But if it’s collecting my paycheck, there are going to be problems.”

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Contact: Lauren Cunningham, School of Business, 785-864-9540, [email protected], @KUbschool

School of Business to recognize 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

 

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Business will honor executive Jason “Jay” Meschke with its 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Meschke will be recognized for his dedication to business excellence, community service and commitment to KU on April 18 during a private event.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1980 and his MBA in 1982, both from KU. Meschke is the president of CBIZ EFL Associates and CBIZ Talent & Compensation Solutions.

In his role, he has completed more than 800 successful senior-level searches spanning several industries. Meschke’s achievements during his 30-year history in the executive search field place him in the top 1% of search consultants in the U.S. He began his career in Texas at one of the country’s 25 largest banks. Following that, he worked at two Kansas City banking franchises, holding roles as chief lending officer/minority owner at one and president at the other. The two financial institutions were later sold to Nasdaq-traded companies.

Meschke serves on the KU School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board, and he is immediate past chairman of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County, a venture development organization. He also holds a senior adviser role with Star Mountain Capital, a New York City-headquartered private equity/private credit firm. He previously has served on the boards of numerous organizations, including as chair of KCPT (Kansas City Public Television) and the Shawnee Mission Medical Center Foundation.

The School of Business established the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998 to honor outstanding graduates. To date, 67 alumni have been recognized with the award. Previous recipients include businessman and investor David Booth, Deloitte’s global chief operating officer Frank Friedman, entrepreneur and investor Tim Barton, and Cerner Corp. co-founder Cliff Illig.

Award recipients are chosen from the nominations of other alumni and the Dean’s Advisory Board. Candidates are selected based on their business success and service to their communities and to KU.

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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: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman

Researcher reclaims 16th century Moroccan woman leader from obscurity

 

LAWRENCE – While growing up in Morocco, Amal El Haimeur was never taught about Sayyida al-Hurra, the country’s 16th century “pirate queen” who overcame sexism to lead and defend the people of her city-state and region.

So when El Haimeur, now an assistant teaching professor of African & African American studies at the University of Kansas, read a passing reference to al-Hurra in a book titled “The Forgotten Queens of Islam,” she went looking for more information about her. But there was hardly any.

Thus, El Haimeur embarked on a research project that took her to cities and archives across Morocco and resulted in the article titled “Sayyida al-Hurra: A Forgotten North African Queen and Military Leader” in the first edition of the new scholarly journal Africana Annual, based in KU’s Department of African & African-American Studies.

“I went to the 2022 summer book fair in Rabat, with publishers coming from all over the Arab world and Africa. I thought I would find resources there, but I did not find anything available about her,” El Haimeur said.

Editors and bookstore owners told her they had nothing available on her scholarly search, El Haimeur said.

“So I decided to go to Chefchaouen, her hometown. There is an educational center there, and they connected me with two historians — one who lives there and the other who lives in Rabat.”

El Haimeur said Ali Risouni and Fatima Bouchmal provided her with copies of history books that cite both primary and secondary sources about al-Hurra and that are unavailable elsewhere — neither commercially nor in libraries.

El Haimeur took pictures or made copies of the materials.

“There is not another edition available,” El Haimeur said. “It’s really sad that resources are not available about her.”

Rectifying this lack of information about al-Hurra – particularly in English — was one of El Haimeur’s purposes in writing the article about her. El Haimeur’s translations of the Arabic writings the Moroccan scholars loaned her are the basis for the article’s narrative.

The KU researcher said that al-Hurra’s family status as sharifis, or descendants of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, gave al-Hurra a certain degree of power. Her father founded Chefchaouen, building the fortress there that today serves as a museum. He was a trained military leader, and she learned tactics and strategy from him.

She learned naval warfare from her first husband, Moulay Ali al-Mandri. El Haimeur said that Muslim leaders considered these high-seas actions to be jihad, or justified warfare, while Europeans considered them piracy.

In addition to Arabic, al-Hurra spoke Spanish and Portuguese, giving her an advantage in diplomacy with those countries.

El Haimeur writes that al-Hurra’s two marriages served to make alliances with nearby rulers to strengthen their conjoined political entities. It was while al-Mandri was away on military missions that al-Hurra began her rule. She later led pirate raids against the Spanish and Portuguese in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, earning the nickname “the pirate princess of jihad.”

