Center for Science, Technology & Economic Policy

News

March 2020 - Ginther, Donna K, Nancy Cayton Myers, Thomas Becker, Lindsay Elliot Jorgenson, "Growing New Ventures and Jobs in Kansas: An in-depth Review of Entrepreneurship Activities and Policies in Kansas and How We Compare." Institute for Policy & Social Research, The University of Kansas (January 2020).

November 20, 2019 - Code to convert both the public- and restricted-use SESTAT data sets (1993-2013) from SAS to Stata developed under the NSF-funded EAGER: Data Infrastructure to Enhance Research on the Scientific Workforce project are now available at: https://ipsr.ku.edu/CSTEP/eager.shtml

December 26, 2017 - CSTEP has released two new reports for the Kansas Board of Regents. The reports authored by CSTEP Director Dr. Donna K. Ginther and Reseach Economist Pat Oslund, in PDF format, are:

September 12, 2017 - The Kansas City Area Education Research Consortium (KC-AERC) has returned to the Institute for Policy & Social Research (IPSR). In 2009, KC-AERC was established at IPSR but, under new leadership, moved to KU’s Achievement and Assessment Institute (AAI) in 2015. With this transition, IPSR welcomes KC-AERC’s return and looks forward to supporting their work. Within IPSR, KC-AERC is part of the Center for Science, Technology & Economic Policy (C-STEP), under the direction of Donna Ginther, Economics. To find out more information about the KC-AERC team visit http://www.kcaerc.org/

September 17, 2015 - Recent findings presented earlier this month at the Kansas City GradNation Summit, concluded that students who move to new schools are likelier to have lower test scores and more absences. Using data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Kansas City Area Education Research Consortium (KC-AERC), looked at how many students transferred in and out of schools in three counties in the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area. The research found students who had changed schools were 60 percent less likely to be proficient in communication arts and 62 percent less likely to be proficient in math as students who didn't move. Read the full press release.

October 17, 2014 - CSTEP Director Donna Ginter presented detailed information at the October IPSR faculty luncheon on the newly announced Kansas City Research Data Center (RDC). The RDC is being funded by the National Science Foundation and is a collaborative effort between IPSR, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the Kauffman Foundation, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Click here to watch the video of Dr. Ginthers presentation. The slides are also available at: https://ipsr.ku.edu/CSTEP/Ginther_RDC_slides.pdf.

February 15, 2013 - CSTEP Director Donna Ginther will be the 26th recipient of the Byron T. Shutz Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Kansas. From the press release: Professor Ginther will present her public Shutz Award lecture, “New Results on Race, Ethnicity and NIH Research Awards: A Case Study in BD2K” on Monday, February 18, at 3:30 p.m. in the Conference Hall at the Hall Center for the Humanities, 900 Sunnyside Avenue. A reception in her honor will immediately follow."

October 21, 2012 - CSTEP has completed an evaluation of the Kansas Bioscience Authority's policies and procedures for documenting impacts of biotechnology industries on the Kansas economy. The full report can be viewed here: An Evaluation of the Kansas Bioscience Authority Economic Impact Measures (.pdf, 14 pages)

August 19, 2011 - CSTEP Director Donna Ginther has a new publication in Science magazine entitled “Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards” in which she shows that from 2000 to 2006 black grant applicants to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were 10 percentage points less likely than whites to receive funding.

Read: “Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards.” 19 August 2011. Science. 333: 1015-1019 (with Walter Schaffer, Joshua Schnell, Beth Masimore, Faye Liu, Laurel Haak and Raynard Kington). Article can be found here: http://www.sciencemag.org/hottopics/race-nihfunding/

Watch a video of Dr. Ginther discussing the research here: http://www.news.ku.edu/2011/august/18/nihstudy.shtml

Read related research: “Diversity in Academic Biomedicine: An Evaluation of Education and Career Outcomes with Implications for Policy.” September 2009. (with Walter Schaffer, Joshua Schnell, Beth Masimore, Faye Liu, Laurel Haak and Raynard Kington). Article can be found here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1677993

Download a zip file of de-identified data and STATA programs for replicating the results in “Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Awards” here.

CSTEP in the News

A full list of Dr. Ginther's research and projects in the news can be viewed here.

About CSTEP

CSTEP research focuses on science policy, scientific labor markets, education policy, state and local economic development, and economic policy.

Science Policy and Scientific Labor Markets

CSTEP affiliated researchers have received funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Kauffman Foundation, and Sloan Foundation to study diversity in scientific labor markets, high skilled immigration, the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship, and the economic impact of federal R&D funding. CSTEP Director, Donna Ginther has advised the National Academies of Science, the National Institutes of Health, and the Sloan Foundation on the diversity and future of the scientific workforce.

Economic Analysis

Through a systematic program of basic research, IPSR has developed models of impact of alternative tax structures on Kansas business sectors; cost-benefit model to assess property tax abatement decisions by local communities; and models of the longer-term impact of changing public policies or economic conditions. Modeling applications are available to the public on a contract basis.

A list of previous reports based on economic models can be found here: https://ipsr.ku.edu/resrep

KU University Center

The purpose of the KU University Center Project (UC), KU Entrepreneurship Works for Kansas, is to enhance economic conditions and drive employment in Kansas and the Midwest through unique and pragmatic programs in entrepreneurship, the biosciences, and technology. To accomplish this the KU UC combines the innovation, information, and policy resources of the Institute for Policy & Social Research (IPSR) within KU’s Office of Research. Specifically, the KU UC employs three strategies to enhance the regional economic ecosystem: 1) business development expertise is harnessed to identify, analyze and prepare new business opportunities, 2) information and analyses is provided to support regional economic development initiatives; and 3) new business concepts are identified, incubated, and staffed by UC personnel to achieve job growth.

For more information about the KU University Center, visit: https://ipsr.ku.edu/KUforKS/

CSTEP Faculty/Staff

Dr. Donna Ginther, Director
Genna Hurd, Research Associate, Co-Investigator, KU Entrepreneurship Works for Kansas
Wallace W. Meyer, Jr., Principal Investigator, KU Entrepreneurship Works for Kansas
Patricia Oslund, Research Economist