KU Innovation Park expansion will attract new startup tech companies that can draw on research and a ready-made supply of Jayhawk graduates.
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING FALL 2022
3 KU Innovation Park Provides Entrepreneurial Spark
5 Lawrence Named America’s ‘Fastest Growing’ Tech Hub
6 Biotech Company with KU Roots Wins National Competition
7 Project Connects Underrepresented KC Youths with ‘OutOf-School’ Opportunities
8 Engineering Professor Wins University Research Rising Award
9 Grant Improves Access to History of Black Literature
11 NSF Project Advances Manufacturing of Renewable and Recyclable Plastics
12 COVID Testing Device Developed at KU Receives Funding Boost
13 ‘Lab-On-A-Chip’ Technology Wins $6.6 Million In Continued Funding
14 Forecasting Water Availability and Allocation in Kansas
15 KU to Lead Research Project on Resilient and Socially Equitable Infrastructure
17 Fortifying Security Operations Centers
18 Charging Electric Vehicles on the Go
19 Addressing Workforce Shortage in Microchip Production
20 Grant Enables Investigation into Vital Role of Sex Hormones in Tissue Repair
21 Aerospace Engineering Team Wins Valuable Time on Supercomputer
22 Steel Bridges Research Will Fortify American Infrastructure
24 16 Engineering Faculty Members Among Most Cited Researchers in the World
25 Engineering Professor Becomes First Woman to Win International Meshing Award
26 Chemical Engineering Department Developing New Model for Evaluating Teaching
27 Collins Receives Fulbright Scholar Award
28 Testing New Environmentally Friendly Refrigerant at Watson Library
29 Faculty Achievements
30 Chemical Engineering Student Wins Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship
31 Engineering Graduate Students Claim Top Honors at International Radar Conference
32 Aerospace Engineering Teams Claim Top Honors in International Competition
33 Student Achievements
34 Seven Honored with Distinguished Engineering Service Award
Cover: With Fraser Hall perched in the distance atop Mount Oread, this aerial overview from KU’s West District shows KU Innovation Park in the foreground. The site is expected to transform the western gateway of the university in the coming years.
Photo by: Max Jiang, KU School of Engineering
Arvin Agah
Mario Medina
Elaina Sutley
ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESARCH Suzanne Shontz
Cody Howard codyh@ku.edu
Chris Millspaugh Design
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37 Gift from KU Alumni Creates Scholarship for Hometown Students
38 Bisarya Scholarship to Support International Student
39 Estate of KU Alumnus Gives $2M for Engineering, Law Schools
40 Alumni Profiles
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42 Donor and Industry Recognition
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Greetings and “Rock Chalk,” Jayhawk Engineers! I am proud to share with you another year’s worth of outstanding success and amazing achievements for the students, faculty, staff, and alumni from the University of Kansas School of Engineering.
One recurring theme throughout my time as Dean of Engineering is a drive to elevate the stature of our School. On the pages that follow, you will see numerous examples of highprofile research projects, student success and institution-wide initiatives that showcase examples of how KU Engineering is raising its profile on the regional and national stage.
This includes Lawrence’s place at the top of a recent report that revealed the city had the highest growth in tech workers per capita in the U.S. Jobs in Lawrence grew by 16% during 2019-20 a faster rate than in industry hubs like San Francisco (4.3%) and Austin, Texas (3.4%). KU and the School of Engineering feature an entrepreneurial spirit that encourages and supports startups and can provide the highskilled workforce to sustain and grow these industries.
KU has major plans to exponentially expand the university’s efforts in these areas particularly through the growth of KU Innovation Park near Clinton Parkway and Iowa streets.
This comprises an ambitious plan to add new buildings near the park over the next decade and a half including apartments, a grocery store, child care and more to attract new startup tech companies that can draw on research and a ready-made supply of graduates from KU. Research projects conducted at the School of Engineering will be central to these efforts.
Dean of Engineering Arvin AgahA recent study highlights the degree to which KU is home to a truly world-class research environment. Sixteen faculty members are among the top 2% of scientists worldwide cited by others in research publications. That is roughly 14% of KU Engineering faculty. Earning a spot on this list is a noteworthy accomplishment that requires commitment and dedication and is a sign that research by KU Engineering faculty has served as a foundation for scientists and engineers around the world.
Closer to home, I continue to be impressed and inspired by the achievements and contributions of our alumni. In the most recent academic year, we had the opportunity to bestow seven individuals with close ties to KU Engineering with the School’s highest honor, the Distinguished Engineering Service Award (DESA). Please take a moment to read about the remarkable careers and accomplishments of our 2020, 2021 and 2022 awardees.
I also want to recognize the contributions of the broader Jayhawk Engineering alumni family and donors who continue to provide remarkable, generous support for our students and faculty through mentoring, scholarships and professorships. All of us at the School of Engineering remain grateful for all your support.
Thank you, and Rock Chalk!
Arvin Agah, Ph.D. Dean of Engineering
When Kevin Leonard was ready to take his research on green hydrogen generation out of a laboratory at the University of Kansas and put it to work in the real world, he didn’t have to look far to find a location for his new company. KU Innovation Park was right there.
The availability of space at the park made it easier for Leonard, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, to procure a National Science Foundation grant to jump-start his new startup, Avium.
“The laboratory space available at KU Innovation Park really helped our Phase I grant be successful,” Leonard said. “The close proximity to the KU campus was a significant advantage for us, and that enabled us to get the technology out of the laboratory and toward commercialization.”
KU Innovation Park helped jump-start Avium and now KU and Lawrence city and business leaders want to do the same for the park, as it seeks to grow in the university’s West District near Clinton Parkway and Iowa Street in Lawrence.
They’re pressing ahead with an “ambitious” plan to add new buildings near the park over the next decade and a half including apartments, a grocery store, child care and more to attract new startup tech companies that can draw on research and a ready-made supply of graduates from KU. That’s in addition to proposals that would bring the park itself to a grand total of 10 buildings providing 800,000 square feet of research and office space.
Those new amenities “will allow us to attract new companies at the park and generate new companies,” said Laverne Epp, executive chair of KU Innovation Park. “The idea is to create an environment where small, early-stage companies and large companies can inhabit and collaborate. We see more companies wanting to come to Kansas, specifically to Lawrence to get access to the university and the university’s assets.”
Formerly known as the Bioscience and Technology Business Center, KU Innovation Park is an independent, nonprofit economic development organization with four founding stakeholders: KU, the city of Lawrence, Douglas County and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. The park’s centerpiece facility is a 50,000-square-foot main “incubator” with lab and office space. A 66,000-square-foot facility is under construction and expected to open soon.
With that project nearly complete, KU and city leaders have started looking ahead at how to grow the park over the next 10 to 15 years.
“Over the past year and a half, the university has been working on an economic development plan,” said Tricia Bergman, director of strategic partnerships for the KU Office of Research. “This plan will benefit the local economy and the state. A key aspect of the plan is the partnership with KU Innovation Park and our combined efforts to develop a continuum of support for KU startups as they transition from the lab to larger facilities while also supplying talent and research expertise to both the early-stage and large companies in the park.”
To support this planned growth, the park needs more than new buildings it needs to create the conditions to catalyze a community of researchers and entrepreneurs. That’s why they want to put the apartments, groceries and childcare in close proximity to the offices and labs.
“Right now, if you think about the research park as it is you drive there, you go into your building and you leave. If you want to go to lunch, you’ve got to get in your car,” said Monte Soukup, senior vice president of KU Endowment’s property division, which owns the land for the proposed park expansion. With the new amenities, researchers and other workers at the park “might grab a cup of coffee, drop off your dry cleaning or go to the grocery store within walking distance of where you’re working.”
And making a walkable community should enable a “kind of random collision between researchers,” Soukup said, enabling incidental conversations between individuals who might not otherwise encounter each other. “That’s where different disciplines meet, where different ideas are discovered.”
Soukup said he expects to see “a lot” of that proposed development happen in the next five years. If successful, it will help draw more companies and researchers like Avium and Kevin Leonard to the park.
“There are so many challenges to go from something working in the laboratory to getting that technology translated to a commercial product,” Leonard said. “I believe that building this community of entrepreneurs will accomplish several things, including helping the local economy, and increase the awareness that great technologies are developed at the University of Kansas.”
“A key aspect of the plan is the partnership with KU Innovation Park and our combined efforts to develop a continuum of support for KU startups as they transition from the lab to larger facilities while also supplying talent and research expertise to both the early-stage and large companies in the park.”
Lawrence, Kansas is growing tech jobs faster than any other city in America, according to data from a prominent national think tank.
Researchers at the Brookings Institution found that jobs in the city grew by 16% during 2019-20 a faster rate than in industry hubs like San Francisco (4.3%) and Austin, Texas (3.4%). (A March 2022 report from Axios suggested the Lawrence number might be as high as 19%.) Local observers attributed that growth to the COVID-19 pandemic, which required many workers to do their jobs remotely, as well as Lawrence’s amenities and, of course, the ability to draw on talent and research at the University of Kansas.
“Lawrence has a great downtown and a strong university,” said Brian McClendon, a tech pioneer who helped create Google Earth before returning to Lawrence as a research professor in the KU School of Engineering. He is now a senior vice president with Niantic Labs, an “augmented reality” company that has opened an office in Lawrence. The city “has fostered many small startups,” McClendon said, and added: “KU is a big factor as many startups have been ‘KU adjacent.”
It’s a distinction that KU officials are working to cultivate particularly through the growth of KU Innovation Park near Clinton Parkway and Iowa streets in Lawrence. The park is home to numerous startups that have their roots in the university as well as others that want to locate adjacent to the university to leverage student talent and research expertise.
“Lawrence has a culture that supports tech entrepreneurism and provides options to meet their location needs,” said Tricia Bergman, director of strategic partnerships for KU’s Office of Research. “We let people know if they want to be on Massachusetts Street if they want to get to the coffee shop, to the bar that’s a great location. Alternatively, if they want to locate directly adjacent to the university then the KU Innovation Park is a great option.”
There’s hope that the recent burst of tech jobs is just beginning.
The Brookings researchers noted a 2021 survey of tech firm founders said that if they were starting their business all over again “their preferred ‘place’ to launch it would be through remote or distributed work.” And indeed, during the early stages of the pandemic, tech employment growth slowed in the industry’s traditional hubs “and increased in numerous other midsized and smaller markets, including smaller quality-of-life meccas and college towns.”
It’s not clear that trend will continue as the pandemic recedes, the researchers said, but “there’s no doubt, at the local level, that the remote work experiment during the pandemic has shown that cloud-based tools for workers, firms, and entrepreneurs can open up hopeful prospects for tech activity anywhere.” At the same time, they said, the tech sector is “heavily shaped by clusters” of like-minded companies and their workers who have the opportunity to collaborate and exchange ideas in a shared community.
That’s an opportunity for Lawrence and KU, where there are plans to begin transforming KU Innovation Park with new development that will include housing, child care, coffee shops and even a grocery store to attract more startup companies eager to draw on talent found in the university’s labs and classrooms.
“The companies in the park are here because they want KU talent, or they want access to KU research and expertise,” Bergman said. The university can “help accelerate their growth and solve their challenges.”
“As concern about the pandemic ebbs, I don’t think we’re going back to the way things were,” McClendon said. Indeed, Niantic Labs opened its Lawrence office in May 2022, signaling an intent to stick around for the long term. “It’s relatively small and it’ll take a while to build out the team,” McClendon said of the new office. That may portend a bright future, both for KU and Lawrence: “Many people are discovering the benefits of working at home or working in a smaller office and will likely stay there.”
by Brendan Lynch
The human body contains trillions of cells at any given moment, each doing highly specialized work to help us function but they don’t operate in isolation. Imagine a sophisticated FedEx or UPS delivery network empowering communication between our cells. The nano-sized delivery vehicles in this scenario are called exosomes, and a company born from technology developed at the University of Kansas is harnessing the power of these tiny vessels to enable tomorrow’s medical breakthroughs.
Clara Biotech has spent the last three years refining a novel technology to isolate and purify exosomes, which can be used for early disease diagnosis, targeted drug delivery, cancer immunotherapy and other forms of regenerative medicine.
The company was founded by KU Engineering alumnus Jim West and Mei He, former KU professor of chemical and petroleum engineering and chemistry.
Now, the company is poised to commercialize its first product after recently finalizing $1.5 million in seed funding and being recognized in a national competition. Clara Biotech was the only Midwest company singled out in MedTech Innovator’s Biotools Innovator program, which recognizes the 10 best life science tools startups. The company received $10,000 for securing a spot in the 2021 cohort and a $5,000 best-video award for a one-minute spot introducing the company and detailing what sets it apart.
“Clara Biotech was founded to help move exosomes from the bench to the bedside,” said West, who serves as Clara’s CEO. “Our company is about building a platform that everybody can leverage to bring their products to market and help solve challenges around isolation and purification, which today is one of the number one issues in the field.”
Exosomes deliver genetic information to cells throughout the body. Exosomes from regenerative cells, such as stem cells, can help the body heal and repair itself. Exosomes released from diseased cells might be used for early detection and diagnosis of cancer and other conditions.
But at 100 nanometers in diameter less than the wavelength of visible light exosomes are difficult to handle.
Clara Biotech’s patented ExoRelease platform is unique in the industry. Current processes rely on bulk isolation, whereas Clara’s “capture and release” technology isolates pure exosomes. This allows researchers to easily isolate and target specific exosomes including cardiac, neurological, cancer and others — and use them for therapeutic treatments and drug delivery platforms.
Clara Biotech launched in 2018 with a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute and received training through the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program on how to transfer knowledge into products and processes that benefit society. It has seven full-time employees, and its lab is housed in the KU Innovation Park.
Submitted photo Jim West, CEO of Clara Biotech, holds the two checks his company won at MedTech Innovator’s Biotools Innovator program in San Diego in October 2021.A team led by researchers at the University of Kansas has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help underrepresented Kansas City youths access enriching out-of-school opportunities.
Internships, part-time jobs and other learning experiences are “useful for young people to really learn more about themselves and cultivate their identities,” said Alexandra Kondyli, associate professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering at KU. The grant will fund development of a mobile app and other tools to help teens on both sides of the Kansas-Missouri border discover those opportunities and to connect with transportation services that can get them to where those opportunities are located.
“We want to implement new mobility options young people can use to go to out-of-school opportunities, while minimizing energy consumption and transportation costs,” said Kondyli, the project’s leader. “We’re trying to address accessibility barriers that underrepresented youths are facing.”
KU is partnering with a number of Kansas City organizations on the project, including the Kansas City Public Library, KC Digital Drive, ThrYve and Keystone Community Corporation, as well as transit, bike and micro-transit providers in the area.
Their challenge: In sprawling, low-density metropolitan areas like Kansas City, the physical disconnect between residential areas and OST
opportunities combined with unreliable and inefficient transportation services creates two fundamentally different experiences: Youths from affluent homes and school districts, who are disproportionately white, have greater access than youths from lowerincome homes and schools, who are disproportionately Black and Latino.
“The motivation is to support the young people in the Kansas City region and to support them in such a way that not only positively impacts their personal and professional growth, but it impacts our city as a whole,” said Andrea Ellis, director of strategic learning at Kansas City Public Library.
The project is also drawing widely from resources at KU, with participation from the KU Transportation Center and
the Center for Community Health and Development.
“It is critical that we address transportation as a determinant or underlying factor that contributes to inequities experienced by youth and families in our communities,” said Jomella Watson-Thompson, associate director for community participation and research at the Center for Community Health and Development.
“A key strategy identified by partners, youth and families is the need to reduce accessibility barriers that impede participation of youth in available positive opportunities in our community, including employment, educational supports and pro-social activities.”
“What we found in our research and research that our
Alexandra Kondyli, middle, associate professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering, works with KU students in this 2017 file photo. Andy White, KU Marketing Communicationspartners have conducted is that students who don’t have afterschool transportation don’t have the same opportunities to get jobs or internships or other ways to improve themselves professionally,” said Lisa Koch, associate director for research, partnership and innovation at the KU Transportation Center. “That gap of being able to have opportunities to grow work skills really impacts them throughout their education and
careers.” She added: “This is a very special grant.”
The grant was awarded through the federal government’s Civic Innovation Challenge, which funds researchbased projects that address community priorities and have the potential for long-term impact. The KU project was one of 17 nationwide to receive backing during the CIVIC Innovation Challenge and one of six on the mobility track.
Kondyli said she hoped the project results in work that improves the lives of Kansas City youths.
“These are folks that are really young, trying to explore opportunities and trying to learn more about what they’d like to be involved with in the future,” she said. “Breaking the accessibility barriers will help educate them further and grow their occupational identities.”
by Mindie Paget
Perry Alexander, AT&T Foundation Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and director of the Institute for Information Sciences, is the leader of one of four major research initiatives the university selected for a Research Rising award in summer 2022.
Alexander’s team and the other three groups will each receive $3 million over five years to support projects that rose to the top of a strong pool of finalists after rigorous review by nationally and internationally recognized experts. The projects align with one or more of KU’s five strategic research areas and will help the university achieve national preeminence in several areas of inquiry.