The al-Hurra family had been victims of the Reconquista expulsion of Muslims from Andalusian Granada, El Haimeur writes, and they feared further losses.

El Haimeur writes that, in addition to keeping her enemies off balance, “Piracy gave al-Hurra revenue as well as a means to strengthen diplomatic relationships with foreign countries.”

Following al-Mandri’s death, al-Hurra took over as governor of the Mediterranean port city Tetouan and the surrounding area. She led the northern part of Morocco in the midst of ongoing conflicts between the Iberian powers and the north African Muslim kingdoms.

Al-Hurra’s second marriage, to Sultan Ahmad al-Wattasi, was less successful. The couple never lived together, and the Wattasid clan was overthrown by an alliance that included al-Hurra’s own brother.

El Haimeur said she is pleased to have brought al-Hurra’s story to a wider audience in the English-speaking world with her article. And in fact, she has heard from a Moroccan publisher who wishes to publish it as a booklet in Arabic, to be distributed in her home country.

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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

 

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

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New book gathers insights, methods from rising generation of Indigenous archaeologists

LAWRENCE — A book co-edited by a University of Kansas scholar that collects the experiences and know-how of younger Indigenous archaeologists, titled “Indigenizing Archaeology: Putting Theory into Practice,” is newly published by the University Press of Florida.

Second dean candidate for vice chancellor for research to give presentation

LAWRENCE — Marc Mendonca, director of research development and professor of radiation oncology and of medical and molecular genetics at Indiana University, will be the second candidate for the vice chancellor for research position to share his vision and strategies for the future of research and discovery at the University of Kansas. His public presentation will take place 2-3 p.m. April 19.

Scholar will give talk on book connecting cannabis industry to settler colonialism

LAWRENCE – An assistant professor in Native American studies from California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, will give a talk this week at the Cider Gallery as part of a visit to the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. Yurok/Hupa/Oneida scholar Kaitlin Reed will speak about research that contributed to her book “Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California.” The free public event will take place at 7 p.m. April 17.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch

New book gathers insights, methods from rising generation of Indigenous archaeologists

 

LAWRENCE — A book co-edited by a University of Kansas scholar that collects the experiences and know-how of younger Indigenous archaeologists, titled “Indigenizing Archaeology: Putting Theory into Practice,” is newly published by the University Press of Florida.

Carlton Shield Chief Gover, acting assistant professor of anthropology and acting assistant curator of archaeology at KU, conceived and co-edited the new volume. Its chapters include lessons and case studies from the discipline.

“This is the first book to our knowledge completely comprised of Indigenous scholars in archaeology, including our copy editors,” said Shield Chief Gover. “What makes this form of archaeology different within the field is its methods. This book is the ‘how-tos’ of Indigenous archaeology. It reflects how different people from different tribes do their version of archaeology. There’s not just some monolith of Native Americans. Rather, each nation has its own way of doing archaeology based on their own cultural practices.”

Shield Chief Gover said the book’s contributors were mostly scholars in early stages of their careers.

“My colleague and co-editor (Emily Van Alst, anthropologist at Washington State University) and I started this project when we were early in our Ph.D.s,” he said. “Everyone’s contributions in this volume are based either on their master’s thesis or doctoral work. So, we’re all junior academics reflecting on how we were able to get through school and the methods that it took.”

According to Shield Chief Gover, the new tome is geared toward a general readership as a practical guide to Indigenous archaeology rather than a theoretical treatise. He said the rise of the field of Indigenous archaeology can be traced to passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in the 1990s.

“That’s what forced archaeologists and Indigenous people to sit down at the table with one another as equals to actually explore, ‘OK, well, how do we get these individuals and their grave goods back home to their communities — and which communities do they belong to?’” he said. “A lot at the base level of Indigenous archaeology is communication and collaboration. It’s just engaging with the communities that you used to do research ‘on.’ Now you’re doing research ‘with’ and having communities incorporated from beginning to end so they’re part of the entire process, not just this little back-end piece, which was called ‘consulting.’ You did all the work; you did the research questions. Then, at the end you’d ask, ‘OK, hey, what do you guys think about this?’ You know, just to check a box.”

