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

Groundbreaking contributions to effects of chaos and bifurcation in economics chronicled in new book

LAWRENCE — Chaos. The word suggests disorder, confusion, malevolence.

“Yet nature is chaotic. Human brain waves are chaotic. Chaos is actually good,” said William Barnett, the Oswald Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Kansas.

The professor has published a new book titled “Economic Bifurcation and Chaos.” It provides a unified presentation of Barnett’s (with co-authors’) contributions to the literature on chaos, economic bifurcation and nonlinear dynamics. It’s published by World Scientific.

With assistance in production by Ruoning Han of Whitman College, who received a doctorate in economics from KU, the span of the book’s research begins in 1988 with Barnett’s initial finding of chaos in economic data. It continues with subsequent findings of bifurcation, but not necessarily chaos, in all dynamical macroeconomic models tested by the professor and his co-authors.

Barnett said that chaos theory should not be confused with catastrophe theory.

“In mathematics, catastrophe theory is about a discontinuous break in the solution path. Then the solution can be moving along, and suddenly it jumps down. There’s a discontinuous break in the solution. That’s bad,” he said.

“Chaos just means the solution jiggles around so fast that it looks stochastic without discontinuities. But the stochasticity then has a deterministic explanation, so it doesn’t come from shocks outside the universe or white noise. It’s coming from the system itself.”

He cites how the weather is chaotic, as is the nature of meteorology and climatology.

“The temperature variations never stop. They just keep fluctuating in a stochastic way. That’s actually a plus because stochasticity that has deterministic origins from chaos is informative. It tells you something about the underlying system that’s causing this phenomenon,” he said.

While mathematicians have long known of this theory and its applications, many economists lack expertise in it. As James Heckman, a Nobel laureate in economics, wrote in the book’s front matter, Barnett’s work “analyzes how systems with many interacting parts behave as a whole. … It is a guide to understanding the deep structural features of modern economics and how to account for them in policy analysis.”

The research covered in “Economic Bifurcation and Chaos” extends over three decades to Barnett’s recent findings of Shilnikov chaos (named for Russian mathematician Leonid Shilnikov) in New Keynesian models of the U.S. and U.K. economies. This research discovered what could have caused interest rates to drift downward inadvertently for three decades, eventually entering the zero lower bound, even when not intended by the Federal Reserve.

The initial impetus for some of this research came 50 years ago when Barnett was working as a rocket scientist during the U.S. space race. He recalls testing rocket engines at Edwards Air Force Base.

“Odd things would happen in the engine’s thrust chamber, and we weren’t quite sure why,” he said.

“We weren’t sure what to think about it. We would just keep running tests trying to figure out how to stop the puzzling behavior. But we did have a small number of brilliant mathematicians who basically consulted for us. These were not engineers. I would go talk to them sometimes, and they would explain to me that such occurrences don’t mean there’s necessarily something wrong with the rocket engine. It’s just a normal part of dynamics. But we needed to know how to control it to avoid bad outcomes.”

A half-century later, does Barnett feel like he’s grasped these seemingly impenetrable concepts better?

“Oh yes. I understand them much more now, especially since meeting Belgian physicist Viscount Ilya Prigogine at the University of Texas many years ago,” he said of the Noble laureate and author of 1984’s “Order Out of Chaos.”

A native of Boston, Barnett was originally employed as a scientist at Rocketdyne, a Los Angeles company that created the F-1 and J-2 rocket engines for the Apollo program. He then spent eight years on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.

Barnett has worked at KU for the past 23 years as an expert in econometrics and macroeconomics. He is founder and editor of the Cambridge University Press journal “Macroeconomic Dynamics” and the Emerald Press monograph series “International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics.” Barnett also founded the Society for Economic Measurement and served as its first president. Additionally, he is director at the Center for Financial Stability in New York City.

Now at the age of 83, Barnett said he admits he has no intention of stepping away from writing books at KU, editing journals or learning even more about his chosen field.

Of course, that is unless something chaotic happens.

