Research Centers
Center for Compassionate & Sustainable Communities
Ward Lyles, Director and Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Indigenous Studies
The Center for Compassionate & Sustainable Communities seeks to engage in basic and applied research, engaged teaching, and translational activities. Our work centers compassionate, just, and sustainable policy, planning, and other community-level action. We aspire to solve grand challenges facing society, including climate change, inequality, and justice.
Center for Democratic Governance
Chris Koliba, Director and Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, Policy & Governance, Public Affairs and Administration
The Center for Democratic Governance (CDG) serves as a catalyst for the elevation of democratic governance studies, research, and modeling to advance theory creation, normative examination, empirical analysis, governance design, advocacy, and education particularly in regard to the environmental, technical, and social threats facing liberal democracies.
Center for Environmental Policy
Dietrich Earnhart, Director and Professor of Economics
Engaging in the social sciences, engineering studies, and legal studies, this center examines various dimensions of environmental policy.
Center for Indigenous Research, Science and Technology
Jay T. Johnson, Director and Professor of Geography & Atmospheric Science
The goal of the Center for Indigenous Research, Science, and Technology is to bridge Indigenous and Western sciences, through appropriate principles, protocols, and practices, in order to better understand the conditions of place-based vulnerability and the best strategies to achieve resilience by facilitating Indigenous-led research initiatives. Our vision is to establish an Indigenous science network that emphasizes research activities that contain integrated theory, practice and dissemination through mentoring and community-based partnerships.
Center for Military, War, and Society Studies
Beth Bailey, Director and Foundation Distinguished Professor Department of History
The Center for Military, War, and Society Studies facilitates essential conversations about – and with – the U.S. military, holding national or international symposia that bring together scholars, policy makers, and members of the armed forces. We foster research on the US military on the KU campus and beyond, supporting scholarship that examines the military not only as an instrument of national defense but also as a central institution in American society.
Center for Research on Education and Work
Argun Saatcioglu, Director and Professor of Sociology
CREW aims to advance knowledge about technology’s effects on education and work, and to promote equity-focused policies and practices that foster social and economic wellbeing for all. We produce and support research on changes occurring in schools, communities, occupations, and workplaces in a technology-infused society. We seek to inform decision makers and the public at large about ways of maximizing collective benefits of technological change and preventing its potential harm.
Center for Science, Technology & Economic Policy
Donna Ginther, Director and Roy A. Roberts and Regents Distinguished Professor, Economics
State and local economic development, economic impact analysis, economic modeling, and tax research are the major areas of emphasis for CSTEP.
Center for the Study of Injustice
Hannah Britton, Director and Professor of Political Science, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies
The Center for the Study of Injustice is an interdisciplinary research center that brings together faculty and students from across KU interested in domestic and international research related to social justice. The Center is dedicated to assisting faculty develop new and existing research programs through grant writing and intellectual exchange. CSI brings together faculty, students, staff, and members of the local community to collaborate on research, teaching, and community-based projects.
Kansas Population Center
Misty Heggeness, Co-director, IPSR Research Scientist, and Associate Professor of Public Affairs & Administration and Jarron Saint Onge, Co-director and Professor of Sociology and Population Health
The Kansas Population Center uses big data to understand how systems and organizations either help or hinder the health and economic wellbeing of rural (and rural adjacent) communities. KPC fosters and supports population research for local and regional public policy decision makers and provides training opportunities for students.
Archived Research Centers
Center for Research on Global Change