Shield Chief Gover said his fellow contributors’ insights and experiences especially benefit Indigenous cultural staff at institutions around the country and internationally.

“We’re hoping this book could be a tool for them to replicate our work through their own nationhood and to move their nations forward with archaeology,” he said. “It’s really distinct from what’s been published before, which have been mostly theoretical ideas by well-established authors writing for scholars in this field. But our book is meant for the average NAGPRA officer or tribal historic preservation officer or early rising students in the field of archaeology, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.”

Shield Chief Gover’s own contributed chapter reflects on his experiences as a graduate student on his way to becoming the first Pawnee academic archaeologist (as well as a member of a profession that often collided with Indigenous interests historically).

“It was difficult,” said the KU researcher. “My chapter reflects on how I did my master’s thesis. I struggled to communicate my thesis to my community and family, because it was so dense with statistics and the lexicon. So, I really looked at this chapter as an opportunity to say, ‘Well, this is how I went about it. This is why this is important. This is what it means. And this is how other cultural staff can utilize it to serve their own tribes’ purposes.’ At Wyoming, I was the only Indigenous graduate student there. I didn’t even know there was a field of Indigenous archaeology.”

Shield Chief Gover said it wasn’t until he started working on his doctorate later at the University of Colorado at Boulder that he encountered a body of scholarly work by Indigenous archaeologists. In part, he hopes his new volume will make the field more accessible to young academics in a similar position.

“Until then, I had no idea of these resources — I was just on my own, or at least I thought I was,” he said. “Then I realized there was already literature about Indigenous archaeology and there were already people doing what I had ‘Forrest Gumped’ myself into on my own. I felt having a book dedicated less to the theory, but more to the methods would help other folks realize, ‘Oh, this is the actual nuts and bolts of how to do this’ — rather than, ‘Well, this is why you should do it and why it’s important.’ Instead, we talk about where the rubber meets the road.”

To ensure the volume will be available to all with an interest in Indigenous archaeology, Shield Chief Gover and his colleagues made a point of providing a digital open-access copy.

“You can get an online copy of this book for free from the University Press of Florida,” he said. “We wanted to make our content freely accessible to disadvantaged communities that might not have $30 to spend, and we really wanted this accessible to cultural staff in Indian Country so they can readily have it to be employed by their offices.”

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The official university account for X (formerly Twitter) is @UnivOfKansas.

Follow @KUnews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.

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Contact: Savannah Rattanavong, Office of the Provost, 785-864-6402, [email protected], @KUProvost

Second dean candidate for vice chancellor for research to give presentation

LAWRENCE — Marc Mendonca will be the second candidate for the vice chancellor for research position to share his vision and strategies for the future of research and discovery at the University of Kansas.

His public presentation will take place 2-3 p.m. April 19 in the 1502 Building Auditorium located at 15th and Iowa streets. The event will also be livestreamed, and the passcode is 020719.

Mendonca is director of research development at Indiana University, IU Research, and professor of radiation oncology and of medical and molecular genetics at IU’s School of Medicine.

The remaining two candidates will be announced approximately two business days before their respective campus visits. Their public presentations are scheduled for the following dates and locations:

Candidate 3: 3-4 p.m. April 25, Lied Center Pavilion.
Candidate 4: 2:30-3:30 p.m. May 1, 1502 Building Auditorium.

Members of the KU community are encouraged to attend each presentation and provide feedback to the search committee. Presentation recordings and the online feedback form will remain available on the search page through May 7.

Additional search information, including Mendonca’s CV, is also available on the search page.

Mendonca has served in multiple research administrative roles, including as associate vice chancellor and interim vice chancellor for research at IU & Purdue University, Indianapolis, and associate vice president for research at IU. In these roles Mendonca helped lead the development of IU’s overall and research strategic plans.

In addition, Mendonca was the president of the School of Medicine faculty steering committee and the IUPUI faculty council executive committee.

With expertise in X-ray and proton radiation and cancer biology, Mendonca generally focuses on understanding the mechanism of radiation-induced cancer and its prevention by natural antioxidants, as well as increasing the effectiveness of radiation in lung and pancreatic cancer treatment.