“These exciting projects bring together University of Kansas researchers from across disciplines to address critical challenges facing humanity. The knowledge, ideas, approaches and solutions generated by these teams will benefit people
in Kansas and beyond,” said Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research. “What’s more, these teams will be highly competitive for federal research funding, so we anticipate a steady influx of external dollars in the future that will outpace KU Endowment’s initial $12 million investment to help establish these initiatives at KU.”
This project will form an interdisciplinary, multicenter organization focused on finding solutions to otherwise unsolved problems related to safe and secure physical, digital and social environments — ultimately creating more secure and resilient communities. The principal investigator is Perry Alexander, who will be joined by faculty colleagues in engineering,
philosophy, history and journalism. The project aligns with two of KU’s strategic research areas: Safety & Security and Human Experience in the Digital Age.
Other projects awarded are titled Big Data for Drug Discovery, Growing KU’s Interdisciplinary Strengths in Genomics, and Advancing Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research at KU.
AlexanderWhen Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prizewinning novel “Beloved” came out in 1987, Maryemma Graham’s community book group in Oxford, Mississippi, started reading it but found its prose difficult to understand and enjoy.
“I went back and said, ‘What book can I give them that makes more sense than Morrison?’ Her linguistic and narrative patterns can be hard for the average reader,” said Graham, a University Distinguished Professor of English at KU and founder of the Project on the History of Black Writing (HBW).
“I was writing people asking, ‘Is there a book similar to Morrison’s, but doesn’t really read like Morrison?’ We had lots of dialogues about it, and I did a survey. Now, a year later, we read Morrison because there was a lot of hoopla about her, and they wanted to be in the flow. But it took a while to read books that had some of the same themes to prepare them to read Morrison. That’s just one story, but what it said to me was I had to be the conduit for discussions of what to read. We’re now creating machinelearning capacity to deliver that information to say, ‘Here are more books like that, that do some of those kinds of things, that you might want to read.’”
A “Novel-Generator Machine,” a computer tool that will do exactly that, is one of four web-based “portals” proposed by Graham and funded by a newly announced $800,000, threeyear grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The three-year grant will result in the future blnet.ku.edu (for Black Literature Network), a multimedia web platform that will be the access point for all users.
Graham’s collaborators on the grant are Drew Davidson, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and a member of its Institute for Information Technology (I2S); KU alumnus Kenton Rambsy, now assistant professor of English at the University of Texas-Arlington; and Kenton Rambsy’s brother, Howard Rambsy II, a professor of literature at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. KU Libraries are also providing support for the project.
It’s the latest extension of Graham’s HBW project, which she brought with her from the University of Mississippi to Northeastern University and then to KU in 1999. The first stage was to identify and save physical copies of books by Black writers from destruction. The next was to digitize them. And now the organizers are creating tools that will allow both academic researchers and the general public to look at the entire corpus of Black fiction, which HBW has been collecting for nearly 40 years, by using
keywords, themes, data visualizations and other methods that Graham termed “metadata.”
To Graham, it’s a way to keep Black writers from continually falling into obscurity and even further behind in the age of Big Data.
“We have been doing this kind of work in Black fiction for a long time,” Graham said, “and a lot of people don’t have what we have. We only know a very small percentage of the Black fiction that exists. Most works, including some of the most influential ones often innovative and trendsetting remain untaught and underread for reasons that we know too well.
“Since we’ve been at KU, our growth has depended upon amazing students whose introduction to interactive technologies pushed HBW forward. This is the first opportunity we have had to go back to some of those former students, now scholars in their own right, and say, ‘We can finally finish what we started.’”
Another grant from the Mellon Foundation to HBW last year seeks to help HBW incorporate its texts into the HathiTrust Digital Library, a major online database for literary academics, but one that Graham notes charges a
“Since we’ve been at KU, our growth has depended upon amazing students whose introduction to interactive technologies pushed HBW forward.”
substantial annual membership fee. The new grant will create a website open to all, even as it honors copyright holders. And the grant-funded work will help HBW and the English department train scholars to work in the new and growing field of digital humanities, Graham said.
“We’ve been working on this partnership that we have with Drew and ITTC for a while,” Graham said. “We keep saying, ‘Why do we have to go someplace else to store our stuff? Why can’t we build what we need here?’ In fact, if KU researchers actively promote interdisciplinarity, then let’s put that to the test.”
“This project is all about taking these digital assets and not just making them easier to find,” Davidson said, “but also surfacing interesting aspects of the work. Just dumping a list of titles on the screen isn’t really going to cut it, in terms of access. So what we need to find is where there are interesting details within the books about the authors, and the networks that connect Black writers over time. And this is another
case where we’re using a lot of different levels of expertise to try and get at this question. There’s a part of this grant called the Data Rangers, one of Kenton Rambsy’s inventions.”
Davidson said teams of students will be searching through the texts and manually annotating important details.
“So it’s an educational opportunity for them,” Davidson said. “We see this project as being not just a service to the users who are looking for the data, but also a service to our institutions. Students will help populate the dataset. We’ll use students to help program the site itself, and we’re going to use students to test the thing, as well.”
“The Data Rangers fills a notable void by creating a community where scholars can hone their tech skills while also being able to focus on Black literature exclusively,” Kenton Rambsy said.
Graham said the prospect of the grant-funded work can help KU recruit students, especially at the graduate level, something she said that HBW has been pretty good at doing.
“We see this as innovative computer
science as well as serving the digital humanities,” Davidson said. “We are going to develop new machine-learning algorithms, and we don’t know what patterns we’ll find yet. We think that we will be able to better surface the answer to the question of ‘What speaks to you in this literature?’”
Graham said HBW continues to value its partnerships as a venue for further public outreach. Working with Howard Rambsy II and SIUE’s IRIS Center, the grant will fund production of a series of podcasts titled “Remarkable Receptions,” audio narratives concentrating on popular and critical responses to prominent Black writers.
Davidson summed up the effort with a comparison to some of today’s digital heavyweights.
“We want to make personalized recommendations something like a really focused Amazon.com for Black literature but also provide new ways to engage with the work.”
Drew Davidson (left) and Maryemma Graham at the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center in Nichols Hall. Rick Hellman/KU News ServicePlastics are an indispensable part of today’s society. These nimble polymers help keep foods fresh, cars safe, arteries clog-free and have countless other uses. But the benefits come at a cost. Each year millions of tons of discarded plastic pollute ecosystems, harm animals and exacerbate climate change.
A $4 million award from the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR RII Track 2 program will bring together researchers from Kansas and Delaware and fund work to improve how plastics are manufactured and recycled.
“We’re excited to advance technologies that will help society transition to a more sustainable plastic economy,” said lead investigator Bala Subramaniam, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at KU and director of KU’s Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis.
The research team will tackle two major issues related to plastic manufacturing.
First, they will develop sustainable ways to turn non-food biological resources like grasses or crop leftovers into plastic products, helping promote rural economic growth for farmers. Second, the team will find better ways to deconstruct used plastic to turn it into the building blocks for new plastics.
“This award highlights the key role Kansas plays in advanced manufacturing and how they continue to innovate in critical areas such as renewable plastics that will benefit
the entire nation,” said NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan.
To conduct the chemical research, the team will employ state-of-the-art capabilities at KU’s CEBC, Pittsburg State University’s Kansas Polymer Research Center and the University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation.
But Subramaniam says that solving the plastic pollution challenge requires more than just chemical innovation. Public policies are essential as well. KU’s Institute for Policy & Social Research will help develop software for modeling the economics of the new technologies, shedding light on policies that incentivize job creation and energy independence in the U.S.
The four-year project is expected to stimulate discovery, innovation and workforce development in Kansas and Delaware. The program will also mentor junior faculty and establish a Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity to support women and underrepresented populations in this career path. The team has strong partnerships with agribusinesses and chemical companies that will also help steer the innovations toward commercialization and promote advanced manufacturing initiatives.
KU’s award is one of nine awards announced by the NSF Sept. 2021 that fund collaborative teams of investigators in scientific focus areas consistent with NSF and national priorities. Both Kansas and Delaware are targeted jurisdictions for the NSF EPSCoR, which stands for Established
Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The 40-year-old program targets areas across the country about half of all U.S. states to strengthen their capacity and capability in science, technology and engineering.
Since 2006, KU has received 11 EPSCoR awards totaling more than $72.4 million.
Subramaniam is one of five professors who will lead and supervise specific parts of the research. Others include Alan Allgeier, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering and CEBC deputy director; Donna Ginther, Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of KU’s Institute for Policy & Social Research; Timothy Dawsey, executive director of the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University; and Raul Lobo, Claire D. LeClaire Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware.
Anoop Uchagawkar, a graduate student in KU’s Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, tests catalysts for making plastic precursors in a laboratory reactor. Max Jiang, KU School of Engineering SubramaniamAn at-home COVID-19 testing device developed by a KU professor is another step closer to hitting the market.
BioFluidica, a company co-founded by Steven Soper, received a separate $6 million in Series B2 financing in early 2022 to help bring its LiquidScan instrument to production. Soper has spent much of the last two years repurposing lab-on-a-chip technology he had previously developed to give doctors simple tools to more easily and quickly diagnose conditions ranging from stroke to different cancers. The financing should help BioFluidica fund some of the next steps in the process, including testing and FDA approval, as well as marketing.
“Doing something in the research lab is hard and challenging. Taking it to the next level of a consumer product is daunting,” Soper said of the funding announcement. “All of these things have to be in place, and that’s a major undertaking.”
Prototype testing was underway in the summer of 2022, with production possible by the fall.
The LiquidScan reader device measures about 8 inches long, 3 inches wide and 3 inches deep. At-home users would put saliva on the test chip, then use a hand-held electronic reader to analyze the results. The whole process would take around 15 minutes. Users would be able to buy a test for about $10, and the reader, which can be reused many times over, for about $50.
The emergence of new COVID variants shows there will be a continued need for such technology, Soper said.
“Testing will never go away. It’s now becoming more important,” he said.
The LiquidScan device should be adaptable, he said.
“It’s easily tuned to accommodate new viruses, and there’s going to be new variants that pop up every year. We’ll be able to take this test and screen for that,” Soper said.
That versatility means the device will also have other uses. Soper said collaborators at KU Medical Center, including cancer researcher Andrew Godwin, are looking to use it to screen patients for the early detection of ovarian cancer, while others hope to use it as a way to quickly diagnose people experiencing ischemic strokes.
“I have a lot of hope for this technology. This never could’ve
been realized without several things including, number one, the resource capabilities at KU,” Soper said, referring to the Ralph N. Adams Nanofabrication Facility at Gray-Little Hall.
KU Medical Center has also been instrumental, providing samples for Soper’s team to use as it fine-tunes the device.
“An instrument is no good unless you can test it on real clinical samples,” he said. “This is a great example of teamwork between KU-Lawrence and KUMC.”
Soper earned his doctorate in bioanalytical chemistry from KU in 1989 and returned to the university as a faculty member in 2016. Funding to develop the COVID-19 test comes from the National Institutes of Health RADx Program.
Researchers in Professor’s Soper’s lab are working to bring lab-on-a-chip technology to the consumer.
Meg Kumin , KU Marketing Communications
Soper
A research center based at KU that develops rapid next-generation tests for a host of human ailments like cancer, stroke and COVID-19 recently earned $6.6 million in continued funding over the next five years from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) as a National Biotechnology Resource (P41) Center.
The Center of BioModular Multi-Scale Systems for Precision Medicine, dubbed CBM2, takes small plastic chips made of the same material as a compact disc and transforms them into marvels of engineering and chemistry that quickly can detect hard-to-diagnose human diseases using saliva, urine or blood from a patient. The liquid biopsies can detect circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, viruses and vesicles that are released by biological cells associated with a particular disease.
The technology honed at KU and partner institutions is pushing forward the boundaries of precision medicine, improving and extending the lives of patients, and creating commercialization partnerships as well as new training and education opportunities in the Lawrence-Kansas City region and beyond.
“We develop little $2 widgets made from a plastic by injection molding that can take a liquid biopsy sample and search for different types of markers that can help a physician manage disease,” said CBM2 director Steven Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering, who brought the center to KU when he was recruited from the University of North Carolina in 2016. “To give you an example, this little chip is used to isolate tumor cells out of the blood of cancer patients. A physician will take
a sample of blood from the patient, put it into the chip to enrich the tumor cells from the blood sample — there’s very few of them, maybe about 10 or so — and then we open those cells to look at the genetic composition to help decide: Does the patient have a disease, how to treat the disease, is the patient responding to therapy?”
Of the 50 P41 centers, CBM2 is the only one based in an NIH IDeA (Institutional Development Awards) state — a designation for states that historically have received lower amounts of NIH funding.
“Most of these biotechnology resource centers, as with all big projects, are on either coast,” Soper said. “We’re the only biotechnology resource center that’s funded in an IDeA state, so that’s a big hooray for Kansas and KU — all major NIH centers have high visibility, so we have a very important mission because we’re the only center of these 50 that has these technologies and we’re filling an important niche within the NIH community.”
Much of the work of CBM2 takes place in collaboration with partners that include KU Medical Center (Andrew Godwin, CBM2 co-director), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Dr. David Kaufman, CBM2 codirector), Louisiana State University (professors Sunggook Park and Michael C. Murphy) and the Wake Forest School of Medicine (professor Adam Hall).
Lab workers at the Center of BioModular Multi-Scale Systems for Precision Medicine discuss latest developments with Foundation Distinguished Professor Steven Soper. Meg Kumin KU Marketing CommunicationsClimate change , driven by human activity, will alter temperatures and rainfall in Kansas in the coming decades. But predictions about the timing and severity of the shift remain inexact.
Now, researchers at the KU School of Engineering are teaming up with the Kansas Water Office (KWO) to create models accounting for uncertainty about the state’s future climate so officials who allocate water can better forecast supply and demand of the vital resource.
Their work will expand models used by KWO that depend on data from 1950s drought years in Kansas as a worst-case scenario for water scarcity. The project is supported by a $98,000 WaterSmart Grant from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation and additional funds from the KWO and KU.
“This project is a collaboration with the Kansas Water Office to advance hydrological modeling and climate forecasting for the state,” said Joshua Roundy, associate professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering, who is leading the effort. “Now, they take the 1950s drought period and run it through their model, and then use that as a basis to say, ‘We can allow cities to take this much water.’ But with the uncertainties involved in that, wouldn’t it be helpful to consider different scenarios and look forward to the future climate and how that’s going to impact evaporation and streamflow throughout the state? So, we worked together on this proposal to improve uncertainty estimates within water
Perry Lake, one of many reserviors in eastern Kansas.
forecasting using climate models to create new scenarios for their water allocations.”
The new modeling effort will focus on central and eastern sections of Kansas that depend on surface water, incorporating six river basins, 21 reservoirs, 51 inflows and 163 sources of consumptive water use.
“The Kansas Water Office is looking forward to working with the University of Kansas on this WaterSmart grant project, developing more tools and resources to incorporate climate variability to future water supply planning for the state of Kansas,” said Richard Rockel, KWO water resource planner. “This project will allow for a more comprehensive analysis of climate variability as applied to regional water supply issues the state is facing.”
Roundy and his team will use the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) from the World Climate Research Programme to forecast how Kansas water availability could be affected by climate
uncertainties in the coming years. The CMIP5 models compare multiple emission scenarios and combine them with key feedbacks among the land, ocean and atmosphere.
“It’s a global organization, a whole bunch of modeling groups that run model experiments and compile all that data together, so you have a variety of estimates of what future climate might be like,” Roundy said. “A lot of the models are showing for most of the state maybe a small decrease in precipitation overall. When you break that down seasonally, we’re actually seeing more extreme precipitation in the wetter periods like spring times, but then you’re also getting drier fall and winter times so they’ll have an averaging effect that overall, there’s not much change.”
Roundy said his group’s work could result in an academic paper intended to show other states and regions an approach for forecasting water supplies. But his real objective is to help the state of Kansas thrive as climate change raises questions about water availability.
“This is about creating tools for decision-makers to make better decisions,” he said. “It’s great to be able to work with the state and really show the benefit of research at KU and how it is helping state entities improve their systems. Our main goal is to make sure things are going to be sustainable and we have sustainable growth in terms of water availability within cities going forward.”
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo RoundyKansas currently ranks ninth in federal disaster declarations per capita. Amid changing climate patterns and frequent extreme weather events, historically underserved communities often receive less aid and recover slower from weather disasters.
Now, a new statewide initiative leveraging $20 million from the National Science Foundation and $4 million from the state of Kansas will address this disparity by developing tools that help communities with limited resources prepare for and bounce back from disasters.
The project aligns with the Kansas Science & Technology Plan, which was developed in 2021 and endorsed by the Kansas Board of Regents, who provided matching funds for the NSF proposal.
KU researchers will collaborate on the project with 16 other universities and colleges in the state, as well as with business leaders, emergency planners, health professionals, community-based organizations and other stakeholders.
“Kansans are rightly proud of their ability to recover from natural disasters, but the state faces disasters of a kind and at a frequency we’ve not seen before,” said Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research. “The factors that determine resilience are complex and can only be tackled by working across traditional disciplines and leveraging the intellectual resources of all the state’s research universities. That’s why this award from NSF is so important.”
The award is through the NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate
Participating institutions on ARISE, with initial rural and urban testbeds highlighted. Research-intensive universities leading the research initiatives are highlighted in black; community colleges and universities participating in education and outreach initiatives are in blue. Partnering community colleges are highlighted in a white box. Unfunded collaborators are noted in orange. Organizations classified as minority-serving institutions are labeled with a star.
Competitive Research (EPSCoR) RII
Track-1 program. NSF uses EPSCoR to level the playing field for areas in the country whose scientists receive a lower percentage of federal support.
KU will lead the EPSCoR project called Adaptive and Resilient Infrastructures Driven by Social Equity (ARISE) engaging faculty, staff and students from engineering, social science, economics, computer science and other fields.
ARISE aims to advance the resilience of social and economic systems and physical infrastructure, including the systems that support transportation, water and energy sectors across urban and rural areas.
It will leverage academic research capacity in Kansas to transform rural and vulnerable communities typically underrepresented in research.
“The ARISE project lays out a case for infrastructure and community resilience to be guided by principles of social equity and active collaboration between government, industry, notfor-profits and communities,” said Belinda Sturm, professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering and principal investigator on the grant. “The project not only builds academic research that converges computer science, engineering and social science, but the project will support community-engaged research
Image courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineersacross Kansas to create sustaining relationships between universities and communities.”
The initiative will be spread over five years, creating capacity for research and education within and between KU, Kansas State University, Wichita State University, community colleges, outreach programs, community engagement and extension offices, and workforce development programs.
“This project provides an incredible opportunity to put Kansas researchers at the forefront of cutting-edge
community disaster resilience research in a way that builds protection and increased access for and with the people of Kansas,” said Elaina Sutley, associate professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering and coprincipal investigator on the project.
The project also aims to develop education resources from K-12 to higher education, creating new opportunities in science and technology for Kansans. The project will create an interdisciplinary data science consortium that partners with Kansas
businesses and organizations and trains students to translate their skills into data-driven solutions.
Since 2006, KU has received 12 NSF EPSCoR awards totaling more than $96 million. KU’s EPSCoR program will mark its 30th anniversary this year. Not only has it jump-started the careers of more than 100 new faculty members, but for every dollar NSF EPSCoR pumps into research, Kansas receives more than double that in non-EPSCoR research funding.
Mike D’Attilio of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management Elaina Sutley The split image shows the destruction from the tornado in Linwood and flooding of the Fall and Verdigris rivers near Neodesha, both in 2019.A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation will enable a KU Engineering researcher to investigate how to boost effectiveness of security operations centers (SOCs) centralized facilities that deal with security issues and protect enterprise computer networks for private industry, academic institutions and government organizations.
“Organizations usually deploy security operations centers to manage their network operations, defend against threats in cyberspace and maintain regulatory compliance,” said Alexandru Bardas, assistant professor in KU’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) and the Institute for Information Science (I2S), formerly Information & Telecommunication Technology Center.
“Automation and metrics play key roles in the effectiveness of security operation centers,” he said. “Unfortunately, security-driven automation in these environments is often implemented in ad hoc ways and is not accurately reflected in the metrics.”
According to Bardas, current solutions don’t capture all dimensions of automation. He said enterprise networks usually have either partial technical solutions to security challenges that are both social and technical or social frameworks that don’t fully comprehend the technical components of enterprise network security. The result, he said, is always a one-size-fits-all solution that
contributes to inefficiencies in security operations centers.
“We hope to create a framework that tailors security-focused automation for operational environments, assesses the role of humans in this process and reflects the outcomes in the metrics,” Bardas said. “Instead of putting forward another set of generic automation and metrics guidelines for security operations centers, the framework’s main goal is to link technical capabilities of an organization with its social structure. This way, the landscape for security operations centers can evolve from ‘all defenses need to be successful’ to ‘all attacks need to be successful’ to maintain persistent access turning the tables on adversaries.”
The KU researcher’s work will use an array of approaches from designing dynamic abstractions, models and software tools to ethnographic studies and interviews. Bardas said he hoped to account for factors such as stakeholders’ interests and strategic planning as well as provide on-the-ground analysts with ways to input local knowledge about their actual effectiveness into management and policy decisions.
“Security operations centers are sensitive environments, and getting access to these environments is understandably a complex endeavor,” Bardas said. “We’re fortunate to collaborate with external security operations centers from industry, academia and the government sector. We also have a fruitful collaboration with our KU IT Security Office, and we’re very thankful for their support.”
Further, Bardas plans to utilize KU’s student information-security club, known as the “Jayhackers,” to test the resilience of approaches to security operations centers.
“We’ll take the initial framework prototypes and actually use them in cyberdefense competitions with the Jayhackers to defend our networks, to prioritize events, to quantify how we’re approaching things,” Bardas said. “Often, these cyber defense competitions resemble accelerated SOC environments. Of course, reality can be a little different, but a cyber defense competition would be one avenue of evaluating our framework. By doing so we’re also exposing our students to the framework and to security operations centers so we’re preparing them for the workforce. Quite a few of our Jayhackers are interested in jobs offered by security operations centers. Through this training, they’ll be in a much better position when they hit the job market.”
A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation will enable a researcher from the KU Engineering to investigate how to boost effectiveness of security operations centers. BardasEvery day, Americans see more batteryelectric vehicles (BEVs) on the road. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market for electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. is expected to grow from $28.24 billion in 2021 to $137.43 billion in 2028. The reasons for the switch from internal-combustion-engine vehicles to BEVs are compelling: EVs are cleaner for the environment, cheaper to operate and offer the chance to breeze by gas stations and spend less on fuel.
However, one drawback has made some consumers wary of purchasing a BEV limited range. Unlike those plentiful gas stations, charging stations for EVs still can be few and far in between, and recharging a BEV’s lithium-ion battery might take hours, making EVs impractical for some longrange road trips.
Now, a KU Engineering researcher has co-written a study in Scientific Reports proposing a peer-to-peer system for BEVs to share charge among each other while driving down the road by being matched-up with a cloudbased control system.
“When multiple electric vehicles are en route, they can actually share charge among themselves while running they don’t have to stop to do this,” said Tamzidul Hoque, assistant professor of electrical engineering & computer science at KU. “One car might have abundant charge, and it may not need to go too far, and it can sell its charge to another car so there’s an economic incentive. The other car, which is traveling a long way, doesn’t have much charge, and not having to stop for recharging would shorten their journey by several hours.”
A cloud-based system would match the two BEVs in the same vicinity, likely along major interstates. Like bicyclists in a peloton, the two matched cars could travel close together, sharing charge en route with no need to stop for hours at a charging station. The cars would drive at the same locked speed while charging cables would link the vehicles automatically and physically.
Hoque’s co-authors on the study are Prabuddha Chakraborty, Robert Parker, Jonathan Cruz, Lili Du, Shuo Wang and Swarup Bhunia of the University of Florida.
According to the researchers, vehicles would come equipped with two different batteries for the peer-to-peer BEVcharging plan: a main lithium-ion battery like ones common in today’s BEVs, and a second fast-charging battery used for on-the-go charging. The fast battery, when charged, would then replenish the vehicle’s main battery.
“You don’t want cars to stay connected for a very long time because another car might have to change its route and go somewhere else, and you may not get enough time to charge,” Hoque said. “That’s why we’ve developed the concept of multi-level battery to reduce charging time.
“Just like in your computer you have fast cache memory but it’s expensive so you have other type of high-capacity memories that are slower,” he said. “Similarly, for our batteries, we have incorporated this concept. You’ll have small fast-charging batteries, which will be used for peerto-peer charging, and once that small battery is charged, you disconnect, and that small-charge battery sends charge
to the bigger, slower battery.”
In high-density areas, the research team proposes deploying mobile charging stations huge batteries riding on trucks that can recharge multiple vehicles at once, something akin to how small military jets can get refueled in midair by a tanker aircraft.
“These mobile charging stations would probably travel major highways where they’re constantly going back and forth,” said the KU researcher. “There would be a number of these, so at a given point of time one mobile charging station is traveling while another is in the station getting ready for the game. These mobile charging stations can refuel or replenish the batteries of multiple vehicles simultaneously.”
The end result of the peer-to-peer system proposed by Hoque and his colleagues would result in more convenience and less “range anxiety” for owners of BEVs and also a cleaner environment. Hoque and his co-authors used sophisticated computer modeling software to measure recharging requirements of BEVs as well as changes to environmental impact of cars in a simulated peer-to-peer system.
Charging stations for EVs still can be few and far in between, and recharging a BEV’s lithium-ion battery might take hours. Now, a KU researcher has co-written a study proposing a peer-to-peer system for BEVs to share charge among each other.
A KU Engineering assistant
professor has received a federal grant to explore using “gamifying” techniques to boost the interest of undergraduate students in learning the design and application of electronic hardware.
Tamzidul Hoque led the group that is splitting the $600,000 award from the National Science Foundation. A third of that money will go to KU; the rest will go to the University of Florida (UF), where Hoque’s collaborators Pasha Antonenko, Mary Jo Koroly and Swarup Bhunia are based.
The project could eventually have a direct impact on Americans’ pocketbooks, Hoque said. The supply chain crisis has driven inflation during the last year with new car prices, in particular, skyrocketing because manufacturers have been unable to import enough computer chips that most modern vehicles rely on. Due to the increasing adoption of electronic devices, the global chip shortage could also affect other industries such as aerospace, defense, health care and information technology.
That’s led to a growing interest in rebuilding the United States’ chipproduction capacity. Intel announced in January a plan to spend $20 billion on a new plant in Ohio, and the company could spend up to $100 billion over the next decade.
But there’s a catch.
Such infrastructure cannot be used without engineers, scientists and technicians with the ability to design, manufacture and use such sophisticated
devices. However, misconceptions surrounding manufacturing jobs among college students, along with the growing popularity of computing jobs related to data analytics and artificial intelligence, motivate students with engineering majors to avoid hardwarerelated courses throughout their studies, according to Hoque.
“The problem we are trying to tackle here is that today in the semiconductor or hardware industry, we don’t have enough workforce, and rapid enhancement to the chip-production capacity is not feasible without that,” Hoque said.
The goal of this project is twofold. One aim is to get more students interested in chip design and manufacturing. The other is to help prepare students in other engineering professions, such as mechanical and biomedical engineers, to use those chips in their systems.
“That’s why we are trying to develop this new course of the curriculum, which will teach fundamentals of hardware from a system perspective through a hands-on approach to students from any engineering major,” Hoque said. “And we will do that using as many interesting games that can be played on our hardware platform.”
Hoque
by Brendan Lynch
Our ability to heal and regenerate new tissue after an injury has much to do with biological sex. For instance, following menopause, the loss of sex-hormone signaling in women can lead to degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, where bone and cartilage degrade and become more delicate and brittle because of tissue loss.
Now, a KU researcher has earned a five-year, $1.25 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institutes of Health to study how estrogen interacts with the body at the level of the cell microenvironment. The results could point the direction for the study of sex differences in human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), specialized cells that can support a host of other cells by promoting tissue repair and regeneration after injury and represent a key to developing new tailored therapies.
“I’m trying to understand why male and female tissue might regenerate differently and how this leads to the onset of diseases where the tissue does not regenerate well, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis,” said Jenny Robinson, assistant professor of chemical & petroleum engineering at KU, who will lead work under the NIH MIRA award. “We’re going to approach this question at the level or microenvironment that cells live in, essentially, and see how that might dictate regeneration. We’re looking at estradiol, the most predominant estrogen, and coupling that knowledge with control of the cells’ 3D environment to see, ultimately, what do we need to promote repair, and that
is likely different in male and female tissues.”
As a teen athlete, Robinson was sidelined from pursuing a serious soccer career because of a knee injury, but that also triggered her interest in the science involved in the body’s recovery, a curiosity that led to her expertise in biomaterials, tissue engineering and biomolecular engineering. “My lab is really focused on connective tissue,” she said. “We do a lot with the knee meniscus. It’s really what we’ve been doing for the past three or four years.”
The KU researcher’s new work aims to develop biomaterial tools to parse out sex differences in tissue repair and how bodies maintain homeostasis, or a necessary equilibrium to promote health and function after changes such as injury.
“There’s some clinical data to show there might be differences in structural tissue components in men and women,” she said. “We know cells are very responsive to their structural environment, and in these engineered systems we can control a lot of factors. My lab builds polymer-based 3D structures that mimic tissue. We use a technique to generate fibers on the scale of collagen so nanometer to small micron scale and know that across the board cells respond completely differently if they’re on a nanometer versus a micrometer fiber, or if those fibers are just randomly oriented or aligned like in muscle or a lot of connective tissue such as the meniscus. But what if they’re from male or female patients are those cells responding differently to the structural cues that we
can engineer and provide for them in the lab?”
Robinson said the end goal is to carry out research that will improve people’s health.
“So many people have to deal with musculoskeletal injuries,” she said. “It affects people’s quality of life. It’s one of the biggest issues that causes disability and unemployment and lack of being able to work in general. Orthopedic injury and degeneration are likely to plague many people. Everyone knows someone that has injured some type of connective tissue.”
Robinson Human mesenchymal stromal cells on fibers. Image courtesy Jenny Robinson
by Joel Mathis
A team led by a KU professor of aerospace engineering has been awarded time on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. They’ll use it to help solve one of the “grand challenges” in developing the next generation of aircraft.
The group headed by Z.J. Wang, Spahr Professor of Aerospace Engineering, was one of 51 teams around the world to receive the INCITE award from the U.S. Department of Energy in early 2022.
Wang and his colleagues Joshua Romero of NVIDIA Corporation and Nick Wyman of Cadence Design Systems will have the use of 590,000 “node hours” of time on the Summit supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
The computing time is “so valuable,” Wang said. “If you actually purchased this time from commercial vendors, it’s worth millions of dollars.”
Wang’s project is focused on
developing and applying a technique called “wall-resolved large eddy simulation” basically, a computer simulation of a wind tunnel test to predict the performance of highlift configurations on aircraft. Such configurations help airplanes generate enough lift during taking off and landing, but they also create hard-topredict air flows, turbulence and noise. That makes it tricky to get the design of high-lift configurations just right.
“The large eddy simulation of high-lift configurations is considered a grand challenge in aerospace engineering,” Wang said. “If we are successful in this project, we will have a better understanding of the complex turbulent flow, and valuable data will be generated to enable the development of turbulence and wall models.”
Wang and his colleagues have spent years developing a computational fluid dynamics tool known as hpMusic to understand the complex
turbulence involved, and it has been used by General Electric to tackle complicated turbomachinery problems. But the challenges presented by highlift configurations are so difficult, Wang said, that some have predicted it might be unsolvable for another decade.
The INCITE award, and the use of the Summit supercomputer, could significantly shorten that interval.
A node hour uses one node on a supercomputer for one hour. The Summit computer at Oak Ridge Laboratory has more than 4,000 nodes and is billed as the secondfastest supercomputer in the world. Competition for those hours is fierce.
The Department of Energy received 121 proposals the INCITE competition is open to any researcher or research organization in the world requesting more than 120 million node-hours.
Those proposals were assessed by 11 peer-review panels of international experts before the awards were made.
The award “is a nice recognition of our reputation and capability,” Wang said. “It validates KU as a leader in high-performance computational fluid dynamics,” he said. “Those 51 teams are selected from all over the world they represent the cream of the crop in computational sciences and engineering.”
Wang has been at KU since 2012. In addition to GE, Cadence and NVIDIA, his research is also supported by the Air Force Office of Science Research and the Army Research Office.
Wang Complex turbulent flow predicted with a wallmodeled large eddy simulation of the NASA Common Research Model High-Lift Configuration.
Image courtesy ZJ Wang
Several awards from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to KU Engineering will enable research to improve and lengthen the life of bridges, a critical part of American infrastructure.
“Bridges connect our communities, they provide safe passage of people and goods and when bridges don’t function, communities and the transfer of those goods don’t function, so they’re absolutely critical to our society,” said Caroline Bennett, professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering and Dean R. and Florence W. Frisbie Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, who is acting as principal investigator on two of the new grants.
Bennett pointed to the recent collapse of a 50-year-old Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that injured 10 people as an example of the need to upgrade many steel bridges nationwide.
“These sorts of things are happening with increasing frequency, and when they happen not only does it stop transfer of people and goods but it also really decays people’s faith in our societal functioning and their faith in how our infrastructure works it decays the faith in this nation,” she said. “All of these projects are focused on improving this. They all speak directly to the heart of making our infrastructure safer, more reliable and better functioning for citizens of the U.S.”
Bennett will serve as the primary investigator on a $258,165, 34-month FHWA grant aimed to develop
improved detailing in steel bridges to prevent constraint-induced fractures.
“This is a specific type of fracture that can happen in fabricated steel components when you have detailing that produces something we call ‘constraint’ when the structure can’t deform freely, localized stresses can build up such that the structure is not able to deform in the way that we expect as engineers. This can cause a brittle fracture, and that can bring a structure down,” she said. “The type of detailing practices that might lead to this really aren’t well understood, and we’ve had a couple of bridge failures over the last few decades that have been attributed to constraint-induced fracture.”