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KU Debate qualifies third team for National Debate Tournament

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas debate team of Ethan Harris and Jacob Wilkus, both graduates of Free State High School in Lawrence, have qualified for the National Debate Tournament set for April 4-7 in Spokane, Washington. The duo joins the KU teams of John Marshall, Lawrence, with Graham Revare, Prairie Village, and Rose Larson, Milwaukee, with Luna Schultz, Houston, who had already qualified. This is the 10th straight year that KU has qualified three teams for the NDT.

KU Wind Ensemble to tour central and western Kansas

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Music will take part in an outreach tour March 31 and April 1 in central and western Kansas, featuring the KU Wind Ensemble under the direction of Matt Smith. The band will perform in Clay Center, Dodge City, Garden City, Hays and Junction City.

Third pharmacy dean candidate to present March 6, schedule updated

LAWRENCE – Chrissa Kioussi, a professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences at Oregon State University, will be the third candidate for the School of Pharmacy dean position to present her vision for the school. Her public presentation is set for 4-5 p.m. March 6 in Room 1020 of the School of Pharmacy building and will be livestreamed. The fourth and final candidate’s presentation also has been rescheduled to 4-5 p.m. March 13.

Embrace of authoritarianism in US fueled by culture wars more than economy, study finds

LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas sociologists have contributed a chapter titled “Authoritarianism From Below: Why and How Donald Trump Follows His Followers” to a new publication in the “Current Perspectives in Social Theory” series from Emerald Publishing Limited. “What we’re witnessing, and what we have witnessed for quite some time, is an active wish for domineering leaders who will fight the culture war on behalf of their supporters,” said co-author David Norman Smith.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Scott Harris, KU Debate, 785-864-9878, [email protected], @KansasDebate

KU Debate qualifies third team for National Debate Tournament

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas debate team of Ethan Harris and Jacob Wilkus, both alumni of Free State High School in Lawrence, have qualified for the National Debate Tournament set for April 4-7 in Spokane, Washington.

Harris and Wilkus were selected as at-large qualifiers for the National Debate Tournament by the NDT Selection Committee based on their record over the course of the season. They are the third KU pair to qualify for the national tournament this year. The duo joins the KU teams of John Marshall, Lawrence, with Graham Revare, Prairie Village, and Rose Larson, Milwaukee, with Luna Schultz, Houston, who had already qualified for the NDT.

To qualify as a third team, a pair must be one of the six best third teams in the country over the season.

“Qualifying for the NDT as a third team is very difficult, and Ethan and Jacob earned it with an excellent season,” said Brett Bricker, KU associate director of debate.

The five other schools who qualified three teams to the NDT are Emory University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Northwestern University.

This is the 10th straight year that KU has qualified three teams for the NDT and the 58th consecutive year of qualifying one or more teams to compete at the NDT. KU has won the National Debate Tournament six times and reached the final four 21 times, including a second-place finish in 2024.

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Contact: Fally Afani, School of Music, [email protected]

KU Wind Ensemble to tour central and western Kansas

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Music will take part in an outreach tour featuring the KU Wind Ensemble under the direction of Matt Smith. The band will embark on a two-day tour across central and western Kansas, performing five concerts for students and the public.

The tour will take place March 31 and April 1, with performances at high schools in Clay Center, Junction City, Hays, Garden City and Dodge City. These concerts will provide students and community members with an opportunity to foster a connection with the university and experience one of the nation’s premier collegiate wind ensembles.

“We are thrilled to share the joy of live music with students and audiences across Kansas,” said Smith, co-conductor of the KU Wind Ensemble. “Music has the power to inspire, educate and connect us, and we look forward to engaging with these communities and nurturing a love for the arts.”

The tour schedule is as follows:

March 31

9:45 a.m. – Clay Center Community High School
1:15 p.m. – Junction City High School
7:30 p.m. – Hays High School

April 1

10 a.m. – Garden City High School
2 p.m. – Dodge City High School.