Since 2011, Mendonca has acted as the editor-in-chief of the Radiation Research journal, and in 2022, the Radiation Research Society named him a fellow. He has also been a member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research and American Board of Radiology.

Having mentored several high school, undergraduate and graduate students, Mendonca has received a number of teaching and service awards, including the American Board of Radiology’s lifetime and volunteer service awards and the IU School of Medicine’s trustee teaching award.

Mendonca earned his doctorate in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and his bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of the Holy Cross.

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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”

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https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast/when-experts-attack

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Contact: Emily Ryan, The Commons, 785-864-6293, [email protected], @TheCommonsKU

Scholar will give talk on book connecting cannabis industry to settler colonialism

 

LAWRENCE – An assistant professor in Native American studies from California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, will give a talk this week at the Cider Gallery as part of a visit to the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University.

Yurok/Hupa/Oneida scholar Kaitlin Reed will speak about research that contributed to her book “Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California.” The free public event will take place at 7 p.m. April 17.

Reed also will visit classes and offer a student colloquium at Haskell during her visit.

“‘Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California’ presents a rich landscape of Native California at the intersection of environmental history, environmental justice and Native American studies,” said Melinda Adams, assistant professor of geography & atmospheric science and Indigenous studies. “Reed’s compelling contribution weaves together the beautifully complicated story of Indigenous survivance through various iterations of colonization, environmental destruction and attempted genocide. The book and Dr. Reed’s scholarship overall offers significant pedagogy and inspires more scholarship that centers and uplifts Indigenous peoples in the West and beyond.”

Reed’s research centers Northern California and the effects of settler colonial political economies on tribal land and water rights. Her book illustrates the consequential links between extractive capitalism throughout the historical and ecological systems in northern California and explores the complicated relationship between the U.S. and its ability to recognize the sovereignty of Indigenous lands and bodies.

This work is related to ongoing work on the #landback movement led by Sarah Deer, distinguished professor of Indigenous studies, law, and women, gender & sexuality studies, and Ward Lyles, associate professor of urban planning in the School of Public Affairs & Administration.

Reed’s visit to Lawrence is hosted by several KU partners, including The Commons; the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging; the Indigenous Studies Program; and the Institute for Policy & Social Research Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities, in collaboration with Haskell.

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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

 

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

Headlines

SEC could patch enforcement mechanism, regardless of Supreme Court ruling, analysis shows

LAWRENCE — In November 2023, the Supreme Court heard a case about how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutes those accused of financial wrongdoing. SEC v. Jarkesy has some fearing it will end the agency’s ability to pursue bad financial actors, while others say it will finally end the agency’s overreach. A new analysis from a University of Kansas legal expert finds neither outcome is likely from the high court’s pending decision — and there is a simple patch to apply for the future.

Hall Center announces 2023 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Awards

LAWRENCE — The Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas has announced the winners of the 2023 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Awards, given biennially to individuals who live or are employed in Kansas and who have written outstanding books published in the previous two years. Charles Forrest Jones won the fiction award for “The Illusion of Simple,” a mystery novel set in a western Kansas county in the 1980s. Ben Chappell received the nonfiction award for his book “Mexican American Fastpitch: Identity at Play in Vernacular Sport.”

Full stories below.

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings

SEC could patch enforcement mechanism, regardless of Supreme Court ruling, analysis shows

 

LAWRENCE — The Supreme Court recently heard a case about how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutes those accused of financial wrongdoing. The case has some fearing it will end the agency’s ability to pursue bad financial actors, while others say it will finally end the agency’s overreach.

A new study from a University of Kansas legal expert analyzes the arguments and prosecutions the agency has made in recent years, arguing it is likely neither — and there is a simple patch to apply for the future.

In November 2023, the court heard SEC v. Jarkesy, a case in which the former prosecuted the latter in one its administrative courts for alleged wrongdoing in the way Jarkesy managed hedge funds. The SEC has regularly prosecuted people in its own courts, in which cases are heard by a judge appointed by the agency, without a jury. Jarkesy argued that was illegal, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, stating such prosecutions should happen in federal courts.

The Supreme Court decision is pending, but Alexander Platt, associate professor of law at KU, analyzed two years’ worth of similar actions by the SEC for his article, forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review Reflection and available on SSRN.

“That opinion evinced a lot of shock waves in the world of securities enforcement,” Platt said of the 5th circuit ruling. “It didn’t surprise anyone the Supreme Court took the case. It wasn’t about whether Jarkesy was guilty or innocent. The 5th Circuit said the Constitution doesn’t allow the SEC to bring this enforcement in its own courts.”

The key, Platt writes, is that Jarkesy was unregistered with the SEC. Securities traders who register with the agency get a license to trade, manage funds and perform other functions, but the financial area Jarkesy worked in was not required to be registered. Recent Supreme Court rulings hold that those who register with the SEC in essence agree to have actions taken against them heard in SEC administrative courts, Platt writes.

“It matters, I think, because there is a legal and constitutional argument that folks who register with the SEC might be consenting to appearing in the SEC’s courts,” Platt said. “You’re giving something up in order to do business.”

Further, Platt examined 1,481 actions the SEC brought in its courts from fiscal years 2021 and 2023. He found that only about 5% of the actions were taken against unregistered parties for fraud-related activities seeking monetary penalties. Therefore, should the high court rule against the SEC, little would have to change, he writes. The agency could simply amend its registration forms to include language that those who register agree to have cases against them heard in the SEC’s courts, while unregistered parties could proceed in federal court.

The paper cites media reports and arguments from legal experts speculating about the ramifications the decision would have, regardless of how the high court rules. Some express concern a ruling against the agency will gut its ability to pursue fraudsters and financial wrongdoers.

“The SEC saw the ruling from the 5th Circuit and said, ‘Oh no, that’s not good for us, because we pursue these actions in our courts all the time,’” Platt said.

Other parties have viewed the case a chance to rid the agency of powers of overreach and a further strike against the administrative state.

The true effect will likely be somewhere in the middle, Platt said, as the numbers show the SEC has pursued action against few unregistered parties. Limiting actions in its administrative courts to registered financial actors could effectively patch any hole the Supreme Court may be about to rip in the agency’s enforcement mechanism.

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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: Dan Oetting, Hall Center for the Humanities, [email protected], @KUHallCenter

Hall Center announces 2023 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Awards

LAWRENCE — The Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas has announced the winners of the 2023 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Awards.

Charles Forrest Jones won the fiction award for “The Illusion of Simple,” a mystery novel set in a western Kansas county in the 1980s.

Ben Chappell received the nonfiction award for his book “Mexican American Fastpitch: Identity at Play in Vernacular Sport.”

Jones is the retired director of KU’s Public Management Center and was a courtesy associate professor in the School of Public Affairs & Administration.

Described by one reviewer as “an unflinchingly intimate epic,” the book follows the efforts of a pugnacious sheriff to solve a murder by sifting through not-so-simple politics, racism and loyalties of small-town Kansas.

The book was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2022.

Published in 2021 by Stanford University Press, Chappell’s ethnography of Mexican American fastpitch explores the cultural significance and enduring legacy of fastpitch softball within the Mexican American community.

Chappell, professor of American studies, uses research and storytelling to trace the sport’s roots from its origins in the early 20th century to its flourishing presence in Mexican American neighborhoods across the United States.

The Byron Caldwell Smith Book Awards were established at the bequest of Kate Stephens, a former KU student and one of KU’s first women professors.

As an undergraduate in the 1870s, Stephens learned to love the study of Greek language and literature from Professor Byron Caldwell Smith. In his name, she established this award, given biennially to individuals who live or are employed in Kansas and who have written outstanding books published in the previous two years.

The next application cycle will be in spring 2025.

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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

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

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Hybrid research symposium planned for Undergraduate Research Week

LAWRENCE — The Center for Undergraduate Research at the University of Kansas will host online and in-person research presentations to celebrate Undergraduate Research Week. The 2024 Online Undergraduate Research Symposium will include 149 Jayhawk projects live on the symposium website April 15-19. In-person presentations will take place April 16-17, including by students from Fairway, Lenexa and Olathe.

KU students excel in math competitions

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas students have tested their mathematical prowess at local, state and national events, including first- and third-place team wins at the Kansas Collegiate Math Competition. Students participating in recent events include Kansans from Kechi, Lawrence, Manhattan, Overland Park, Shawnee and Topeka.

Journalism professor explores how helping students embrace data can be new approach to writing instruction

LAWRENCE — Each semester, University of Kansas journalism faculty member Christopher Etheridge hears students ask how much math will be involved in a class or suggest that they are not good with numbers. In a chapter for the new book “Better Practices: Exploring the Teaching of Writing in Online and Hybrid Spaces,” he shares how reflective learning, or helping students realize that data can be used to tell a story that is true to their own experiences, can be a new approach to writing instruction.

 

KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition sees record growth

LAWRENCE – A record 52 students from 13 teams across the U.S. competed in the fourth annual KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition on April 5–6 at Capitol Federal Hall. Winners of the individual selling competition included University of Kansas student Audrey McBride (fourth place). McBride is from Kansas City, Missouri.

 

Full stories below.

 

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Contact: Erin Wolfram, Academic Success, 785-864-2308, [email protected]

Hybrid research symposium planned for Undergraduate Research Week

 

LAWRENCE — The Center for Undergraduate Research is hosting online and in-person research presentations to celebrate Undergraduate Research Week. The 27th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium provides students a venue to share the results of their research and creative projects and the KU community the opportunity to learn from their discoveries.

There are 149 presentations registered for the 2024 Online Undergraduate Research Symposium. Student presentations (in PDF format) will be live on the symposium website April 15-19.

This will be supplemented with three students presenting (A)ccessible, (C)reative and (E)ngaging (ACE) Talks from 3:30 to 5 p.m. April 16 in the Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union.

An additional ACE speaker, Kaitlyn Sy, a senior majoring in biotechnology, and her research mentor, Jack Treml, will present their research on the assessment of the effects of lactic acid on T cell viability and T cell receptor signaling in vitro at 3:30 p.m. April 17 in the English Room of the Kansas Union.

“We are continually impressed with the exciting research and creative projects KU undergraduate students are completing. The impact of these projects often spans far beyond KU’s campus. I hope the KU community will visit the symposium website and attend the in-person events this year to celebrate the amazing students, mentors and their inspiring work,” said Erin Wolfram, associate director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Office of Fellowships.

The Undergraduate Research Symposium began in 1998 with the vision of Professor Emeritus K. Barbara Schowen, who wanted to provide an opportunity for students to share the results of their research and creative projects and hone their communication skills. Over the past 25 years, the campus has seen an increase in the number of students, faculty and staff participating in and supporting this annual event.

ACE Talks

The ACE Talks are the keynote presentations for the online symposium. Students applied to give an ACE Talk by submitting an abstract of their work and a short video of themselves talking about their project. Selected ACE Talk presenters each receive $500 and have a video of their presentation posted on the homepage of the 2024 Symposium website. The 2024 ACE Talk winners:

Kaitlyn Sy, a biotechnology major from Olathe, “Hiding in Plain Sight: Is Lactate an Invisibility Cloak for Cancer?” mentored by Jack Treml and Randall Logan, School of Professional Studies.
Logan Edmondson, a behavioral neuroscience major from Fairway, “Effects of End Times Messaging on Temporal Horizons,” mentored by Mark Landau, psychology.
Duong (Diana) Nguyen, a psychology major from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, “Identity-Relevant Perceptions of Immigration among Asian Americans,” mentored by Glenn Adams and Syed Muhammad Omar, psychology.
Alyson Honeyman, a biochemistry major from Lenexa, “Subcloning and Mutagenesis of Shigella Virulence Proteins Involved in Antimicrobial Resistance,” mentored by Roberto De Guzman, molecular biosciences.

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Editors: Some students won awards in multiple competitions, with first and last names retained throughout the release for clarity.

 

Contact: Gloria Prothe, Department of Mathematics, [email protected]

KU students excel in math competitions

 

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas students recently tested their mathematical prowess at local, state and national events.

KU Math Prize Competition

The 41st annual event, sponsored by the Department of Mathematics, took place in March. Open to all KU undergraduates, the written exam for each level covered six questions to be completed in three hours. Cash awards were presented to the top three winners at both levels.

The junior level was open to all undergraduates of non-senior standing and assumes a knowledge of first-year calculus. The winners of the junior level:

First place: Lauren D’Souza, a junior in mathematics and computer science from Overland Park.
Second place: Ceres Botkin, a junior in mathematics and economics from Shawnee.
Third place: Braden Troyer, a junior mathematics and French & Italian from Manhattan.
Top first-year student: Kodai Nakae, a freshman in electrical engineering and economics from Singapore.
The senior-level is open to all undergraduates and covers a range of standard topics of undergraduate math. The winner of the senior-level:

First place: Teerapat Saengsubin, a senior in mathematics from Samut Prakan, Thailand.
Second place: Matthew Hunt, a senior in mathematics from Kechi.
Third place: Kashif Khan, a senior in mathematics and chemical engineering from Topeka.
Hailong Dao, professor of mathematics, was in charge of the competition.

Kansas Collegiate Math Competition

KU undergraduate students took first and third place in the team competition at the 2024 Kansas Collegiate Math Competition, which was March 23 at Washburn University. The competition is part of the yearly meeting of the Kansas section of the Mathematical Association of America.

The competition is team-based, with students working together in groups of two or three to complete 10 problems in three hours. Teams from undergraduate institutions in Kansas took part. Cash awards were given to the top teams.

Members of KU’s first-place team were Teerapat Saengsubin; Ansuman Sharma, a sophomore in computer science from Visakhapatnam, India; and Shad Ahmed Shahul Hameed, a senior in mathematics and computer science from Kasaragod, India.
Second-place team members were Matthew Hunt; Maral Bat, a sophomore in mathematics and computer science from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Matvey Tabakh, a junior in accounting from Overland Park.
Reuven Hodges and Yuanqi Wang, professors of mathematics, coached the team and assisted with the competition.

William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

KU students participated along with over 4,000 other undergraduate students in the Mathematical Association of America’s William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. Called one of the toughest math competitions in the world, the Putnam exam is a mathematics competition open to all regularly enrolled undergraduates in colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The competition took place in December.

KU has several students who scored very well on the six-hour exam consisting of 12 problems. KU’s top three highest-scoring individuals made up the team, which was the highest-scoring team representing the state of Kansas.

KU’s students who scored well on the exam are Liam McKinney (ranked 348), a senior in mathematics and computer science from Lawrence. Teerapat Saengsubin (ranked 580), Ceres Botkin, Matthew Hunt, Shad Ahmed Shahul Hameed and Matvey Tabakh.

Joonha Park and Hodges, professors of mathematics, conducted training sessions for the Putnam exam.

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings

Journalism professor explores how helping students embrace data can be new approach to teaching writing

 

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas professor who teaches data storytelling has written new work about how embracing the idea that data is all around can be a new approach to teaching writing.

Each semester, Christopher Etheridge, assistant professor of journalism & mass communications, hears students ask how much math will be involved in a class or suggest that they are not good with numbers. In a chapter for the new book “Better Practices: Exploring the Teaching of Writing in Online and Hybrid Spaces,” he shares how reflective learning, or helping students realize that data can be used to tell a story that is true to their own experiences, can be a new approach to writing instruction.

The chapter “Reflective Learning in Data Storytelling” shares the experiences of Etheridge and co-author Heidi Skurat Harris of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. They key is helping students realize data is not a set of arcane numbers hidden in official databases but rather information that informs everyday life, such as tax information, sports statistics, traffic rates and business figures.

“We can do data literacy for journalists, strategic communicators, marketers and others, but it wouldn’t make as much sense or be as efficient as teaching it to all manner of writers,” Etheridge said. “Heidi and I said, ‘We want students to realize that data is around them all the time.’ A big part of the work is getting the data, but the tools to do that, you already have.”

Etheridge and Skurat Harris share their example of reflective learning in teaching writing. In their class, the authors have instructed students to pair up and reflect on an experience in their lives they feel is worth writing about. The students share their ideas with the larger class, who ask questions and offer ideas on the type of data needed to properly tell the story.

One student shared that they were nearly hit by a car while walking through an intersection. That led to questions about accident rates at various intersections, severity of accidents, numbers of tickets written in certain areas, most dangerous times of day and how such data could be found and put to use in writing about the experience.

Throughout the chapter, the authors share how they guided students to take ownership of their own stories. They also share examples of how such a reflective experience could be used in other classroom settings along with strategies adjusting approaches for different class sizes or majors.

“Better Practices,” edited by Amy Cicchino of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Troy Hicks of Central Michigan University, contains 19 chapters written by authors on topics such as collaborative writing, teaching in online/hybrid courses, textual analysis, writing for social media, open-media assignments and building trust in online writing. Published by WAC Clearinghouse, each of the book’s chapters are written by an early-career writing instructor paired with a more veteran educator.

“Amy (Cicchino) and Troy (Hicks) came up with the idea that we don’t have to be the best at everything, but we can be better at what we do and how we teach writing for the book,” Etheridge said of the editors. “Originally it was looking at online teaching, but there are so many ways we are teaching these days that we decided to explore some of the ways we can get where we want to be with small adjustments to our delivery and content.”

For their chapter, Etheridge and Skurat Harris share research supporting the practice of reflective learning and steps for how writing teachers can implement it in their own classrooms or teaching modules. The key in reflective learning with data is helping students realize that data is not an intimidating set of numbers, but a useful way of telling a story and helping people understand the experiences of life, the authors wrote.

“Some of the best ideas I’ve ever had as a communicator have come from regular life and seeing how people have presented an idea through a billboard or ad campaign,” Etheridge said. “We want to help students realize they can do the same.”

Etheridge said the chapter was inspired by the idea of providing students with the skills employers say they are looking for in early-career writers. As part of previously published work, Etheridge and colleague Peter Bobkowski wrote how editors, producers, hiring managers and others told them they want students with “spreadsheet wherewithal,” or the ability to handle and interpret data for readers and audiences.

“They tell us, ‘We don’t need everybody to know how to code,’ but they do want more of their staff to be able open Excel, put in numbers and be able to get some good results and make sense of the information,” Etheridge said.

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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: Ashleigh Lee, School of Business, [email protected], @KUbschool

KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition sees record growth

 

LAWRENCE – A record 52 students from 13 teams across the U.S. competed in the fourth annual KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition on April 5–6 at Capitol Federal Hall.

This year’s competition featured teams from the University of Kansas School of Business, as well as the University of Arizona, University of Central Missouri, Indiana State University, University of Iowa, University of Georgia, Marshall University, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, University of North Dakota, Texas Tech University and University of Wyoming.

The event is sponsored and judged by King’s Hawaiian and included a two-minute, individual speed-selling competition and a three-round, tournament-style team case competition, which featured a business situation designed by the company. Winners received cash prizes and were recognized during an awards ceremony.

Winners of the team case competition

First place: University of Georgia ($4,000)
Second place: University of Central Missouri ($3,000)
Third place: University of Iowa ($2,000)

Winners of the individual speed-selling competition

First place: Josephine Trinen, University of Arizona ($600)
Second place: Vivian Menis, University of Iowa ($500)
Third place: Maya Rappe, University of Arizona ($400)
Fourth place: Audrey McBride, KU ($300). McBride is from Kansas City, Missouri.
Fifth place: Lauren Plesant, Texas Tech University ($200)
Sixth place (tie): Josh Schweizer, University of Nebraska; Natalie Thoennes, KU ($100). Thoennes is from Southlake, Texas.

“The talent at this year’s competition was first-rate and a testament to the growth of sales education,” said Kristen Helling, director of the KU School of Business Professional Selling Program. “I am thankful that so many sales coaches care deeply about teaching the craft and are willing to spend their time developing the next generation of sales professionals. It’s inspiring to see young professionals work hard to hone their skills.”

The event has grown since its inaugural event in 2021, which hosted eight teams virtually because of COVID-19 precautions. The event has since grown to include more than 10 teams during the past two years and has seen teams from nearby and faraway states.

“This year was truly fantastic,” said Patrick Meehan, president, Irresistible Food Sales and COO of Irresistible Food Group, the parent company of King’s Hawaiian. “The teams did an incredible job tackling our hardest case yet, and the University of Kansas provided a world-class venue and experience. The level of alignment between King’s Hawaiian and the KU School of Business makes this partnership so special. Both are completely committed with all their resources to create an irresistible experience for all participants every year. Getting to see, first hand, future sales leaders practice their craft with peers from all throughout the country is the most exciting part of every year.”

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

 

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