The KU researcher pointed to Milwaukee’s Hoan bridge failure in 2000 as a classic example of constraintinduced fracture, when three girders of the 1.9-mile bridge fractured with no evidence of prior fatigue crack development.
“It was a miracle that no one died because of that failure,” Bennett said. “We know that was caused by constraint-induced fracture, but in terms of avoiding that type of failure in different details and on a large scale, the advice engineers are given is pretty imprecise. Our job is to characterize constraint-induced fracture to help engineers detail and design structures in a way where this does not happen, and that we can more reliably look at existing structures and figure out whether they’re at an elevated risk
Bennett Collinsof experiencing constraint-induced fracture. Also, we’ll equip engineers to figure out how to how to deal with this risk and retrofit a structure should it become important.”
Bennett, with fellow investigators and students from the School of Engineering, will use computational simulations and KU’s West Campus Structural Testing Laboratory to characterize the susceptibility of structural stiffener details in steel bridges to constraint-induced fracture, including thick bearing stiffeners, different constraint-relief gap distances between intersecting structural components and continuous welding at the intersection of the flange-webconnection plate.
A second $112,413, 22-month FHWA grant led by Bennett will investigate how to improve university curricula for graduate students studying design of bridges across the nation.
According to Bennett and her coinvestigators, “universities have reduced credit hours needed for a degree in structural engineering to focus on ‘the basics’ of a graduate education, often
At the same time, codes and specifications governing bridge engineering practice have become increasingly complex, according to the researchers.
“We want to take stock of what is happening in the nation regarding existing university education of engineers who might become bridge engineers and also take stock of what continuing education currently looks like within bridge engineering and ask, ‘What can we be doing better?’” Bennett said. “A lot of people who become competent bridge engineers require significant on-the-job training because they have not had a lot of formal education directly mapping to bridges. So, how can we better prepare and support people who are going to be working as bridge engineers?”
Through a review of curricula, surveys and direct discussions with
engineering faculty across the nation, Bennett and her co-investigators will determine the state of engineering education for bridge design.
“We can provide a really solid capture of what is happening and where the gaps are as well as pathways for people to improve continuing education and engineering education in university settings,” Bennett said. “We’ll provide guidance on how to implement a backwards design process in both settings.”
William Collins, associate professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering at KU, serves as a coinvestigator on both grants headed by Bennett. Further, Collins will lead the KU portion of a $130,000, 22-month FHWA grant headed by Modjeski and Masters, one of the world’s leading bridge engineering firms.
The investigation will assess effectiveness of ultra-high toughness
(UHT) bridge steel within steel bridge members to improve structural reliability for the fracture limit-state, potentially deeming a fracture-critical designation unnecessary.
“The idea of preventing fracture is a big deal in civil infrastructure, especially for bridges,” Collins said. “When exposed to colder temperatures, steel structures are more susceptible to fracture-related failures. This is not typically a concern in buildings because buildings aren’t exposed to the elements like bridges are. In addition to these projects, Caroline and I do a lot of work examining different ways to monitor and inspect for fatigue and cracks. Rather than the design or inspection aspects of controlling fracture, this third project is focused on the material side of things.”
Three awards from the Federal Highway Administration to the University of Kansas School of Engineering will enable research to improve and lengthen the life of bridges, a critical part of American infrastructure.Sixteen KU Engineering faculty members are among the top 2% of scientists worldwide cited by others in research publications, according to a study from Stanford University.
That number equals roughly 14% of KU’s engineering faculty an “impressive accomplishment,” said Arvin Agah, dean of the engineering school. “I appreciate the commitment and dedication it takes to achieve this status.”
Stanford researchers created a database of more than 180,000 scientists across 176 subfields out of nearly 9 million scientists worldwide who had been credited with publishing more than five papers then analyzed the number of citations that each received. Self-citations were excluded. This achievement is a sign that research by KU Engineering faculty has served as a foundation for scientists and engineers around the world to explore new areas of innovation in their respective fields.
“We all hope our work has impact, and that’s what this is a measure of,” said Michael Branicky, professor of electrical engineering & computer science and former dean of the school, who was among the most cited researchers. “It’s proof of the global reach of our research.”
Branicky made the list, having been cited nearly 11,000 times for his multidecade work in such diverse areas
as networked control systems that share information, like “smart electrical grids,” hybrid systems that combine physical and computer inputs, like airplane autopilots, and robotic motion planning.
He said the Stanford research offered evidence that KU Engineering professors are spreading knowledge beyond their own labs and lecture halls.
“Certainly, what we do helps train our own students in the classroom and the graduate students who are our mentees,” Branicky said. “But it also literally reaches across the world our work is being followed and transformed by many other scientists.”
The whole purpose of research, he said, is to build a foundation for others to use to create even more new discoveries and ideas.
“Research is like setting course in a forest. You get to a different clearing, and you set up camp and once you’ve set up camp, other people can go from there and explore other things,” Branicky said. “We all have differing expertise, but it’s a similar story in terms of these mountains we’ve each climbed.”
The list was generated by John Ioannidis, professor of medicine at Stanford University, and reflects citations through August 2020.
Aerospace engineering
Ronald Barrett, professor
Z.J. Wang, Spahr professor
Chemical & petroleum engineering
Cory Berkland, Solon E. Summerfield Distinguished Professor
Stevin Gehrke, Fred Kurata Memorial Professor
Trung Van Nguyen, professor
Mark Shiflett, Foundation Distinguished Professor
Bala Subramaniam, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor
Civil, environmental & architectural engineering
David Darwin, Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor
Anil Misra, professor
Shannon Blunt, Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor
Michael Branicky, professor
Victor Frost, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor
Rongqing Hui, professor
Theodore Bergman, Charles E. & Mary Jane Spahr Professor
Steven Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor
Paulette Spencer, Ackers Distinguished Professor
Meshing wasn’t always at the center of KU Engineering professor Suzanne Shontz’s research. She wasn’t even familiar with the concept when she enrolled in graduate school at Cornell University.
Now, she’s the first woman to receive the 2021 International Meshing Roundtable Fellow Award in the maledominated engineering field.
“It makes it more special knowing that I’m the first woman,” said Shontz, professor of electrical engineering & computer science at KU. “I’m hoping it’s a sign that more women will get more involved in the field over time.”
Mesh generation or meshing is the mathematical and computational process of building items out of many shapes. Shontz compares it to building with Legos.
“We’re putting blocks together,” she said, “and we’re building some kind of geometric object.”
Although Shontz was once unfamiliar with the concept of meshing, numerical methods for moving meshes eventually became the focus of her graduate school dissertation. She earned master’s degrees in computer science and applied mathematics and a doctorate in applied mathematics.
Meshing is used for simulation analysis and rendering models in the fields of engineering, medicine and even fashion leading to better understanding of structures and processes, industry advancements and more.
“Mesh generation is a very important step in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). For complex, realworld configurations, it is often the bottleneck in the CFD simulation process,” said ZJ Wang, the Spahr Professor of Aerospace Engineering. “Professor Shontz’s research on mesh adaptation, parallel and high-order mesh generation addresses critical needs in the CFD community.”
Sandia National Laboratories gave out the International Meshing Roundtable Fellow Award at its annual conference in 2021. The award recognizes an individual with a distinguished record of research accomplishments in mesh generation and exceptional service in the meshing community.
Shontz has attended the conference for about 20 years. During that time, she has served on the organizing committee, submitted and reviewed papers, taught a short course and given talks. This year, she served on the steering committee and was invited to give a keynote speech on cardiovascular mesh generation algorithms and applications.
“Suzanne’s list of accomplishments and contributions to her research community is impressive both for its breadth and depth,” said Erik Perrins, chair of KU’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. “We are fortunate to have her leadership here at KU.”
Shontz’s KU lab has advanced knowledge in the field. Researchers created a mesh of the human heart that simulates the motion of a beating heart and have designed algorithms for high-order mesh generation,
parallel meshing, mesh optimization and mesh untangling.
In 2012, Shontz received the 2011 NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House for her 2011 NSF CAREER project on parallel dynamic meshing algorithms, theory and software for simulation-assisted medical interventions.
A decade later, Shontz continues to win awards. She received the 2021 KU School of Engineering Miller Professional Award for Service and was promoted to full professor at the beginning of the fall semester.
She hopes to encourage young undergraduate engineering students, especially women, to pursue graduate school and additional education in the field of meshing. She does this by involving undergraduate researchers in her lab.
“I hope more women over time will get to know about these opportunities and see if it’s something that they might like to do,” Shontz said, “and hopefully grow the field that way.”
From left are images of high-order tetrahedral meshes of the left ventricle myocardia of a normal heart, a heart with dilated cardiomyopathy that manifests as stretched and weakened heart muscle, and a heart with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which exhibits abnormally thick heart muscle. Credit: Fariba Mohammadi, a doctoral candidate in Shontz’s lab, generated these meshes.
The KU Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department has been selected to receive a $100,000 award from the Association of American Universities to support projects that lead to better methods for evaluating STEM teaching.
KU is one of only five AAU member departments to receive the award.
Susan Williams, Charles E. & Mary Jane Spahr Professor and department chair, will lead the project. She will work with Prajna Dhar, professor of chemical & petroleum engineering, and Andrea Follmer Greenhoot, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and a professor of psychology. Dhar and Greenhoot will be co-leaders of the effort, which will involve all faculty in C&PE.
The approach being developed will provide a more holistic assessment of the quality of faculty teaching, one that integrates information provided by multiple perspectives.
“This is critically important work that is often overlooked,” Williams said. “If we want excellent teaching, we need an evaluation system that recognizes the intellectual work that goes into helping our students learn. We are excited to be part of a process that has the potential to help STEM departments around the country.”
C&PE faculty members Kyle Camarda, Karen Nordheden, Alan Allgeier, Russell Ostermann and Jennifer Robinson round out the project team members.
Universities have long relied on student surveys to evaluate teaching,
Prajna Dhar, professor of chemical and petroleum engineering (middle), works on the AAU Stem Department Demonstration Project with associate professor and project team member Kyle Camarda at CTE meetings of the Benchmarks and TEval initiative. Dhar is a co-leader of the project at KU.
but a growing body of research has pointed to many weaknesses in that approach. The student voice is important, but it provides only one perspective on an instructor’s teaching. Without a broader evaluation system, many instructors have also been reluctant to adopt teaching practices that lead to deeper learning and greater success for students. That approach, known as evidence-based teaching, also helps close gaps between majority and minority groups.
“Evaluation of evidence-based teaching practices ensure better and more equitable learning experiences for students,” Dhar said. “Working with partners at AAU also gives KU further opportunities to showcase and disseminate this work widely.”
The model builds on the KU department’s work in an initiative to improve teaching evaluation, known as Benchmarks for Teaching Effectiveness,
led by Greenhoot and Doug Ward, associate director at the KU teaching center and associate professor of journalism & mass communications.
The Benchmarks initiative is part of a collaborative project known as TEval, which received a $2.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve teaching evaluation. It involves the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; the University of Colorado, Boulder; and Michigan State University.
The chemical and petroleum engineering department’s approach involves creating “peer triads,” teams of three or four faculty members who share teaching strategies and provide each other feedback across the year. Williams and Dhar were instrumental in helping the Center for Teaching Excellence develop the peer triad approach when they were faculty fellows there. In C&PE’s model, the triads will produce evidence that can be used for the evaluation of individual instructors’ teaching. They will also promote broader curriculum discussions among faculty, helping ensure that courses in the program allow students to gain crucial skills over time.
This AAU award enables C&PE to implement its approaches at scale and to evaluate the success of the program. Project leaders hope to explore whether different evaluators can reliably and fairly apply evaluation standards, whether the system is feasible and sustainable, and whether it diminishes bias in the evaluation process.
Doug WardWilliam Collins, KU associate professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct research for six months in Finland.
Jointly funded by the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and the Fulbright Finland Foundation, Collins was awarded the Fulbright-VTT Award in Science, Technology, and Innovation.
Beginning in January 2023, Collins will work with researchers at the VTT Technical Research Center in Espoo, Finland. The research will focus on fracture mechanics, which studies how cracks form and spread in materials. In particular, Collins aims to identify and bridge the gaps that exist between current industry practices and stateof-the-art work in the field of fracture mechanics.
Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers over 400 awards in more than 130 countries.
According to Collins, many industries have practices based on an outdated understanding of fracture mechanics, which can result in overly conservative design codes causing higher costs, or design codes that are not conservative enough that could result in potential failures.
To address this issue, Collins’ proposed work in Finland will include the following:
• Compiling and re-characterizing a database of steel fracture toughness, which measures a material’s ability to resist cracking.
• Evaluating fractures at the interface of joints using dissimilar metal welds.
• Identifying areas where current specification can benefit from adopting modern approaches to fracture mechanics, focusing on the energy industry and transportation infrastructure.
The award will allow Collins to work with materials and applications that are outside of his primary area of
research, which is focused on highway infrastructure. His collaborators in Finland are mechanical engineers who work primarily in the nuclear energy industry. The project aims to use the existing synergies in fracture mechanics to connect civil and mechanical engineering researchers.
“There are many well-respected fracture researchers at VTT, and I look forward to learning from them,” Collins said. “I hope that the relationships I build with them will continue upon my return to KU, resulting in long-term international collaborations.”
The award could also open up new funding opportunities and will result in improvements to the fracture mechanics course Collins teaches at KU.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
CollinsWhen researchers at the University of Kansas wanted to test a new, environmentally friendly “chiller system” for large buildings, they didn’t have to go far they chose Watson Library on the KU Lawrence campus.
“It just makes it easier to monitor,” said Mark Shiflett, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering.
Two 900-ton York chiller units cool and dehumidify the nearly century-old Watson Library building, and until recently both units used hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants to do the job. But federal law requires most hydrofluorocarbon use to be phased down over the next 15 years, so Shiflett’s team retrofitted one of the chillers to use a new hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerant called Opteon XP10. The new refrigerant is “non-ozone depleting” and has a significantly lower global warming potential. Reduced HFC use around the world is expected to help avoid an average global temperature rise of 0.5 degrees Celsius.
KU is “the first university to test this refrigerant,” Shiflett said. Watson Library offers university researchers the ability to directly compare the performance of the new HFO refrigerant with the existing HFC system.
“We looked for an opportunity on campus where we could retrofit an existing chiller and study the performance, to see if it had the same cooling capacity and energy efficiency,” Shiflett said. “Now we’re going to monitor them side-by-side and compare the performance. This is a great demonstration at a commercial scale of
one of the new refrigerants.”
To execute the retrofit, KU’s Institute for Sustainable Engineering partnered with two companies: Chemours, a chemical company that donated the new HFO refrigerant; and Johnson Controls Inc., which produces heating and cooling systems, and provided labor for the project.
“This is a great example of how industry is partnering with our new Institute for Sustainable Engineering at KU, which is making a positive impact on our environment,” Shiflett said.
That’s also an advantage for the students involved in the project. Mechanical engineering seniors monitored the baseline performance of the older HFC unit as part of their capstone senior design course. A postdoctoral researcher and graduate student in chemical engineering
monitored the new HFO unit.
“Industry brings relevant problems that need solutions,” Shiflett said. “The students get to work on applied projects that are important to industry. That way when they graduate, they’ve got this great experience and become familiar with how industry works. It makes them more competitive when they go out in the workforce to get their first job.”
The Institute for Sustainable Engineering at KU aims to advance global sustainability through transformational engineering, science and education by putting a focus on creative solutions that can be applied to real-world issues that promote the societal, economic and environmental benefits of sustainable and green engineering.
Watson Library Meg Kumin, KU Marketing CommunicationsKU increased its rank from 49 to 44 for research and development expenditures among public universities in fiscal year 2020 in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education and Research Development Survey. This includes ninth overall in R&D expenditures in engineering and nonscience fields.
In collaboration with the College for Liberal Arts and Science, KU Engineering Diversity and Women’s Programs received a $500,000, two-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for a Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership and Sloan Undergraduate Student Program to create educational opportunities for Indigenous students in STEM fields at KU.
Three engineering faculty members were awarded promotion and tenure in 2022.
Faculty promoted to associate professor with tenure:
• Esam Aly, electrical engineering and computer science
• Emily Arnold, aerospace engineering
• Masoud Kalantari, chemical and petroleum engineering
Caroline Bennett, professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, is the lead researcher on a fiveyear, $7,740,921 grant from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) that will focus on improving the performance of concrete dam infrastructure through the use of fiber-reinforced polymers. Associate professors and co-investigators Remy Lequesne and Jian Li will assist in leading the research.
Will Collins, associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, received the 2022 Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture, which provides an opportunity for early-career faculty to present on their steel bridge research activities to leading steel bridge experts. He was also selected for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in Finland.
Jie Han, from civil, environmental and architectural engineering, was named a Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor by the university.
Justin Hutchison, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, is a collaborator in KU’s Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease Center, which received a five-year, $11.3M NIH COBRE Phase II Award.
KU received $945,000 as part of a National Defense Education Program to provide high school students summer preparatory courses in aerospace engineering, artificial intelligence and computer science over three years. Shawn Keshmiri, professor of aerospace engineering, will lead the effort.
Anil Misra, professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, was named as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Josh Roundy, associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, won the Gould Award for Outstanding Educator.
Steven Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor of chemistry, mechanical engineering and bioengineering, received the Irvin Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences. He was one of four KU faculty members to receive the HiguchiKU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, the state higher education system’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence. Soper also received the 2022 Ralph N. Adams Award for significant contributions to the field of bioanalytical chemistry.
Candan Tamerler, Charles E. & Mary Jane Spahr Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was named a KU associate vice chancellor for research in July 2022.
Heechul Yun, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, won the Miller Award for Research.
Mary Sevart, a senior in chemical engineering, is one of a record five KU students to earn a Barry M. Goldwater scholarship in 2022.
Five Goldwater Scholarships represent the maximum possible awards that a single school can receive, and KU has never celebrated five awards in one year before. The award is regarded as the premier undergraduate award to encourage excellence in science, engineering and mathematics.
“We’re absolutely thrilled this year to receive five Goldwater Scholarships, and I’m happy to be able to celebrate with our outstanding recipients. Each of them has demonstrated a remarkable
capacity to come up with new ways to tackle some of our planet’s greatest challenges,” said Chancellor Douglas A. Girod. “I congratulate all of them on achieving this recognition, and I’m proud of the members of our university community who helped them along the way, allowing them to continue on to even greater heights.”
The scholarships cover tuition, fees, books and room and board, up to $7,500 annually.
Sevart, from Wichita, plans to pursue a doctorate in chemical engineering and aspires to employ solutions to the world’s dependence on fossil fuels through a research career.
“I felt very honored and very blessed to receive this award,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without my research mentors, and I know they’ll continue to help guide me as I go to graduate school.”
As a freshman, she joined the KU Biodiesel Initiative lab of founding faculty member Susan Williams, Charles E. & Mary Jane Spahr Professor of Engineering, and has served as the testing lab manager. Specifically, Sevart participates in research initiatives under the guidance of Williams with a focus on creating a potential fuel source from thermochemical processing of hemp biomass after CBD oil extraction.
She also is the recruitment chair of KU’s Society of Women Engineers and serves as an ambassador for the KU School of Engineering. She
was awarded the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship and earned an Undergraduate Research Award through the KU Center for Undergraduate Research. In fall 2021, she won first place in the poster competition at the national conference for Society of Women Engineers and received a scholarship from the Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel in fall 2020.
IN ADDITION TO SEVART, KU’S OTHER WINNERS ARE:
Bryce Gaskins, a junior majoring in biochemistry and Spanish
Jessica Miears, a junior majoring in physics & astronomy
Sarah Noga, a junior majoring in biochemistry
Kade Townsend, a junior majoring in microbiology
Sevart
Submitted
photo
Two KU Engineering students received international recognition for their research on radar systems.
Jonathan Owen and Christian Jones, both doctoral students in electrical engineering & computer science, took first and second place, respectively, in the student paper contest at the 2022 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Radar Conference, a gathering in March of students and researchers from 37 countries. The awards continued a winning streak of sorts for EECS: Jones took first place in last year’s competition, and the department has had a top-three finisher in the contest nearly every year since 2016. Seventy-one papers were submitted from around the world for the contest.
“This in particular is the flagship conference in the field of radar in the world. So being able to have students even get selected to the top five is significant,” said Shannon Blunt, the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. “If from time to time you get a student in the top three, it is a big deal. The fact we’ve had several in the last few years shows KU to be a powerhouse, if you will.”
Owen took first place along with credited co-authors Blunt, Charles Mohr, Brandon Ravenscroft, Benjamin Kirk and Anthony Martone for his paper “Real-Time Experimental Demonstration and Evaluation of Open-Air Sense-and-Notch Radar.”
The research examined methods for letting radar and 5G communications systems share the wireless spectrum without interfering with each other, an issue that became headline news earlier this year when Verizon and AT&T delayed launching 5G services near U.S. airports over concerns about flight safety.
“Never before has radar needed to avoid interfering with communications,” Owen said. “It’s a new problem because the spectrum is becoming more congested.”
Jones along with credited coauthors Blunt, Owen, Zeus Gannon, Dan DePardo, Christopher T. Allen and Benjamin Kirk took second place for his paper, “Development & Experimental Assessment of Robust Direction Finding and SelfCalibration,” which similarly focused on methods for getting accurate radar readings amid an increasingly cluttered wireless spectrum.
“The work presented by the students from University of Kansas was both of high quality, novel to the field of radar, theoretically sound and practically demonstrated, which landed them in the top five of the conference as reviewed by a panel of judges from all of the world,” said Willie Nel, chief radar engineer for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa and the lead judge for the contest. “Furthermore, they impressed the panel of judges with a well-presented, clear and concise presentation of their work
and could defend their work well under the stress of a student paper final.”
Owen said KU has given him a firm foundation for his success at the conference.
“We’ve had some great successes within our lab,” he said. “I think the key to success in our lab is that the advisers consistently make sure we have all the resources and connections needed to produce relevant research in the radar field.”
Blunt said KU’s streak of success owes to a tradition of quality going back to Richard Moore, who taught in the department for more than 30 years starting in the early 1960s and started the university’s Radar Systems & Remote Sensing Lab. And EECS gives itself another advantage by working to bridge the “valley of death” between theoretical academic work and realworld radar applications used by government and industry.
“If you look across academia in general, even in the world of radar, there’s a lot of work that’s extremely theoretical. It’s basically applied math,” Blunt said. “We do that as well. But where we stand out is we take that theoretical work and put it in experimental work. We prove these things work in the real world.”
RadarConf’22 was sponsored by IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.
Aerospace engineering students from KU once again brought home multiple awards in international design competition, continuing a 40-year tradition of excellence.
Three KU teams were recognized in late 2021 for their aircraft and missile designs by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Additionally, a team from KU won an award for the university’s first-ever entry in the Vertical Flight Society’s international student competition.
“The AIAA sponsors the world’s premier aircraft design competition,” said Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, professor of aerospace engineering. And KU is at the pinnacle of that competition.
Over the last four decades, KU students have won more first-, secondand third-place aerospace design awards in the AIAA competition than any other university in the world.
In addition to that overall success, Barrett-Gonzalez said that since 2010, 24 women and underrepresented populations have been among the university’s winning individuals and teams.
“In many, many ways, diversity powers our teams, which is really great,” Barrett-Gonzalez said.
The design competitions challenge students to participate in a simulated real-world design process, allowing them to gain experience and receive feedback from technical experts who serve as judges. The KU student teams won the following awards:
The 10-person team designed the “Skyblazer,” a regional jet intended to be more profitable and more environmentally friendly than most current 50-seat models. The KU students designed an aircraft with wings and engines across the top of the fuselage instead of the traditional below-the-fuselage models making it possible to load and unload luggage more quickly, which in turn would increase the potential number of flights per day for the aircraft.
Team members were Matthew Griebe, Lendon Jackson, Skyler Jacob, Bhawantha Nilaweera, Raghav Parikh, Renaldo Rivera, Olivia Scharf, Ethan Seiler, Krishna Sitaula and Brennan Wheatley.
The six-person team was recognized for its “RHI*NO” drone, a small reusable unmanned aircraft designed to hunt down and disable enemy drones using nets fired from shotgun shells.
Team members were Jack Barkei, Bobby Bowes, Christopher Eavenson, Samantha Friess, Brian Von Holtz and Alex Welicky.
The three-person team also designed an ultra-small drone to hunt down enemy drones. The “Valkyrie” was designed to be fired from a hand-held
grenade launcher before unfolding its wings and starting its mission.
Team members were Joe Coldiron, Austin Dooley and Nathan Wolf.
VERTICAL FLIGHT SOCIETY, BEST NEW UNDERGRADUATE ENTRANT
KU was recognized for its “Asklepios” drone. It was designed to take off vertically, then tilt and fly laterally like a traditional aircraft to deliver medical equipment to hospitals and emergency locations.
Team members were Micaela Crispin, Mason Denneler and Zack Schwab.
Denneler, now a graduate student, said it was exciting to win the VFS honor and break new ground for KU’s already storied aerospace program.
“KU is not known as a helicopter school, but we made it work,” he said. “I think that this is the kind of thing that you’ll see more of in the future. Not necessarily this design explicitly, but you’ll see a lot of delivery drones and people movers. I think in 10 to 15 years there’s going to be a lot more of these innovative ways to move people and things.”
Winning “Skyblazer” design from KU Engineering.
Melek Ben-Ayed, a senior in mechanical engineering, was nominated by KU’s Office of Fellowships for a Rhodes and Marshall scholarship. He also won the university-wide Rusty Leffel Concerned Student Award
Fatima Al-Shaikhli, a senior in electrical engineering, and Eden Surafel Taddese, a master’s student in chemical engineering, were each awarded Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation.
Wambura Chacha, Ph.D. student in environmental engineering, won the J. Lloyd Barron Award from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering.
Amanda Hertel, Elizabeth Lee, Alex Manley, Reece Mathews, Alyssa Morrell and Greta Olsen each received a $1,000 Undergraduate Research Award to work on mentored research and creative projects with KU Engineering faculty.
Hertel also won KU’s Phi Kappa Phi James Blackiston Memorial Fellowship.
Katherine Meinhold and Jeffrey Xu received KU’s prestigious Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Jordan Nutter, a doctoral student in civil engineering, was awarded a best presentation award by the Transportation Research Board.
Amelia Richardson, master’s student in civil engineering, won the Bruce W. Long Scholarship, from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering.
Bioengineering doctoral students Rohit Singh and Jacob Hodge each received research awards during the 19th annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka.
Erin Sturd, a senior in chemical engineering with an emphasis in bioengineering, was nominated for a Marshall scholarship.
Ellen Vandewater, a senior in computer science, won the university-wide Alexis F. Dillard Student Involvement Award.
Bhargavi Krishnan, academic advisor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, won the Gould Award for Outstanding Advisor.
Leslee Smithhisler, former undergraduate advisor in electrical engineering and computer science, received KU’s 2022 C.L.A.S.S. award from the Board of Class Officers, which recognizes a KU staff member for distinguished achievements in student services.
The following undergraduate students were named outstanding seniors in the respective majors for the 20212022 academic year:
• Locke Award for Most Outstanding senior: Julian Moreno
• Aerospace engineering: Julian Moreno
• Architectural engineering: Adam Mouak
• Chemical engineering: Erin Sturd
• Civil engineering: Sydney Crandall
• Computer engineering: Katelyn Blackburn
• Computer Science: Malena Schoeni
• Electrical Engineering: Jennifer Quirk
• Engineering Physics: Sandhya Ravikumar
• Interdisciplinary Computing: Jonelle Gamble
• Mechanical engineering: Rhett Phillips
• Petroleum Engineering: Jackson Rogers
The following graduate students were named outstanding graduates in the respective majors for the 2021-2022 academic year:
Outstanding doctoral student award: MohammadAmin (Amin) Ezazi
Outstanding master’s student award: Grant Jurgensen
Bioengineering master’s outstanding student: Moustafa Abdelaziz
Bioengineering doctoral outstanding student: Aparna Raghavachar Chakravarti
Chemical and petroleum engineering outstanding doctoral student: Ankit Verma
Electrical engineering and computer science outstanding master’s student: Grant Jurgensen
Electrical engineering and computer science outstanding doctoral student: Charles Mohr
Mechanical engineering outstanding master’s student: Michael Kitchen
Mechanical engineering outstanding doctoral student: MohammadAmin (Amin) Ezazi
Seven people with ties to KU School of Engineering received the school’s highest award in a separate ceremonies in November 2021 and May 2022.
The winners of the Distinguished Engineering Service Award (DESA) are Jill MacDonald Boyce, Angela Chammas, Christine-Ehlig Economides, Paul Neidlein, Ronaldo T. “Nick” Nicholson, Richard E. Smith and G. Paul Willhite.
The DESA is presented to individuals who have maintained close association with the school and have made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and to society.
“Our awardees embody the spirit of the Distinguished Engineering Service Award. They are respected leaders with amazing stories of ingenuity and resiliency. Their contributions to the engineering profession and the university are exceptional and inspirational. The awardees help elevate the stature of KU Engineering. We are proud to call them Jayhawk engineers,” said Arvin Agah, dean of engineering.
Boyce and Smith were recognized in the 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of the 2020 event.
The School of Engineering Advisory Board has given the DESA, the highest honor bestowed by the school, annually since 1980.
Anyone who has binge-watched a TV show on their favorite streaming service, utilized the fast-forward or rewind function on their DVR or checked out the latest viral video on their mobile phone can thank one person for how seamless the process has become.
With more than a quarter-century of experience in video compression and standardization, Jill Boyce is recognized as a global leader in modern video coding standards, making important contributions to the efficient delivery of video across multiple platforms. Her work has been a critical in fueling the growth and ubiquity of the media streaming industry.
Boyce earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from KU in 1988, and in 1990 she received her master’s degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis in communications and signal processing from Princeton University.
Boyce has had a hand in developing an estimated 90% of the coding formats utilized in video playback today, from complex features that viewers take for granted to those that are so seamless they go unnoticed. Many of the standards she developed are the basis for all major video applications and are embedded in hardware or software
in all video cameras, smartphones and online video applications, such as YouTube and Netflix.
Boyce recently founded a new startup company, Vimmerse, where she is the CEO. Vimmerse is developing a platform and tools for creation and storage of immersive video, which allows viewers to navigate within a remote 3D scene.
Rich Smith has helped transform Henderson Engineers into a global engineering and building systems design powerhouse. He’s led remarkable growth while fostering a company culture that puts people first and embraces creativity, flexibility and diversity.
Smith earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from KU in 1985 and his master’s degree in architectural engineering from KU in 1991. He joined Henderson Engineers as director of engineering in 1994 and has been the firm’s president and CEO since 2013.
In the mid-1990s when Smith joined Henderson, approximately 80% of the firm’s work was retail. Smith has been instrumental in helping the company grow and diversify into other sectors, including K-12 and higher education, health care, sports and recreation, grocery, workplace, restaurant, warehouse and distribution.
Smith has played a pivotal role in business development efforts that have helped land some of the largest projects in company history. This includes the new single terminal at Kansas City International Airport and SoFi Stadium, a revolutionary mega mixed-use entertainment district in Hollywood Park, California, that is home to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
With seminal contributions to the development and application of technology in the field of petroleum engineering, and a distinguished track record of leadership in academic and professional settings, Christine EhligEconomides is recognized as one of the nation’s most accomplished and influential figures in her field.
She organized and helped establish new petroleum engineering departments at two universities. She developed methods of analyzing well test data from multilayer reservoirs that became the worldwide standard for the oil and gas industry. She has long advocated for women and underrepresented minorities in the field. Her career is decorated with some of the most prestigious awards in engineering, including induction into the National Academy of Engineering in 2003.
After graduating from Rice University in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, EhligEconomides attended KU, where she earned a master’s degree in mathematics education in 1974 and a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1977. She went on to Stanford University and earned her doctorate in 1979. Her dissertation remains a
landmark contribution to the theory and practice in a dominant technology in petroleum reservoir engineering, pressure transient test analysis.
Ehlig-Economides currently serves as a professor and Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Chair at the University of Houston.
Ronaldo T. “Nick” Nicholson Ronaldo “Nick”Nicholson has established a sterling reputation as a leader with a unique ability to bring stakeholders together and build consensus on large, complex transportation challenges. Over his career spanning nearly 40 years, Nicholson has personally supervised and mentored many engineers who have become industry leaders and agency administrators in various public works departments around the country.
Nicholson earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from KU in 1983 and a master’s degree in structural engineering from George Washington in 1991. He spent more than 30 years in the public sector, working for the Federal Highway Administration, Fairfax County Department of Public Works, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the District of Columbia Department of Transportation. He accepted a vice president position at Parsons Transportation Group Inc. in 2014. At each stop along the way, Nicholson has displayed impeccable leadership to build teams and work toward a common goal.
As vice president and senior program/operations manager at Parsons Transportation Group, Nicholson leads the company’s highway and bridge design teams in Virginia and Washington, D.C. He supervises
more than 70 employees and has contributed directly to technically challenging and politically sensitive infrastructure improvement projects, such as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement over the Potomac River, transformation of the South Capitol Street Corridor and re-introduction of DC Streetcar in northeast Washington, D.C., and the Elizabeth River Tunnel and Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel project in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Angela Chammas
In a long and distinguished career, Angela Chammas earned a reputation as a visionary leader and a skilled strategic thinker who focused on strengthening competitive advantages through the development of new technologies, tools and processes. She was also very passionate about helping organizations and the people within them reach their highest level of performance and business success.
Chammas earned her degree in mechanical engineering from KU in 1979. She began her career as a network service engineer at Southwestern Bell, engineering customer data circuits, managing engineering contracts and supervising circuit design engineering personnel.
Chammas joined the Sprint management team in 1991 where she held a variety of management roles in network engineering, including managing a 24/7 network surveillance monitoring center and overseeing the coordination of the strategic quality integration program for network engineering. She spent 20-plus years with the company, later Sprint Nextel, eventually serving as vice president –
talent management, where she oversaw Sprint’s nationwide enterprise talent recruitment and acquisition process for filling approximately 14,000 positions annually.
Chammas and her husband, George, also a KU School of Engineering graduate, married in 1981. They are both enjoying retirement in Chicago and look forward to traveling and spending more time in his home country of Lebanon. They have two sons: Nadim, who is a U.S. marketing manager in Denver, and Jamil, a Grammy Award music producer in Los Angeles.
A distinguished leader, strategic thinker and civicminded community member, Paul Neidlein has become known throughout his career for a commitment to driving engagement, diversity, inclusion and growth for those who work alongside him. He’s also earned a reputation for providing opportunities for innovation and collaboration among clients and vendors throughout the Kansas City and regional construction market.
Neidlein earned his degree in architectural engineering from KU in 1995 and started his career that same year at Turner Construction in St. Louis before moving to the Kansas City office in 1997. In 2012, he started at JE Dunn Construction, where he continued to grow his career first as senior vice president of operations before moving into his current role in 2018 as president of the Midwest region. Currently, Neidlein oversees offices in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and North Dakota as well as leading four national divisions focused on mission-critical, sports, federal and justice projects. Under Neidlein’s leadership, JE Dunn’s
Midwest region has seen tremendous growth, expanding in all markets, and is expected to surpass $2 billion in revenue in 2022 its highest ever.
Neidlein lives in Prairie Village with his wife and fellow KU graduate, Tina (B.S., Journalism, ’96; B.A., English, ’96). They have one son, Ty, who is currently a freshman at the University of Arkansas.
With more than a half-century of contributions and dedicated service to KU and the engineering industry, Paul Willhite is recognized as a remarkable educator and researcher who served the academic community, university, state, nation and international societies with the utmost distinction.
His career in academia is decorated with extensive service to the department, the School of Engineering, higher education and the petroleum industry. Willhite is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering and helped launch a key initiative to develop a range of improved oil recovery applications that were affordable for independent operators in Kansas and the region. He also written textbooks that to this day remain the foundational work in petroleum engineering education.
Willhite earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State in 1959 and a doctorate in chemical engineering from Northwestern in 1962. He joined the faculty at the KU School of Engineering in 1969 and retired in 2019 as Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.
In 1974, Willhite founded and codirected the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project (TORP) with Don Green,
professor emeritus of chemical & petroleum engineering. The program was designed to acquaint Kansas producers with the technical and economic potential of enhanced recovery methods for oil and gas fields that were affordable for independent operators in Kansas and throughout the region.
Willhite lives with his wife, Jewell, in Lawrence, where he continues to be involved in several community activities. They have five children, 13 grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.
Retired automotive chairman Robert Eaton and his wife, Connie Drake Eaton, both KU alumni, established the Eaton Scholarship at KU with a $1 million gift. The scholarship is awarded to students from their respective Kansas hometowns, Arkansas City and Burlington.
However, the real gift, in Robert Eaton’s view, is the opportunity the scholarship provides.
Robert Eaton came from a family in which no one on either side of his family had graduated from college. His father was a baggage handler on the railroad, and his mother was a beautician.
Connie Drake Eaton’s father died in World War II, and she grew up with her mother and grandparents. Robert and Connie met while they were students at KU.
“Going to college had the biggest effect on my life of any single event,” Robert Eaton said. “We want to give back to the university and provide someone with a life-changing experience that they might not be able to have otherwise.”
After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from KU in 1963, Robert Eaton went to work for General Motors. After 29 years with GM, he became the chairman of Chrysler and then the chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG after a merger with Daimler-Benz. He retired in 2000, and he and his wife now live in Naples, Florida. He is a life trustee on the KU Endowment Board of Trustees.
The Eatons have a history of generous support at KU. In 2003, they gave a $5 million gift toward construction of
a new engineering building, named Eaton Hall.
John Howard, the current recipient of the scholarship, is a freshman from Burlington. He is part of the Legal Education Accelerated Degree Program, which allows KU students to earn a bachelor’s degree and a law degree in six years instead of seven. He is working toward a bachelor’s degree in political science.
“This scholarship went toward my tuition, and without support I don’t think I’d be able to go to college and do the things I want to do,” he said.
Howard and Robert Eaton have one interest in common: cars. For his birthday a few years ago, Howard bought two 1967 Ford Thunderbirds, one to rebuild and one for parts. Robert Eaton said he, too, had that love for mechanical tinkering starting at young age. He bought his first car when he was 11 years old for $10 and put another $15 in it to get it running.
“Before that, I built a go-cart using a Maytag washing machine motor,” Robert Eaton said. “When I was in high school, there wasn’t one single thing I couldn’t do on a car. However,
that wouldn’t be true with today’s technology.”
Howard has similar hopes for his Thunderbird, and he also aspires to be philanthropic like the Eatons.
“I appreciate their background, and where they’ve come from, and what they’ve built,” Howard said. “I’m so grateful for this scholarship, and I hope to someday get to where they are and be able to give back like they have.”
“We want to give back to the university and provide someone with a life-changing experience that they might not be able to have otherwise.”Robert Eaton and Connie Drake Eaton. Submitted photo
For Abhay and Mina Bisarya , Feb. 4, 1968, was a day of destiny.
Seeking a sunnier climate, Abhay, an electrical engineering graduate student, decided to transfer from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, to KU, where his maternal uncle was earning a doctorate in pharmacy.
Mina was traveling to KU from Mumbai, formerly Bombay, to pursue a degree in architecture. The plane that Mina was scheduled to travel on had an accident, so she missed her connections and arrived in Kansas a day later than planned. A family friend who knew Abhay’s maternal uncle asked him to pick up Mina at the airport. It was there, waiting for the same ride to Lawrence, where Abhay and Mina first met.
“If she would have come one day early, maybe I would not have met her,” Abhay said.
“It was like destiny,” Mina said.
Over the years, the Bisaryas’ three sons, Alok, Nirav and Mitul, have fondly recounted their parents’ Hollywood-esque meeting. So, when the trio were looking for a way to celebrate their parents’ 75th birthdays and 52nd wedding anniversary, they decided to make a gift to the university that brought them together.
“KU was the beginning of their journey,” Nirav said.
The Bisarya family gave $100,000 to KU Endowment to establish and endow the Abhay and Mina Bisarya Scholarship, which will provide scholarships for international students at KU. The family also provided an additional $5,000 to be utilized for the selection of one inaugural scholarship recipient for this academic year.
For Abhay, a scholarship to fund international students was particularly poignant. When Abhay came to KU, immigration laws did not allow him to arrive in the United States with much cash in hand. Because Abhay was traveling from Scotland, the funds he needed to pay for his college expenses were tied up in the Reserve Bank of India. When it was clear the money wouldn’t arrive in time, a KU foreign student adviser suggested he request a loan through KU.
“I was really amazed that a country or a university who hardly knew me would even think about giving a loan to me,” Abhay said. “And I’m so glad they did.”
Today, Abhay and Mina live in Leawood (where they are next door to Abhay’s college roommate and best friend, Hasu Doshi, whom Abhay also met on his first day in Kansas).
Submitted photos A recent photo of Abhay and Mina Bisarya and one from 1969, a year after the couple first met.A gift from the estate of KU alumnus Dean Frisbie provides $1 million to the School of Law and $1 million to the School of Engineering.
Frisbie, who earned degrees from both schools, took what he learned at KU to build a life of success in ventures from real estate to vineyards before his death in 2021.
A Mission native, Frisbie attended Shawnee Mission High School (now Shawnee Mission North). He enrolled at KU and earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering in 1951 and a law degree in 1953. He and his late wife, Florence known to family and friends as Bunny had two sons, Thomas and James. The couple raised their family in a beautiful home in San Francisco with a view of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.
“KU was a great experience for me,” Dean Frisbie said during a conversation in 2016. “My law and engineering degrees gave me the ability to work as an attorney doing land and legal projects as well as managing the construction of buildings.”
Frisbie’s engineering roots run deep. His family business was heavy construction: His father was instrumental in the building of Perry Dam near Lawrence and Tuttle Creek Dam near Manhattan, among other projects.
His late brothers, David and Don Frisbie, ran Frisbie Bridge Company in Topeka and built many bridges in the area. Both were also KU alumni; both earned degrees in 1949, David Frisbie in law and Don Frisbie in engineering.
The paths they chose were influential in their younger brother’s decision to attend KU.
“I went to law school to help my father out in our family construction business,” Dean Frisbie said. “I didn’t intend to become a lawyer. But I used both degrees extensively.”
After graduating from KU, Frisbie served in the U.S. Army before starting his career in California with Standard Oil (now Chevron) as a land use attorney. After five years, he went to work for Coldwell Banker.
“I found out I really enjoyed real estate and commercial development,” he said.
Frisbie started his own property development business in Santa Clara County, California, and it still has several properties, including apartments and shopping centers, in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay area. But brick and mortar weren’t the only materials he managed: He let a neighbor plant a vineyard on 400 acres of his land to try to increase the property value. From there, Ledgewood Creek Winery was born. Frisbie eventually sold it to E. & J. Gallo Winery.
The leaders of both schools expressed their gratitude to Frisbie for the generous, unrestricted gifts and recognized his dedication to KU.
“This gift helps KU Engineering meet our strategic goals and raise our national profile,” said Arvin Agah, dean of the School of Engineering. “We are grateful to the Frisbie estate for its support.”
Stephen Mazza, dean of the School of Law, shared memories from his
friendship with Frisbie.
“I enjoyed meeting Dean, touring his vineyard, and talking with him about his time at KU Law and his incredible career. He was a great fellow, and I miss him dearly,” Mazza said. “He provides yet another example of how a law degree can lead to great success outside of traditional legal practice.”
Frisbie’s philanthropy came about as a way to give back for what he received as a student.
“Truly, KU was very helpful in all my endeavors,” he said. “Many thanks to the university for all it’s done, for me and for students far into the future.”
Submitted photo Dean Frisbie
NNAEMEKA EZEKWE
Hometown: Nimo, Nigeria
Degree(s) Obtained: B.S., M.S., Ph.D. in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, MBA
Year(s) of Degree(s): 1976, 1977, 1982, and 1980
Current Occupation/ Company: Consultant/Retired from BP Americas
Current City: Houston, Texas
Daily responsibilities of your job? Before retiring from BP Americas, I was Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Deployment Manager. I managed the deployment of EOR projects in all BP assets in the Gulf of Mexico, Middle East and South America. Low Salinity Waterflooding was the major EOR process that was evaluated for deployment in many BP Gulf of Mexico deepwater reservoirs. Daily responsibilities included building low-salinity waterflood models using VIP and Nexus simulators. Economic evaluations of these projects were an essential part of my daily activities.
Biggest challenges of your job? The biggest challenge of my job was justifying the economic feasibility of low -salinity waterflood projects when oil prices were under $50 per barrel.
How did KU Engineering best prepare you for your job? The key aspect of KU Engineering that best prepared me for my role was my research on EOR using carbon dioxide. The research project helped me to understand the fundamental aspects of EOR principles and applications.
Advice for current students? Take courses on economic evaluation of engineering projects. Many technically feasible projects may not be approved simply because management was not impressed by the economic feasibility parameters of the project.
Favorite memories of KU Engineering and Lawrence? My favorite memory of KU is taking a walk through the campus in early spring. The campus is incredibly beautiful at this time of the year.
CATHERINE M. DOWNEN
Hometown: Lee’s Summit, Missouri Degree(s) Obtained: B.S., Architectural Engineering, M.S., Architectural Engineering
Year(s) of Degree(s): 1993, 1995
Current Occupation/ Company: Compliance Assurance Director - TC Programs, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
Current City: Savannah, Georgia
Daily responsibilities of your job? As a program administrator in the Gulfstream Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), I have limited authorities to act on behalf of the FAA in the type certification of new airplanes, or in making design changes to existing airplanes. I oversee a team of airworthiness engineers who contribute to the aircraft design process, ensuring the aircraft are safe and comply with regulatory requirements.
Biggest challenges of your job? Bringing together people with diverse experiences and backgrounds to find simple solutions to complex problems.
How did KU Engineering best prepare you for your job? The Aerospace Engineering Department prepared me to understand the complexity and integrated nature of systems in a modern business jet airplane, as well as the iterative process of developing new technology. My professors at KU taught me to “walk” with a basic understanding of aircraft design and to ask questions to gain understanding of the details. This gave me the foundation to assume a leadership position with oversight of engineering disciplines beyond what I had studied in school.
Advice for current students? To be a successful engineer, you must have more than engineering knowledge and expertise. Communication, negotiation and networking skills are necessary to lead a group of people toward a common goal or solution. I would advise KU students to look for opportunities to communicate clearly, plan tasks and be responsible for the outcome of a group effort. If you are an introvert, learn how to be comfortable interacting with others!
Favorite memories of KU Engineering and Lawrence? As a graduate student in the Aerospace Engineering Department, I joined a small group of classmates in designing and building a remotely controlled airplane. We worked late nights in the basement of Learned Hall to build the parts and assemble our design. Dr. Saeed Farokhi mentored the team, ensuring we ended the semester with an airworthy design. I thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on practical engineering experience and camaraderie within the team. I eventually started dating the team leader, Troy Downen, and we are now happily married with two children.
Downen Submitted photo Ezekwe Submitted photoKU Engineering students are preparing for challenging careers, pioneering new technologies and developing solutions to the world’s most pressing needs. What they’re learning today will ensure a better tomorrow for all of us.
Support their learning and research opportunities with a gift today.
The high-quality engineering education that KU provides would not be possible without the generous assistance of its alumni and friends who’ve given to KU Endowment. Thank you to the following individuals and organizations who have supported the KU School of Engineering, its departments and students from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.
Members of the Premier Society have provided distinguished levels of support for the KU School of Engineering year in and year out. We are proud to recognize their friendship and loyalty.
DEANS CLUB PREMIER SOCIETY
Donors who through their lifetime of support have contributed $100,000 or more to KU Endowment for the benefit of the University of Kansas School of Engineering.
Jon B. Ardahl * & Judith K. Ardahl * CDR Robert C. Dees
Roger L. Heckman & Brenda G. Heckman Lee A. Hoffman & Barbara R. Hoffman
Samuel K. Nash, PhD * & Harriet S. Nash * John A. Pilla & Mandy E. Pilla
Leonard M. Rickards * & Pauline M. Rickards * L.G. Suelter & Micki K. Suelter
Larry D. Arnold & Patricia Arnold
Philip S. Book *
Adrienne Zimmerman Adam * Barbara Mills Adam & P. J. Adam *
Frank W. Addis, PhD & Judith Boyer Addis
Virginia L. Brunette-Allen & James B. Allen *
Robert J. Allison Jr. & Carolyn Grother Allison Adaline L. Ames *
Rajagopalan Ananthanpillai & Radhika Rajagopalan William B. Anderson * & Ruth Spotts Anderson * Jane V. Barber *
Maynard Paul Bauleke, PhD * & Virginia Bauleke * Clarence J. Beck * & Hazel M. Beck * Barbara A. Becker & Frank J. Becker * Henry H. Benjes, Sr. *
Bob Benz & Janet B. Benz
Thomas L. Biggs * & Vicki J. Biggs * John V. Bossi *
Michael J. Bradley & Susan Fink Bradley
Sheila J. Brown
William W. Brown
Clara E. Buck *
William Emanuel Buck * Norman L. Carroll * & Virginia Morie Carroll * Dr. E. Eugene Carter
Carl C. Chaffee * & Catherine Clark Chaffee * Paul Chang
Masakazu Chikira
Thomas W. Childers & Dorothy Brown Childers Joseph A. Christy & Annabel Christy
Arthur D. Clark * & Lillian French Clark *
Frances Constant *
Scott Coons & Elizabeth Green Coons
George L. Cooper * & Ruth Jean Cooper * William C. Crabb * & Carol L. Crabb *
Wesley G. Cramer * & Mrs. Wesley G. Cramer * David Darwin, PhD & Diane Mayer Darwin * Erwin David *
Joseph W. Davison * & Leatha Sanford Davison * Alan F. Deaver *
Edward R. Downs * & Katheryn Hancock Downs * Marlene J. Dunwoodie & Duane E. Dunwoodie * Cornelia Drake Eaton
Robert J. Eaton
Alfred Gerald Ferguson *
Doris M. Fowler & John P. Fowler II *
William E. Franklin * & Marjorie Heard Franklin * Dean R. Frisbie * & Florence W. Frisbie * Walter R. Garrison * & Jayne B. Garrison * Harry T. Gibson & Becky G. Gibson
Anne Underhill Gove *
Richard M. Haden & Treva Haden * Rolland M. Hamilton *
Richard R. Hargrove & Karen A. Hargrove Suzanne N. Heiny & Richard L. Heiny, PhD * Dorothy M. Hellman & Paul L. Hellman *
Lester E. Hey * & Anna Kuntz Hey *
Joel D. Hill & Brenda Hill
Ronald E. Hill, PE Sue Hill *
Dr. Kenneth J. Himmelstein * Thomas T. Hirst & Alisa S. Hirst
Forrest E. Hoglund & Sally S. Hoglund
James Boyd Holecek *
Zachary D. Holland & Melissa L. Holland Elizabeth A. Hoover & Richard H. Hoover * Steven B. Hurt & MaryJane J. Hurt Dean L. Hutchinson * Sally L. Jennings *
Arthur St.Clair Johnson * & Helen May Johnson * George R. Jones * & Martha M. Jones * Goldie Field Jones *
Margaret McKinney Kane
Robert W. Keener & Barbara J. Keener * James E. Kegerreis Charles W. Keller * & Marie T. Keller * Deborah Y. Kipp & Robert A. Kipp *
Robert A. Kleist & Barbara L. Kleist * James M. Kring Jr. & Donna M. Kring Doris Flood Ladd & J. Bert Ladd * Harold D. Lamping * & Janice A. Lamping * Donald H. Landauer * & Mae Chetlain Landauer * Luceil Lehnhoff *
Silvester C. Leonard *
Bernard Levine *
Kenneth R. Lewis *
Wilbur V. Lewis * & Martha Compton Lewis * A. Harold Long * & Mrs. A. Harold Long * John W. Lonnberg * & Ethelyn Soper Lonnberg * Robert S. Lukenbill * & Jenny Lukenbill * Bruce A. Lutz, PE & Michelle West Lutz
Max Lynn *
Shirley Taylor Lynn *
James A. Mandigo * & Helen Jedlicka Mandigo * Craig L. Martin & Diane H. Martin
Leon V. Mason *
Brian A. McClendon & Beth Ellyn McClendon Ross E. McKinney * & Margaret C. McKinney * Konni Roach McMurray & Brian L. McMurray H. Ronald Miller & Sandra K. Miller
John J. Miller *
Paul W. Miller * & Virginia Bassett Miller * Paul H. Mitchell & Nancy Mauree Mitchell *
Betty J. Mitscher & Lester A. Mitscher, PhD * Richard K. Moore, PhD * & Wilma S. Moore *
Thomas E. Mulinazzi, PhD & Kathryn J. Mulinazzi Mrs. Maria Everett Mullins *
Stanley T. Myers & Joan T. Myers
Karim W. Nasser, PhD
George E. Nettels Jr. * & Mary Joanne Myers Nettels *
Steve H. Nguyen, PhD, DDS
Michael C. Noland, PhD & Karen Dicke Noland
Marvin R. Nuss & Hazel Best Nuss
Michael A. O’Bannon *
Patrick R. Oenbring & Brenda Austin Oenbring
Garrett E. Pack & Linda Daniel Pack
Robert P. Peebler & Susie Mastoris Peebler
Ted K. Pendleton & Marlene McGregor Pendleton Edwin R. Phelps Jr. *
Harold A. Phelps & Donna R. Brady-Phelps
Carl O. Pingry III *
Mary Ann Powell & Nick Powell
Harold P. Reiland Sr. * & Ann Ainsworth Reiland * Allyn W. Risley & Jill Bogan Risley
John H. Robinson * & Patricia Odell Robinson * John H. Robinson Jr. & Kyle Simmons Robinson
Thomas B. Robinson * & Suzanne Robinson *
Stanley T. Rolfe, PhD & Phyllis W. Rolfe
Russell T. Rosenquist *
David A. Ross & Patricia P. Ross
Dave G. Ruf Jr.
James M. Secrest * & Betty Gunnels Secrest * Madison A. Self * & Lila M. Self * Dorothy J. Shaad, MD *
Emily Baker Shane *
John C. Shawver & Molly Shawver E. Palmer Shelton * & Margaret J. Shelton *
Joyce N. Shinn & Michael G. Shinn * James E. Smith & Dori L. Smith
Robert L. Smith * & Lucille J. Smith * Charles E. Spahr * & Mary Jane Bruckmiller Spahr * Lynne Gerlach Zoellner Stark & Robert L. Stark
Wayland A. Stephenson, MD * & Alice Ann Jones Stephenson * Bert F. Steves *
Dorothy F. Steves * Gerald A. Stoltenberg
James W. Straight, PhD, PE & Roberta Straight * Kurt D. Swaney
Robert D. Talty, PhD * & Dorothy W. Talty * Patricia Rozema Taylor *
Gregs G. Thomopulos & Mettie L. Thomopulos
Stanley S. Thurber * & Alice V. Thurber * Jelindo A. Tiberti II & Sandee Tiberti
Tito Tiberti
Zoltan J. Tober * & Addilee Tober * Murli Tolaney & Mona Tolaney
Mark W. Tompkins & Dianne E. Tompkins, PhD Nicole I. Kirkpatrick & COL. Kenneth F. Troup, USAF, RET * Frank D. Tsuru & Stephanie K. Tsuru
* Indicates donor has passed.
M. Eugene Tunison, PhD & Sheryl A. Tunison
Leonel E. Tustison * & Helen L. Tustison *
Hobert C. Twiehaus * & Martha Tyson Twiehaus *
James L. Tyson *
Eli William Ulrich *
Harrison D. Underhill *
Kyle D. Vann & Barbara A. Vann
William C. Walker * & Elaine W. Walker * Daniel R. Wall
David M. Wall
William E. Wall
Thomas K. Washburn & Eileen Washburn
Joseph L. Welch & Clare A. Welch
Joan O. Wertz & H.J. Wertz * C. Keith Willey *
Fred S. Williams & Anne Proctor Williams
Carl A. Wilson * & Myrtle Lutschg Wilson *
Christopher P. Winter & Cassondra E. Winter
Carol Jean Witter *
Lyle L. Woodfin, MD *
Riley D. Woodson * & Virginia M. Woodson * Sharon Young & E. Eugene Young *
Individuals who have given $50,000 or more
Rajagopalan Ananthanpillai & Radhika Rajagopalan
Jon B. Ardahl *
Larry D. Arnold & Patricia Arnold
Philip S. Book *
William W. Brown
Dean R. Frisbie * Florence W. Frisbie *
Roger L. Heckman & Brenda G. Heckman
Ronald E. Hill, PE
Lee A. Hoffman & Barbara R. Hoffman
Elizabeth A. Hoover
Alan W. Klaassen
Craig L. Martin & Diane H. Martin
Brian A. McClendon & Beth Ellyn McClendon Paul H. Mitchell
Harriet S. Nash *
Samuel K. Nash, PhD *
John A. Pilla & Mandy E. Pilla
Jocarol Robb
David A. Ross & Patricia P. Ross
Frank D. Tsuru & Stephanie K. Tsuru
Thomas K. Washburn & Eileen Washburn
Individuals who have given $25,000 to $49,999
Edward L. Bohannon & Bonnie Lou Bohannon J. Kermit Campbell
David Darwin, PhD
Christine Ehlig Economides, PhD
Donald H. Gordon *
Norma A. Gordon *
LT Lairy A. Johnson, USN, Ret. Leslie Wynne Lenser
Betty J. Mitscher
Kerri A. Neschleba & Patrick Neschleba
Steve H. Nguyen, PhD, DDS
Marvin R. Nuss & Hazel Best Nuss
Stanley T. Rolfe, PhD & Phyllis W. Rolfe
Joan K. Scott
Linda Ellis Sims & Russ Sims
Kyle D. Vann & Barbara A. Vann
Individuals who have given $10,000 to $24,999
Barbara A. Becker
James R. Bess
CDR Robert C. Dees
Brian D. Farquharson
Marjorie H. Flemming
Gregory S. Grimm & Karen E. Grimm
Curtis K. Harshaw & Janice E. Harshaw
Julie Hickman
Thomas T. Hirst & Alisa S. Hirst
James E. Kegerreis
Kyle A. Mathis & KaRan Mathis
Robert J. Matreci
Ross E. McKinney *
Richard R. Moderow & Paula D. Neal
Michael C. Noland, PhD & Karen Dicke Noland
Harold A. Phelps & Donna R. Brady-Phelps
Dennis M. Purduski *
Dave G. Ruf Jr.
Joyce N. Shinn
V. Lee Smith & Jerry M. Smith *
L.G. Suelter & Micki K. Suelter
Gregs G. Thomopulos & Mettie L. Thomopulos
Mike Tierney & Kristen Gable Tierney
Mark W. Tompkins & Dianne E. Tompkins, PhD
M. Eugene Tunison, PhD & Sheryl A. Tunison
David B. Wallace *
Margaret Read Wallace *
Dr. Eugene W. Wester
James D. Whiteside
Robert E. Willett
Christopher P. Winter & Cassondra E. Winter Wiliam A. Wiseman, Jr. & Joy Wiseman
Leo W. Zahner III & Margaret Bruggen Zahner
Individuals who have given $5,000 to $9,999
Theodore E. Batchman, PhD
Richard W. Bond & Susan Shockley Bond Earnest A. Boyns
Linda Zarda Cook & Steven R. Cook
Troy D. Cook & Susan Cook
Dorothy A. Daugherty
Daniel W. Deaver
Doug Eason & Becky Alexander Eason, PhD Cornelia Drake Eaton
Robert J. Eaton
Robert W. Eggert Jr. & Amy H. Eggert
Brian A. Falconer & Virginia Lamb Falconer
John P. Franklin Jr.
Paul B. Fritsch & Michelle Cozad Fritsch
Jeff L. Funk
Harry T. Gibson & Becky G. Gibson
James O. Gibson & Linda Ryan Gibson
Warren B. Harrell Jr. & Pamela Harris Harrell
Jon J. Heeb, MD & Barbara Givens Heeb
Louis J. Heitlinger
Kimberly Sedberry Hess & Marc T. Hess
Pamela T. Horne & Stephen A. Horne
Anthony G. Kempf & Teresa Mulinazzi Kempf Roy M. Knapp, DE & Judith Young Knapp
Max L. Mardick & Nancy Mc Kinstry Mardick
Michael B. Moore, MD
Stanley T. Myers & Joan T. Myers
Tim A. North & Janell K. North
Garrett E. Pack & Linda Daniel Pack
Gregory P. Pasley, PhD & Sonia Martinez Pasley
Robert P. Peebler & Susie Mastoris Peebler
Jenny Wohletz Pelner & James A. Pelner Linda A. Poyser
Jack P. Reid & Jane L. Reid
Allyn W. Risley & Jill Bogan Risley
Shawna R. Rogers & Jason L. Rogers
Robert L. Skaggs
James E. Smith & Dori L. Smith
Shawn P. Smith & Maria Avila Smith
William A. Sorem, PhD & Shelly Staus Sorem
Ryan C. Spangler & Jill Renee Spangler
Bill P. Sterbens & Dana L. Sterbens
James W. Straight, PhD, PE
Allison R. Terry
Tito Tiberti
Lakshmi Narasimha R. Viswanadha
Fred S. Williams & Anne Proctor Williams Denise Y. Wolfs
Individuals who have given $3,000 to $4,999
William E. Benso & Beverly Runkle Benso
Thomas L. Biggs *
Vicki J. Biggs *
Jose A. Gutierrez
Robert L. Henderson & Judyth B. Henderson Annabelle Hiegel
Joel D. Hill & Brenda Hill
Paul Hunt & Stephanie Hunt
Timothy S. Isernhagen & Beth Isernhagen
Cherie A. Jones & Michael S. Johnson
Frank E. Komin & Sharon K. Komin
Brian C. Larkin Nathan Markham John R. McDaniel
Strauder C. Patton, IV
Paul E. Peters, PhD
Leonard M. Rickards *
Pauline M. Rickards *
COL Zachary T. Schmidt & Nicole Mehring Schmidt Benjamin L. Schulte
Thomas R. Sheahan & Janet S. Sheahan
Robert T. Smith, PE
Wilson G. Weisert Jr. & Marsha E. Weisert
Joe Wohletz & Mary Wohletz
David R. Zornes & Cynthia L. Zornes
Individuals who have given $1,000 to $2,999
Diane J. Adamec
Arvin Agah, PhD
Robert W. Agnew, PhD & Margaret Rose Agnew Robynn Andracsek
Wilhelmus A.J. Anemaat, PhD & MaryJo Anemaat Margaret Gartner Anschutz
Neal H. Ardahl & Elizabeth A. Ardahl
Terry Ryan Axline
Stuart R. Bell, PhD & Susan T. Bell
Casey R. Biggs & Jacklyn M. Biggs, PhD
J. Dennis Biggs, MD & Sheila Pyle Biggs
Sidney L. Black & Carolyn Skinner Black
Douglas L. Blue Jr.
Bertram T. Bone Jr.
Jimmie R. Bowden & Helen J. Bowden
William H. Boyington
Michael J. Bradley & Susan Fink Bradley
Ian M. Bradt & Josh Hollingsworth
Beverly B. Brown
Minter E. Brown & Connie Tucker Brown
Brian J. Burke & Helen Burke
John R. Burke & Laura L. Burke
Robert T. Burkes
Grant M. Canaday
Bethannie Fought Canter & Jason A. Canter
Andres E. Carvallo & Angela D. Carvallo
Teresa L. Pfortmiller Castle
Stephen R. Cathey & Vicki E. Cathey
Angela M. Chammas & George A. Chammas
Andy Chapman & Susan Hayman Taylor
Michael J. Chun, PhD & Bina M. Chun
William C. Clawson, PhD & Marnie S. Clawson
Kevin L. Colebank & Laura Colebank
Stephen D. Collins
Andrew G. Colombo & Maribeth T. Colombo
Kenneth F. Conrad & Leslie Sauder Conrad Scott Coons & Elizabeth Green Coons
Warren Corman & Mary Corman
Steven M. Crowl & Sandi Crowl
Colin P. Davidson & Mary D. Davidson
Francis Dehaussy
Robert L. Dellwig
Wesley M. Densmore
Duane L. DeWerff
Kenneth W. Dietz
Edward W. Dillingham
Andrew F. Dracon
Linda Dotson Drake
Bill H. Duncan & Julia Siress Duncan
Jason S. Endecott & Virginia L. Endecott
Benjamin J. Ewy, PhD & Monica Curtis Ewy
Saeed Farokhi, PhD & Mariam Farokhi
Andrew S. Flower & Victoria Flower
Jane E. Fortin & Paul E. Fortin, PhD
John E. Foulston & Peggy J. Foulston
David P. Fritz, MD & Jamie E. Fritz
Philip D. Gibbs, Jr., P.E. & Jennifer K. Gibbs
Philip D. Gibbs, Sr., P.E. & Kathleen G. Gibbs
James P. Gillespie & Ruthie B. Gillespie
Robert W. Givens & Deborah A. Givens
Matthew A. Goering & Vanessa R. Goering
Lawrence L. Gore
Gary E. Gould & Elizabeth A. Gould
Carol E. Grantham
Pat L. Green & Don W. Green, PhD
Tirzah R. Gregory & Linehan S. Gregory
Charles L. Guthrie & Cheryl Guthrie
Andrew F. Halaby & Ann Marie Halaby
Douglas H. Hall & Judith K. Hall
John Hammond
Terry A. Hammond, DE & Patricia R. Hammond
Jerri Runell Hanus & Daniel J. Hanus
Karl J. Harding & Cheryl L. Harding
Leaman D. Harris & Judith L. Harris, PhD
Doug K. Herbers
Michael R. Hess & Kathleen Gilman Hess
Richard A. Hiebsch & Vicky A. Hiebsch
Brandon L. Hinton
Leon Hogan
Kelsy Jones Holmes & Jonathon P. Holmes
Daniel A. Hope
Steven C. Hughes
Michael P. Humberd & Lisa K. Dickson-Humberd
William J. Hurley & Coleen C. Hurley
Emmanuel K. Idun, PhD & Phyllis Afful Idun
Deonarine D.J. Jaggernauth
Thomas L. Jenkins
Gerald E. Jenks & Pamela D. Jenks
Brandy Smith Johnson
Debra L. Johnson
Jeffrey L. Johnson & Sybil Meyer Johnson
Jeremy Schley Johnson
Leland R. Johnson Jr., PhD
Vicki S. Johnson, PhD
Daniel L. Jones
Robert L. Juett
Neil D. Karbank
Prabhudeva N. Kavi
RADM Gene R. Kendall, USN, Retired Christopher H. Kennedy & Sarah Mahoney Kennedy
Stephen E. Kibbee
Gregory C. Krekeler Jr. & Karen Goodyear Krekeler
Michael R. Kuss & Cheryl L. Kuss
Kevin D. Lafferty
Orley L. Lake, PhD
Les K. Lampe, DE & Karen Craft Lampe
Chuan-Tau Lan & Sumy C. Lan
Brian G. Larson & Edie Carpenter Larson
Patrick A. LeGresley & Jenny Buontempo LeGresley
Leo G. LeSage, PhD * & Carolyn Bailey LeSage
James R. Lewis & Debra E. Lewis
Timothy C. Liebert
Lance L. Lobban, PhD
Carl E. Locke Jr., PhD & Sammie R. Locke
Bruce W. Long & Priscilla T. Long
VADM Michael K. Loose, USN, Retired & Carol Stejskal Loose
Ludwig Luft, PhD
Richard F. Luthy Jr.
Susan C. Lyman & Kent L. Lyman
Deborah K. Markley
Bruce F. McCollom, DE & E. Irene McCollom
Timothy A. McFerrin & Cynthia Fraley McFerrin
Bill McLennan & Diane D. McLennan
Michael E. Meakins
Alan J. Meitl
Elle J. Meitl
James R. Meitl
Elizabeth A. Merckens & Brian M. Merckens
John L. Meyer, Jr.
Brad R. Moore, PE
Philip B. Moran & Vicki Moran
Brandon W. Morel
Thomas E. Mulinazzi, PhD & Kathryn J. Mulinazzi
Krista Wendt Murphy & Zach Murphy
Catherine Ray Nance & Terry J. Nance
Michael S. Nickel & Lisa Karr Nickel
Donald J. Nistler II & Carol Poulson Nistler
Cynthia Odabasi
Michael G. Orth
Emma G. Parker
Jennifer A. Parks-Lafferty
David C. Pattison & Marilyn Miller Pattison
James L. Patton & Marilyn S. Patton
Bethany Anderson Pearson & James D. Pearson, PharmD
Ronald K. Peden & Diana R. Peden
Richard L. Peil & Janice L. Peil
Ted K. Pendleton & Marlene McGregor Pendleton
Steven G. Pennington, PhD
Kent A. Pennybaker & Janet Knollenberg Pennybaker
Bamdad Pourladian, PhD & Hilda T. Delgado
Kent D. Powell & Margaret Shannon Powell
Connie Estes Puett
Jason R. Purdy & Rachel Dinkel Purdy
Karthik Ramachandran, PhD & Sneha Narayanan Nazareno L. Rapagnani, PhD & Phyllis Burch Rapagnani
Curtis W. Rink
Scott A. Roberts, PhD & Christine Roberts
Jennifer Barber Ruf & Dave G. Ruf III
Steven E. Rus & Lynn Nugent Rus
Lanny G. Schoeling, DE & Jill A. Schoeling
Kurt L. Schueler
Vicki J. Secrest
Mark D. Shaw
Colin Sherman
Keith A. Shetlar & Kathryn Caldwell Shetlar
Charles A. Shoup
Raymond J. Shu
Curtis W. Slagell & Gayle Slagell
Mark D. Smith & Brandi Piper Smith
Margaret Moseley Smith & Robert H. Smith, PhD *
Scott M. Smith
Deborah L. Smith-Wright, MD
John Richard Solar Jr.
James R. Sorem Jr., PhD & Gentra Abbey Sorem
Stephanie M. Spilker
Mary Spragg & Todd Spragg
Carla Cochran Stallard & G. Scott Stallard
Lynne Gerlach Zoellner Stark & Robert L. Stark
Jay A. Stoker & Sandra Coppaken Stoker
Peter A. Stonefield & Anna E. Stonefield
Michael T. Swink
L. B. Thomas & Jann Walker Thomas
J. Angelo Tiberti III & Lindsey Fisher Tiberti, PharmD
Brian T. Torres & Janel D. Torres
Gregory S. Towsley & Julie Ann Towsley
Michael L. Treanor, AIA
Robert D. Tregemba & Kelli F. Tregemba David Trevino, Jr.
Charles F. Twiss
Kenneth J. Vaughn & Marilyn L. Vaughn
Michelle Poague Veatch
Ryan E. Vick & Emily Schulte Vick
Marco Villa, DE
John E. Virr
Lisa Bessinger Voiles & Paul A. Voiles, PE, PTP
Joseph B. Wallace III, PE & Barbara J. Wallace
George L. Ward & Peggy Tilton Ward
Robert D. Warder
Cary D. Watson
Myrl R. Wear & Carolyn J. Wear
David B. Weaver & Laurie A. Weaver
Andrea J. Wendel & Aaron Wendel
CDR Laurel A. Wessman, USN, Retired & Capt. Lynn G. Wessman, USN, Retired
Frank J. Wewers
Andrew B. Williams, PhD & Anitra Williams
David D. Wilmoth & Julie D. Wilmoth
William E. Witwicki
Jerome Wohleb
Larry E. Wood
Richard D. Wunder & Cheryl A. Wunder Zhongchun Yan & Min Wang
Mark Yeskie, PhD & Janice N. Yeskie
Gregory A. Young & Nancy B. Quigg-Young Irvin E. Youngberg Jr., DE & Diane Youngberg Chi-Liang Yu, PhD
Julian A. Zugazagoitia & Nathalie D. Zugazagoitia
Gifts of $500 or more from alumni who are 35 or younger
Alexandra G. Depew
Sarah Elizabeth McCandless Ryan J. Pfeifer
Nicole L. Rissky
Megan K. Teahan
Jesse B. Yang
Individuals who have given $500 to $999
Blackburn Alexander Ben E. Ardahl
David M. Barber & Katherine V. Barber
Theodore L. Bergman, PhD & Patricia S. Bergman
Norman L. Bowers
David L. Brackey
Diane M. Brock & Michael R. Brock
Donald E. Buckholz & Lynn J. Buckholz
Harley D. Catlin & Jerree J. Catlin
Philip E. Ciesielski
Sarah Storms Cindrell & Joshua B. Cindrell
Clinton R. Collins, MD
James A. Compton
Frederic Daireaux
Rachelle Depew & James Depew
David L. Dittemore
Nathan H. Dormer, PhD & Jennifer M. Wiles
George P. Evans & Joyce Grist Evans Douglas M. Everhart & Sonja Schonberg Everhart
Jerry L. Fife & Marva Hotchkiss-Fife
* Indicates donor has passed.
Wayne O. Fink
Kristopher S. Fisher & Nicole Fisher
John H. Fox & Jeanne B. Fox
Marie Wagner Franklin
Joseph R. Franzmathes
William C. Gautreaux & Christina A. Gautreaux
Daniel J. Gleason & Cathy L. Gleason
Milton L. Gleason & Deborah K. Gleason
Deena Goodman & Philip J. Goodman
Frank E. Gordon, DE & Lynda L. Gordon
Michael R. Graham
Jennifer L. Gunby
David C. Harold
Ross G. Holzle & Janis Page Holzle
George H. Honnold
Bannus B. Hudson & Cecily K. Hudson
Raja R. Iyengar & Jayanthi K. Iyengar
Theodore Ahrens Julian, Jr.
Cheryl A. Lambrecht
Carol Fenton Larson
Bruce Leban Paul W. Leupold
Billie J. Lindburg
Steven M. Long
Gregory J. Mack & Eva M. Mack
Thomas M. Mccoy
Bob Miller, PhD
Bruce J. Morgan & Lynne M. Morgan
Nick Nicholson
Liam P. O’Shea
Richard E. Pancake
Robert L. Perkins & Arneda K. Perkins
James L. Peterson & Susan McGinley Peterson
John W. Pope
Shane M. Popp
Michael P. Randall & Angela J. Randall
Carol A. Reifschneider, PhD
Lynette Berg Robe & Mike L. Robe
Wendy J. Rosploch
David A. Sagerser
Alejandro Sanchez G. Joe Scatoloni
Hugh Scheurer
Jenniter M. Schlener-Thomas
Paul A. Shapiro
Mark B. Shiflett
Mara A. Simpson
Janyce A. Smith
Jeffrey A. Smith, PhD
Norvel L. Smith & Linda Lecture Smith
Edith L. Snethen & Donald D. Snethen
Robert A. Stuever, PhD & Lisa M. Stuever
Melanie J.P. Townsend & Nelson C.E. Townsend
Douglas E. Ubben Jr. & Megan R. Ubben
Richard H. Umstattd & Chrystyna Umstattd Pedro M. Vargas, PhD
Bruce E. Vaughn
Carl R. Von Fange & Linda D. Von Fange
Xuhai Wang, PhD
Alicia Fleming Washeleski
Geoffrey R. Wehrman & Mary B. Wehrman
Edward Wolcott
Tanya L. Woolley & Bill Woolley
Gretchen Zahn
Harland V. Zamora
Individuals who have given $300 to $499
Edward H. Abbott, PE
Brian Anderson
Dean M. Andrisevic
Robert C. Bearse, PhD & Margaret M. Bearse
Creg S. Bishop, PhD
Creed E. Blevins
Terry Bredemus
Alison J. Brown
Keith A. Browning & Theresa C. Browning
Amanda M. Carter
Margaret Laidig Chatham
Audrey Seybert Chritton & Douglas E. Chritton
David A. Conrad & Bonnie E. Conrad
David W. Crook
LCDR Laurence A. Eichel, USN (RET) & Kathleen L. Hardesty
Deborah A. English & Joel A. Crown
Penny L. Evans
Dawn M. Galloway & Matthew A. Galloway
William J. Glick
Parker S. Gordon
Michael J. Gormish, PhD & Denise Hornsby Gormish Elizabeth D. Gregory
Kevin J. Harder
Zhubo Huang, PhD & Feng Xie
Al Jaymand
Eric J. Johnson
Lee S. Johnson & Janelle Davies Johnson Ernest A. Johnston Jr. & Kathy Johnston
Richard F. Juarez & Barbara A. Juarez
Christina Mulinazzi Kruse
Jeffrey A. Lanaghan
Ernest W. Leachty
Franco E. Mau & Li-Hsueh C. Mau
Larry B. Morgan, PhD & Deborah L. Morgan
Melvin G. Oster & Karen M. Oster
Steven B. Pontious
James E. Quinn & Mary E. Quinn
CAPT Stanley J. Reno, Retired & Marjorie A. Reno Tanner J. Rinke
Mildred Ellen Robb & Shanto Iyengar
Janette Ruess
Thomas L. Rutherford
Joaquin P. Serrano & Susan M. Figeac
Donald Sooby, PE
Paulette Spencer, PhD, DDS & Lloyd C. Colberg
Michael F. Spoor
Candan Tamerler
James T. Taylor, USN, (RET) & Rosa Lea Taylor Dean M. Testa & Karen L. Testa
Donald B. Trust, PhD
Dominic M. Varraveto
William E. Woodhouse
Individuals who have given $100 to $299
Nathaniel J. Abeita & Sara Hettenbach Abeita Meghan Abella-Bowen
Joel T. Abrahamson, PhD & Dorea Ruggles, PhD
Richard R. Alford
R. Tran Alfrey & Barbara Alfrey
Gregory L. Allemann
Donald R. Allen & M. Jane Allen
Bruce E. Alquist
Donald P. Amiotte, Navy, Retired Stanley G. Andeel & Gretchen Lee Andeel
Gary A. Anderson & Carlene T. Anderson
Addison Appleby
Katherine U. Arendt & Richard Arendt
Michael E. Arp
J. Douglas Ashbrook & Marilyn Stone Ashbrook
Shannon Snyder Bachman & Randall K. Bachman
Jim Ballard
Linda Mae Banta
Paul Banzet & Barbara E. Banzet
Mary S. Barr
Richard S. Beamgard & Cheryl Tongish Beamgard
Betty J. Beaver
Rick C. Bell
Laurence E. Benander
Nicole Bentz
Fred F. Berry Jr. & Suzanne N. Berry
Gregory A. Betzen & Barbara Yannone Betzen
Michael A. Betzen
Beverly Smith Billings
Dr. Robert E. Binda Jr. & Doris M. Binda
Edmund J. Bishop, PhD & Kathleen M. Bishop Bruce Bitler & Jeanne H. Bitler
Linda Griffith Blackerby
John C. Bocox
Bruce J. Boggs, Jr. & Phyllis L. Boggs
Karen Majors Bogle & Grant C. Bogle
Thad M. Bolline & Tamara H. Bolline
Philip H. Bozarth & Penny Hinderks Bozarth
Phillip G. Bradford, PhD & Dorothy Mueller
Doug Bradley & Robin Fry Bradley
Catherine M. Brain & David M. Brain
Michael S. Branicky, ScD & Danielle M. Olds, PhD Daniel C. Bredemus
Elizabeth S. Brewer
Marcus A. Brewer
Patrick T. Brock
Mickey S. Brown & Goldie Boldridge Brown
Laurence R. Brown
Karen DeGasperi Bryan & David A. Bryan
Stephen W. Burke & Sherrill A. Burke
Harlan D. Burkhead & Patricia Burkhead
Kelley Lyn Butler & Harlan Butler
C. Michael Caldwell
Gerald R. Callejo
Jon M. Callen & Kelly Edmiston Callen
COL Harry D. Callicotte, USA, Retired
Theodore J. Cambern Jr., DE
Roger E. Carmichael
Lee A. Carvell & Brenee R. Carvell
Xavier Chiappa-Carrara
Cindy Chole & Rick Chole
Ethan E. Christian
Philip E. Chronister & RaNee Chronister
Kenneth M. Clark
Donald L. Coffman & Jane Middleton Coffman
Cynthia A. Cogil
David C. Cole & Jacqueline L. Cole
Terry D. Collins
James P. Compton
Cory P. Conklin & Kay Conklin
Edwin M. Cooley & Diana Dubrovin Cooley
William V. Courtright II, PhD
Peter J. Culver, PE, PhD
Don B. Cunningham & Nancy L. Cunningham Bruce E. Dauphin
Patricia M. Dengler
Robert D. Dennett
Vickie Pauls Hursh Denning & Donald E. Denning
Michael W. Dent & Judith Riebe Dent
Rachel Derowitsch & Mark Derowitsch
Mike Digman
Dee Ehling Dillon & David B. Dillon
William M. Dinkel
David M. Dixon
Douglas M. Dolan & Jennifer C. Dolan
David E. Domann & Elizabeth Domann
Randy Downing & Linda K. Downing
David F. Draxler & Mariclare H. Draxler
Art Dublin & Kathy Dublin
Daniel G. Duda
Darwin L. Eads, PhD & Wizie Eads
Thomas C. Eagle, DE & Martha Eagle
Thomas F. Edgar, PhD
Brian R. Eggold
Jeffrey O. Ellis & Carol Lynne B. Ellis
Brent L. Engelland & Laura E. Engelland
Justin English & Patricia English
David M. Evans
Muzai Feng, PhD & Cheng Chen
William C. Fettes
Kenneth J. Fischer, Ph.D. & Sandra K. Fischer
Timothy B. Fortin & Jennifer Carter Fortin
Dawn C. Franz
C. William Frick & Bethany Frick
Helen Bush Frick
William L. Frick & Laura Frick
Lisa A. Friis
Victor S. Frost, PhD & Linda Baird Frost
Philip N. Garito & Lynne H. Garito Roger Garvert & Anita Barter Garvert Lisa M. Gay & Brian A. Gay
Brian C. Gensch
Martha George
Ferol Beck Gerig
Shannon E. Giles
Marlene K. Glenn & Phillip A. Glenn
James W. Gossett
Jimmie L. Grassi Sr. & Janet L. Grassi
Sandy Greene & Alan Frommer
Diane K. Grimsley & Thomas S. Grimsley
Helena Orazem Grinter & Mark J. Grinter
Douglas A. Griswold & Margaret L. Griswold Ann M. Groover
Elizabeth A. Groover
Richard H. Grote & Barbara J. Grote Dobroslawa Grzymala-Busse & Jerzy W. Grzymala-Busse
Thomas K. Gurss
Susan E. Guthrie
Bryan R. Haack
Terence D. Hagen
James F. Hall
Daniel B. Halton
James R. Hand & Sharon S. Hand
James W. Hanke
Jocilyn R. Hansen
David A. Hanson & Jodi L. Hanson
Marlin D. Harmony & Nancy M. Harmony
Beth J. Harshfield
Christina C. Harvick & Jeffrey L. Harvick
Steven P. Healey & Julie R. Healey
Marilyn L. Griggs-Kozloff & Terry W. Heidner *
CAPT Arnold Herbert Henderson, USN, Retired Cynthia M. Herod & Johnny W. Herod
Bonnie E. Hibbert
Cheryl W. Hill & David M. Hill
Gerald L. Hiller & Gloria Jones Hiller
Sally J. Hoag
Rodney J. Hofer & Roberta S. Hofer
Carl E. Hoffman
Robert C. Holder
Zachary D. Holland & Melissa L. Holland
Scott R. Holmes & Megan A. Holmes
J. Michael Horner, PE & Katie McGreevey Horner
Steven N. Houle
Steven A. Houlik & Susan J. Houlik
Charles E. Huffman
Douglas Huffman & Mary Fox Sinclair
LaVaughn Hull
Kellie D. Hurd
Justin Hutchison
Laura L. Ice
Robert W. Iler
John H. Iverson
Roger P. Jackson, MD & Sandra M. Jackson
Tavis J. Jacobs
Barrett T. Jesseph & Jennifer Loftus Jesseph
Hong Jin, PhD
David O. Johnson, PhD & Elaine E. Johnson
Kenneth R. Johnson & Nancy Brown Johnson, PhD
Richard L. Johnson
Robert Eric Johnson
Warren L. Johnson Jr., MD & M. Rebecca Johnson
Matthew B. Jones
W. Mark Jordan
Kathleen A. Kaiser
James I. Karr
Michael W. Karr & Janet Phelps Karr
Basil T. Kattula
Charles D. Keaton & Judith Keaton
Richard L. Keefover
Kenneth C. Keller
Joanne Kelley & James E. Kelley, Jr.
Ami M. Keltner & Lance W. Keltner
James D. Kessinger & Peggy Kessinger
Becky Kester
Jason J. Kieffaber
Frank H. Kirk & Nancy A. Kirk
Michael C. Kirk & Julia Turtle Kirk
Heather A. Kirkvold, PhD
Kirk A. Kisinger & