Active Projects
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| Macro-level influences on police decision-making and engagement with victims of serious violent crimes: A narrative case study of two states Principal Investigator: Nancy Jo Kepple Funding Agency: National Institute of Justice Period: 2020 - 2021 Project Summary: Patricia Sattler, a doctoral candidate, will study the influences that shape police decision-making and engagement with victims of violent crimes. The study will include interviews with 40 certified law enforcement officers in rural and urban settings in multiple jurisdictions across Arizona and Nebraska. In addition to these interviews, Sattler will collect policies, procedures, training materials and other relevant documents from individual jurisdictions and include them in her analysis. She will work under the supervision of Dr. Nancy Jo Kepple in the School of Social Welfare. https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/awards/2019-v3-gx-0001 In the News: https://today.ku.edu/2020/01/23/ku-student-wins-nij-fellowship-study-how-police-engage-victims-violent-crime |
| Connections Among Aquatic Microbiomes and Water Quality Degradation Principal Investigator: Joseph Brewer II Funding Agency: Kansas EPSCoR Period: 2020 - 2020 Project Summary: In this research, Joseph Brewer II and Terry Loecke will perform preliminary measurements and develop relationships with researchers and tribal natural resources officials. They will use historical information, existing meta-analyses, and Bayesian decision making tools to theorize links between fish-microbiome health, water quality, and land use practices, and examine spatial patterns in disease incidence in tributaries and parallel watersheds. The work conducted under this planning grant will support subsequent proposal submission. |
| INFEWS/T2 FEWtures: Innovation Analysis Framework for Resilient Futures, with Application to the Central Arkansas River Basin Principal Investigator: Mary C. Hill Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2024 Project Summary: The researchers will explore the economic viability of using renewable energy to increase usable water resources by treating degraded and unused water supplies, and produce ammonia that can both store energy and be used as fertilizer. They will study the potential of these innovations to create a multifaceted economic system able to sustain small town and rural (STAR) communities and maintain needed agricultural production. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1856084&HistoricalAwards=false In the News: https://today.ku.edu/2019/10/17/new-research-will-explore-renewable-energy-water-treatment-ammonia-production-bolster  |
| Local Conditions and Child Health Principal Investigator: Donna K. Ginther Funding Agency: Children's Mercy Hospitals & Clinics Period: 2019 - 2021 Project Summary: This project will examine the implications of recessions for child health and hospitalizations. Donna Ginther will assist the project team in identifying appropriate economic variables for their model and assist in developing their estimation strategy. https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?projectnumber=1R21HD094106-01 |
| Teachers Exploring Advocacy and Community Health (TEACH) Project Principal Investigator: Donna K. Ginther Funding Agency: Kansas Health Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: The TEACH project serves as an expansion of the KUMC project, Teachers and Students for Community-Oriented Research and Education (TSCORE). The TEACH project builds on the TSCORE project by leveraging two project-based health education units developed by KUMC researchers and educators. This project will disseminate those units into Topeka Public Schools through teacher professional development, teacher externships, curriculum implementation, and a student community health poster competition. |
| When Locals Adapt to Newcomers Principal Investigator: Joane Nagel Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: Erin Adamson, doctoral student in the Department of Sociology, was awarded a $15,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for her project, "Lifestyle Migrants and the Economics of Integration in Caribbean Costa Rica." Joane Nagel, professor of Sociology, will supervise her work. Adamson's research focuses on "reverse integration," which happens when immigrants are more wealthy than local residents, especially in relatively impoverished settings, and locals depend on immigrants for jobs, favors, and advancement. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1904244&HistoricalAwards=false |
| Assessing the Influence of Hazard Mitigation Planning on Disaster Recovery Principal Investigator: Ward Lyles Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: The research team, led by Ward Lyles and Elaina Sutley, will address an important gap in knowledge about how hazard mitigation and planning before a natural disaster affects recovery after a disaster and reduces long-term risk. Thanks to prior work from the research team, they can collect data on post-disaster recovery decision-making, outputs such as planning documents, and outcomes like decisions to steer development out of locations known to be hazardous. The team will recovery data with existing data on hazard mitigation. Through this research, the team will generate information relevant to policymakers and practitioners, extend the foundation of datasets needed for future data analysis, and strengthen the hazards research community. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1760183&HistoricalAwards=false |
| The Genetic History of the Aleut People Principal Investigator: Jennifer Raff Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: In recent years, ancient DNA research has transformed our understanding of human history. In the Americas, ancient genomes have revealed new and surprising details, such as the presence of previously unknown populations, previously unsuspected relationships between groups, and new estimates of dates for past events in human history. Although recent studies have investigated the origins and history of different Native American groups, few have focused on the indigenous peoples of the Aleutian Islands, a population that may prove central to our understanding of human dispersals in the western hemisphere. The analysis of genomes from ancient and contemporary Aleuts will allow us to better understand the origins of these peoples, how they adapted to a challenging environment, and how European contact and recent population events have affected their genetic diversity. This research, conducted by Jennifer Raff and Dennis O'Rourke, is supported by Aleut political and cultural leaders, who are interested in using genetic approaches to better understand their people's history. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1849338&HistoricalAwards=false |
| Technology Education for Women in Transition: Broadening Participation Through Innovations Principal Investigator: Hyunjin Seo Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: This project aims to broaden participation in STEM education among underserved populations through innovative and inclusive approaches to technology education. The project is designed to enhance knowledge and comfort with technology and develop computational thinking among women who were formerly incarcerated and are now seeking to reenter the workforce or adjust to their lives outside the criminal justice system ("women in transition") in the Midwest. While women have become the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population, prison education and reentry programs are not well prepared to respond to this influx. Women in transition are rarely exposed to STEM education and they are generally isolated from the digital world while in prison. Consequently, they face post-incarceration challenges in accessing and using rapidly changing digital technologies. Against this backdrop, this three-year technology education project will aim to help women in transition in Kansas and Missouri develop STEM skills relevant to job applications and post-incarceration adjustments. KU's project team is led by Hyunjin Seo and includes Hannah Britton, Megha Ramaswamy, and Karin Chang. The research is being conducted in partnership with University of Missouri-Kansas City. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1907002&HistoricalAwards=false |
| Collaborative Research: The Effect of State Disinvestment in Higher Education on Research Quality and Returns to Scale in Science Funding Principal Investigator: Donna K. Ginther Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: Donna Ginther will study the effects of research funding on research outputs. Ginther will collaborate with Joshua Rosenbloom, Iowa State University. This project was awarded through NSF's Science of Science and Innovation Policy program and also included funding for Iowa State University. The research will apply economic methods to policy questions about state and federal research funding and the effects of research funding. They will explore how funding affects outputs for an individual researcher and for a college or university. Ginther and Rosenbloom will also examine whether state funding for higher education substitutes for, or complements, federal funding. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1854849&HistoricalAwards=false |
| Conferences to Strengthen the Kansas Health Economics Community Principal Investigator: David Slusky Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2019 - 2022 Project Summary: This project aims to found an annual health economics conference in Kansas. These conferences will bring together health economists, their students, and others from the region interested in health economics. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1941552&HistoricalAwards=false In the News: https://today.ku.edu/2019/09/03/new-conference-strives-unite-states-health-economics-community-2 |
| CAREER: Integrated Modeling of Hazard Mitigation Stakeholder Networks for Compassionate, Sustainable Risk Reduction Principal Investigator: Ward Lyles Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2018 - 2023 Project Summary: This project develops, tests, and refines a new model which explicitly incorporates stakeholders' thoughts and emotions as factors that interact to enhance or constrain hazard mitigation decision-making. Anticipated contributions of the project include an improved process for more effective, sustainable hazard mitigation decision-making at the local level and expansion of a generation of hazard mitigation champions across multiple professional and academic disciplines. The integrated education and research program will foster dissemination of findings widely and cost-effectively, including to historically underrepresented populations. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1751696&HistoricalAwards=false |
| KU University Center: KU for KS Principal Investigator: Wallace W. Meyer, Jr. Funding Agency: U.S. Economic Development Administration Period: 2018 - 2023 Project Summary: This research is supported with a five-year, $700,000 university center grant from the U.S Economic Development Administration to the University of Kansas. Together with an equal match by KU donors and time commitments by faculty and program staff, a total of $1.4 million will be devoted to assist economic development and job retention efforts in the state. This grant is a collaboration between the Institute for Policy & Social Research and the KU Center for Entrepreneurship in the School of Business. It is one of only 67 such awards provided by the EDA to U.S. universities. http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/KUforKS/  |
| Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program Phase III Principal Investigator: Ward Lyles Funding Agency: University of Oklahoma Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program Period: 2018 - 2021 Project Summary: Ward Lyles will provide expertise and engage in research efforts around three tasks in the project, each based on a research question: How do emergency managers participate in a planning process that seeks to develop long-term hazard risk reduction? How do configurations of social networks and social capital evolve in response to disasters? How does information-seeking behavior differ between resource-constrained and resource-abundant jurisdictions, and how does that affect planning outcomes? Lyles will participate in the conceptual framing, research design and methodology, interpretation, and dissemination of the findings for each of these questions. http://www.southernclimate.org/pages/news/scipp-awarded-three-more-years-of-funding |
| Aging as Future - Future-related activities regarding age and aging in cross-culture perspective Principal Investigator: David J. Ekerdt Funding Agency: Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich Period: 2018 - 2021 Project Summary: |
| RII Track-1: Haskell Project-Johnon-Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant and Soil Systems (MAPS) mediating sustainability: An observation and experimental network across Kansas Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2017 - 2022 Project Summary: Jay T. Johnson, Associate Professor of Geography & Atmospheric Science and Director of the Center for Indigenous Research, Science, and Technology (C-FIRST), received an award from Kansas NSF EPSCoR to fund the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Institute. This project will prepare future Native American STEM professionals to understand the impacts of environmental change and develop strategies for sustainable responses that combine Indigenous ecological knowledge with scientific approaches. Dr. Johnson along with his co-PI Dr. Joseph Brewer will oversee the program at KU. During an eight-week summer internship, students will have professional development and mentoring to help them pursue graduate educational opportunities. Students of the program will experience field research in the wetland, prairie, and mountain ecosystems. The curriculum will use research methods that integrate Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to study food, energy, and water systems. Native American graduate students at KU will serve as mentors. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656006 |
| RII Track-1: MAPS-KS NSF EPSCoR: HERS Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2017 - 2022 Project Summary: Jay T. Johnson, Associate Professor of Geography & Atmospheric Science and Director of the Center for Indigenous Research, Science, and Technology (C-FIRST), received an award from Kansas NSF EPSCoR to fund the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Institute. This project will prepare future Native American STEM professionals to understand the impacts of environmental change and develop strategies for sustainable responses that combine Indigenous ecological knowledge with scientific approaches. Dr. Johnson along with his co-PI Dr. Joseph Brewer will oversee the program at KU. During an eight-week summer internship, students will have professional development and mentoring to help them pursue graduate educational opportunities. Students of the program will experience field research in the wetland, prairie, and mountain ecosystems. The curriculum will use research methods that integrate Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to study food, energy, and water systems. Native American graduate students at KU will serve as mentors. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656006 |
| Collaborative Research: EAGER: The Language of the Forest: Gwich'in Seasonal Relationships to the Interior Alaska Boreal Principal Investigator: Joseph Brewer II Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2017 - 2021 Project Summary: Joseph Brewer, KU Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, and Larry Kaplan, University of Alaska Professor of Linguistics, received an Arctic Social Sciences NSF EAGER award toinvestigates what Gwich'in Athabascans can teach the world, through their language, about boreal forest management in interior Alaska. The study will be the first to document Gwich'in forestry practices in a collaborative social and linguistic science investigation. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1650692&HistoricalAwards=false |
| The Demand for Community College Credits and Labor Market Outcomes Principal Investigator: Donna K. Ginther Funding Agency: Kansas Board of Regents Period: 2016 - 2022 Project Summary:  |
| RCN: Facilitating Indigenous Research, Science and Technology (FIRST) Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2015 - 20222 Project Summary: FIRST represents an interdisciplinary network of Native scholars all working at the intersection of Indigenous and Western scientific traditions to explore how Indigenous communities are utilizing both traditions to meet their research needs. The network's Steering Committee members represent Indigenous communities from across the United States, including Alaska and Hawai'i, and are employed at tribal colleges, Indigenous non-profit organizations, and research universities. https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1417767&HistoricalAwards=false |
| Kansas City Research Data Center Principal Investigator: Donna K. Ginther Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2014 - 2019 Project Summary: A National Science Foundation proposal driven by the University of Kansas has resulted in the creation of a new Kansas City-based Census research data center that will provide researchers access to the nation's highest-quality data for analysis of the U.S. economy and policy issues. The Kansas City Research Data Center (RDC) will be located at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City headquarters and provide approved area researchers with secure access to restricted microlevel U.S. Census and health statistics data - the type of data researchers use to examine the economic activity, demographic makeup and health status of individuals in the U.S. economy. Research based on these data can provide a better understanding of the regional and national economy, including analysis of changes that are affecting businesses and households. The NSF proposal was headed by Donna Ginther, professor of economics and director of the Center for Science Technology & Economic Policy at the Institute for Policy & Social Research at KU, on behalf of a consortium that includes the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the Kauffman Foundation, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Missouri-Columbia. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1359527&HistoricalAwards=false |