The “School of Music Across Kansas” initiative is part of the School of Music’s ongoing commitment to expanding access to high-quality musical experiences and fostering connections between KU musicians and students across the state.

For more information, please contact the KU Band Office at [email protected].

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

Third pharmacy dean candidate to present March 6, schedule updated

LAWRENCE – Chrissa Kioussi, a professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences at Oregon State University, will be the third candidate for the School of Pharmacy dean position to present her vision for the school.

The presentation is set for 4-5 p.m. March 6 in Room 1020 of the School of Pharmacy building. The event will be livestreamed, and the passcode is 932064.

The fourth and final candidate’s presentation also has been rescheduled to 4-5 p.m. March 13 in Room 1020 in the School of Pharmacy building. They will be announced approximately two business days before the visit.

Members of the KU community are encouraged to attend the presentations and provide feedback to the search committee. Presentation recordings and the online feedback form will remain available on the search page through March 18.

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

As chair of OSU’s pharmaceutical sciences department, Kioussi leads a team of faculty, students, trainees and staff, promoting the research portfolio of the College of Pharmacy and advocating for teaching and research needs.

Her research is related to developmental biology and molecular genetics, focusing on how genes and cells work cooperatively and systematically to generate and regenerate organs, with funding provided by numerous entities, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Heart Association and March of Dimes.

Kioussi has previously served as an American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Academic Leadership Fellow and Provost Fellow, the chair of the College of Pharmacy Promotion and Tenure Committee and the Research Office’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and a member of the Center for Quantitative Life Sciences Scientific Advisory Board and Faculty Senate Graduate Council.

She is an editor and reviewer of multiple scientific journals and book series as well as a reviewer in NIH study sections, U.S. research foundations and European research agencies.

Kioussi earned her doctorate in molecular and cellular biology from the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, both in Athens, Greece. She previously trained at Pasteur Institute, University College London, the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, the Scripps Research Institute and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

The School of Pharmacy Dean search committee includes representatives from faculty, staff, students and alumni and is being led by Michelle Carney, dean of the School of Social Welfare, and Candan Tamerler, associate vice chancellor for research and professor of mechanical engineering.

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

Embrace of authoritarianism in US fueled by culture wars more than economy, study finds

LAWRENCE — Donald Trump famously announced his intention in 2023 to be a dictator “on day one” of his second term in office. Despite the statement’s seeming affront to democracy, a majority of voters were not repelled by it. Many instead embraced it.

“Words like dictatorship and democracy are formal. They’re not beside the point, but they don’t necessarily get to the crux of what’s happening,” said David Norman Smith, professor of sociology at the University of Kansas.

“It isn’t that people are saying, ‘Oh, we don’t need democracy.’ They’re saying, ‘We do need to fight the culture war.’ If fighting the culture war in a domineering way tramples some of the established traditions, that’s a consequence. But that’s not generally the object.”

Smith and Eric Hanley, KU associate professor of sociology, have contributed a chapter titled “Authoritarianism From Below: Why and How Donald Trump Follows His Followers.” They scrutinize Trump’s assertion that many individuals “like” his talk of dictatorship. And if true, what does it mean empirically? The chapter appears in “The Future of Agency: Between Autonomy and Heteronomy,” which is Vol. 41 of the “Current Perspectives in Social Theory” series published by Emerald Publishing Limited.

“I think it’s better to try to actually understand what’s going on beneath the surface of traditional terms like ‘dictatorship.’ What we’re witnessing, and what we have witnessed for quite some time, is an active wish for domineering leaders who will fight the culture war on behalf of their supporters,” Smith said.

Many of these political tendencies emerged prior to Trump’s presidency. Some are found in the results of the 2012 and 2016 American National Election Studies (ANES), which included survey questions Smith and Hanley proposed that were drawn from the Right-wing Authoritarianism Scale. They learned from this survey that most of Trump’s voters supported him not because they were hurting economically, but because they shared his prejudices and enemies.

“If you scroll through countless Trump speeches over a decade, you will find very few comments that directly address economic issues,” Smith said. “It’s rarely a talking point for him. It’s the culture war. That’s what has really resonated.”

It used to be routinely said that people vote their pocketbook. Democratic Party leadership often echoed such sentiments. Bill Clinton staffers James Carville and George Stephanopoulos became household names in 1992 for introducing the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

“The recurring misunderstanding, which was most recently shown by all the discussion about inflation in the latter stages of the last election, is this idea that the economy is number one,” Smith said.

“That was largely the result of a single poll. And polls are fine, but one small poll amid everything else that was happening at that moment gave people who were so disposed an opportunity to cling to an economy narrative. What we found way back in 2012 was that the economy matters greatly, but it matters to everyone. So if you’re trying to distinguish yourself (as a candidate) by voting for or against something, pocketbook issues don’t get you very far.”

What most Trump voters have wanted, Smith said, is Donald Trump and what he represents culturally. That was clear in the 2016 data, and it has been clear in subsequent surveys by the Monmouth University Polling Institute and Morning Consult.

Smith’s interest in this topic goes back a long way. He said he recalled reading a poll concerning Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Voters were asked, “Do you think Ronald Reagan cares about people like you?” Under 10% of the public said yes. They were then asked, “Do you like Ronald Reagan and what he’s doing?” Around 70% of those same people answered yes, and mainly because they saw him as a strong leader.

“The striking fact that Reagan could be 70% popular in a moment when most people did not really feel he cared about them raised a big question for me,” he said.

A professor at KU since 1990, Smith specializes in the political intersections of sociology, psychology and economy. His work often explores the question, “Why do people differ in their attitudes toward democracy and equality?”

While he is quick to discuss the reasons behind Trump’s support, he is not currently predicting how the man’s presidency and legacy will play out.

Smith said, “I’m reminded of something I heard Trump tell TV journalist Megyn Kelly in an interview back in early 2016. She asked him, ‘If there’s one thing we should know about you, what would you say it is?’ He said, ‘I go hard.’ I think we know by now that he is charging ahead, and he’s waiting to see what the consequences will be. He’s always had a gambler’s mentality.”

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

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

Expert can comment on President Trump’s address to Congress

LAWRENCE – If past is prologue, President Donald Trump will double down on the nationalist populist themes that animate his MAGA movement in his first post-reelection remarks to Congress Tuesday evening.

Robert Rowland, a University of Kansas professor of communication studies and expert on presidential rhetoric, is available to journalists to comment upon the address, which substitutes for a State of the Union address in election years, either before or immediately after the speech.

Rowland is the author of the 2021 book “The Rhetoric of Donald Trump: Nationalist Populism and American Democracy” (University of Kansas Press).

“President Trump’s political brand of nationalist populism, which he often supports with grandiose claims about his personal leadership and accomplishments, contrasts sharply with the norm for presidential addresses,” Rowland said.

“On Tuesday, Trump will be forced to choose between restating basic American values, a focus of most State of the Union addresses, and using his rhetoric to express grievances toward perceived enemies and to score points with — and often at the expense of — the press.

“Given his previous track record, it seems likely that President Trump will attempt to bend the form of presidential addresses to Congress to fit the themes that dominate his rally and other rhetoric. He will transform the speech to Congress into something approximating the message and style of a MAGA rally.”

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

[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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Record-high research at KU benefits Kansans, fuels state economy

LAWRENCE — Research and development expenditures spanning all University of Kansas campuses increased to $546.1 million in fiscal year 2024, surpassing the half-billion-dollar mark for the first time in university history. Last year alone, research expenditures at KU supported the salaries of 5,595 people. Additionally, the university spent $86.5 million in 91 Kansas counties on research-related goods and services in fiscal year 2024, according to a report from the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science.

KU, Kansas State faculty receive Higuchi-KU Endowment research achievement awards

LAWRENCE — Four faculty members at two Kansas universities were named recipients of the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, the state higher education system’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence. The honorees are Johann (Hans) Coetzee and Walter Dodds, both from Kansas State University, and Hartmut Jaeschke and Dave Tell, both from the University of Kansas. Recipients will be recognized at a ceremony this spring.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Mindie Paget, Office of Research, 785-864-0013, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU

Record-high research at KU benefits Kansans, fuels state economy

LAWRENCE — Research and development expenditures spanning all University of Kansas campuses increased to $546.1 million in fiscal year 2024, surpassing the half-billion-dollar mark for the first time in university history. This record high represents a 17% increase year over year and the ninth consecutive year of research growth for the university.

The reverberations of that growth extend far beyond KU to benefit people throughout the Sunflower State and beyond.

“As one of America’s leading research universities, KU is solving major problems facing Kansans and their communities while simultaneously serving as a vital economic engine for the state,” said Matthias Salathe, KU’s chief research officer.

“Our researchers are driven to improve human health and well-being, sustain life on our planet, enhance safety and security, and so much more,” said Shelley Hooks, vice chancellor for research on KU’s Lawrence campus. “In the process, they are also educating tomorrow’s workforce, creating jobs, launching and attracting businesses, attracting external funding to the state, and investing in the prosperity of Kansans.”

Last year alone, research expenditures at KU supported the salaries of 5,595 people. Additionally, the university spent $86.5 million in 91 Kansas counties on research-related goods and services in fiscal year 2024, according to a report from the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science. Vendors in 19 of those counties received more than $102,000 in purchases.

Among research funded during fiscal year 2024 were projects to develop treatments for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease; improve natural disaster resistance of housing; promote healthy brain aging among midlife adults; integrate in-farm solar arrays to diversify farmers’ income; prevent diabetes in rural communities; optimize missile-defense radars; build capacity to produce highly qualified STEM teachers; evaluate community supports for youth with disabilities and more.

Research expenditures are dollars spent to conduct research. A majority of KU’s externally funded research — nearly 70% in 2024 — is supported by federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. KU researchers win grant dollars from these agencies through competitions designed to identify the most innovative ideas for addressing societal challenges. Other sources of KU research funding include state and local governments, private businesses and nonprofit foundations.

Advancing health, economic impact

Additional IRIS reporting shows that KU research contributed $1.34 billion to the U.S. economy between 2011 and 2023, with spending flowing to more than 7,700 vendors and subcontractors over that time. Of the 59% of KU’s spending that could be matched with specific vendors and contractors, more than 990 were small businesses.

The IRIS reports encompass research spending across all KU campuses. That includes the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, where research ultimately contributes to life-changing medical advances.

“We continue to see significant growth in research at KU Medical Center in the quantity and quality of projects being funded,” Salathe said. “Our scientists and researchers are seeking new treatments and health-related approaches to some of our most critical health issues, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.”

In addition to nearly $10 million in annual support for the KU Cancer Center, KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Frontiers Clinical & Translational Science Institute, KU Medical Center received a $6.3 million annually renewable award to launch the Heartland Consortium as part of the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program to advance precision medicine. The university also received a grant renewal for the Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine, which totals $11.4 million over five years.

KU’s research-related economic impact extends beyond the data captured in IRIS reporting. For example, 54 active startup companies have spun out of KU or are based on KU technologies, and more than half of those companies are located in Kansas. Through the university’s relationship with KU Innovation Park, KU researchers help attract businesses to Lawrence, Kansas City and the surrounding area — companies like Archer Daniels Midland and Garmin — that want to be close to KU researchers and students. The park system, which extends to the medical center campus, includes 74 companies and accounts for 750 private sector jobs and $49.8 million in annual direct payroll.

Influencing rankings, AAU membership

KU’s substantial research activity has helped sustain its membership in the Association of American Universities since 1909, and the university’s annual research expenditures affect its standing in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education & Research Development Survey. KU ranked 47th among public universities for research and development expenditures and 53rd among public universities for federally funded R&D in the latest HERD survey, which is based on fiscal year 2023 data.

The university also claimed the second overall spot in federally financed R&D expenditures in non-science and engineering fields and ranked No. 3 among public universities for overall R&D in non-science and engineering fields.

KU ranked in the top 50 among publics in overall R&D in the following fields and subfields:

No. 1 in Education
No. 3 in Non-Science & Engineering Fields
No. 3 in Social Work
No. 18 in Geological & Earth Sciences
No. 18 in Life Sciences, not elsewhere classified
No. 25 in Sciences, not elsewhere classified
No. 27 in Chemical Engineering
No. 30 in Health Sciences
No. 36 in Chemistry
No. 36 in Psychology
No. 38 in Anthropology
No. 41 in Atmospheric Science & Meteorology
No. 42 in Communication & Communications Technologies
No. 43 in Aerospace, Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering
No. 46 in Life Sciences
No. 50 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

KU ranked in the top 50 among publics in federally funded R&D in the following fields and subfields:

No. 1 in Social Work
No. 2 in Non-Science & Engineering Fields
No. 4 in Education
No. 9 in Visual & Performing Arts
No. 12 in Humanities
No. 16 in Communication & Communication Technologies
No. 21 in Anthropology
No. 30 in Geological & Earth Sciences
No. 30 in Chemistry
No. 30 in Health Sciences
No. 36 in Psychology
No. 38 in Chemical Engineering
No. 40 in Aerospace, Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering
No. 41 in Atmospheric Science & Meteorology
No. 43 in Natural Resources & Conservation
No. 45 in Astronomy & Astrophysics
No. 47 in Civil Engineering
No. 49 in Life Sciences

KU’s fiscal year 2024 research expenditures will be used to determine the university’s 2025 ranking in the NSF HERD survey.

IRIS is a national consortium of research universities using data to understand, explain and improve higher education and research. IRIS reports are based on administrative data that KU supplies to IRIS, which are then merged with other public and private datasets.

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Contact: Vince Munoz, Office of Research, 785-864-2254, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU

KU, Kansas State faculty receive Higuchi-KU Endowment research achievement awards

LAWRENCE — Four faculty members at two Kansas universities were named recipients of the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, the state higher education system’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence.

The annual awards are given in four categories of scholarly and creative achievement. This year’s honorees:

Dave Tell, professor of communication studies and co-director of the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities, KU, recipient of the Balfour Jeffrey Award in Humanities & Social Sciences.
Walter Dodds, University Distinguished Professor and Edwin G. & Lillian J. Brychta Chair of Biology, Kansas State University, recipient of the Olin Petefish Award in Basic Sciences.
Johann (Hans) Coetzee, University Distinguished Professor of anatomy & physiology and interim vice president for research, Kansas State University, recipient of the Irvin Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences.
Hartmut Jaeschke, University Distinguished Professor of pharmacology, toxicology & therapeutics, KU Medical Center, recipient of the Dolph Simons Award in Biomedical Sciences.

The four will be recognized at a ceremony this spring along with recipients of other major KU research awards.

This is the 43rd annual presentation of the Higuchi awards, established in 1981 by Takeru Higuchi, a distinguished professor at the University of Kansas from 1967 to 1983, his wife, Aya, and the KU Endowment Association. The awards recognize exceptional long-term research accomplishments by faculty at Kansas Board of Regents universities. Each honoree receives $10,000 for their ongoing research.

The awards are named for former leaders of KU Endowment who helped recruit Higuchi to KU.

Balfour Jeffrey Award in Humanities & Social Sciences

Dave Tell is a professor of communication studies and co-director of the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities. His scholarship focuses on one of the most notorious hate crimes in American history.

Tell is the author of “Remembering Emmett Till,” a book that lays out the history of efforts to memorialize Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was killed for whistling at a white woman in a rural Mississippi store. Till’s mother, Mamie, held an open-casket funeral in Chicago, which sparked a national conversation around lynching and catalyzed the American Civil Rights Movement. Efforts to remember Till’s life and murder have been met with opposition. Signs commemorating the murder have been stolen and shot multiple times and defaced with acid. In 2019, a group of college students posted a photo of themselves carrying guns next to the sign.

In response to the vandalism, Tell wrote a New York Times editorial calling for the vandalized Till signs to be placed in a museum. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History responded, creating an exhibit based largely on Tell’s research.

Tell has partnered with the family of Emmett Till to launch the Emmett Till Memory Project, a website and mobile app that lets users visit relevant sites, access archival documents and learn civil rights history on a 21st century digital platform. Tell’s work has been recognized in multiple international publications, and he attended the White House event launching the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Park.

Tell received a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, and a doctorate in communication arts and sciences from Pennsylvania State University.

Olin Petefish Award in Basic Sciences

Walter Dodds is a University Distinguished Professor and Edwin G. & Lillian J. Brychta Chair of Biology at Kansas State University. He evaluates how nutrients flow through freshwater ecosystems, including nutrient pollution, nuisance algal growth and water quality.

Dodds was the lead organizer behind the Stream Experimental and Observational Network, a group of aquatic scientists from across North America who proposed a continent-scale network of sensors that collects data of rivers and streams. This group shaped the design of the National Ecological Observatory Network, which among other things now includes 20 sites that will monitor freshwater sources in the United States for a planned 30 years. The data collected so far has already resulted in hundreds of scientific publications.

This work is both local and global. Dodds’ efforts assess the water quality and biogeochemistry of Kansas freshwater ecosystems, using the pristine Konza Prairie as a baseline. Better understanding these ecosystems can shed light on the effectiveness of conservation efforts essential to protecting the planet. Dodds is recognized among the top 2% of researchers worldwide, according to an analysis by Stanford University.

Dodds received a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Denver and a doctorate in biology from the University of Oregon.

Irvin Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences

Hans Coetzee is a University Distinguished Professor of anatomy & physiology and interim vice president for research at Kansas State University. His research involves the study and mitigation of pain in livestock.

Coetzee grew up around animals on his family’s dairy farm in South Africa. There he noticed that there were no standards for minimizing pain and discomfort in farm animals. While some livestock producers in America use human pain medicine off-label for animals, approval for livestock-specific drugs requires ways of assessing their effectiveness. This is especially challenging since many farm animals evolved to conceal signs of pain to evade predation. Coetzee and his team employed innovative methods — such as pressure mats to assess if animals are limping and thermography to measure skin temperature variations linked to pain-related changes in blood flow — to standardize pain detection.

These tests led to the approval of the first livestock analgesic drug (pain medication) that improved the welfare of millions of animals. Coetzee holds two U.S. patents and is recognized in the top 2% of researchers in his field worldwide by a Stanford University analysis of publications. In recognition of his research contributions, he was recently named the 2025 recipient of the National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences.

Coetzee received a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science (DVM equivalent) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and a doctorate in veterinary microbiology from Iowa State University.

Dolph Simons Award in Biomedical Sciences

Hartmut Jaeschke is a University Distinguished Professor of pharmacology, toxicology & therapeutics at KU Medical Center. He studies drug-induced liver disease from one of the most commonly used medications.

Acetaminophen is an important over-the-counter medication that provides pain relief to millions of people, but when taken excessively it can cause liver damage. Jaeschke and his research group look at liver cells to assess treatment options. His work helped identify fomepizole, an existing drug, as a new antidote against acetaminophen toxicity. Jaeschke is working on repurposing other drugs for the same purpose.

For some patients, the damage done from acetaminophen requires a liver transplant. Jaeschke and his team have discovered a biomarker that could help clinicians more quickly determine when a liver transplant is needed. With the patent now granted, Jaeschke’s work can go from bench to bedside to help save lives.

Jaeschke received a master’s degree in biochemistry and a doctorate degree in toxicology, both from the University of Tübingen, Germany.

About KU Endowment

KU Endowment is the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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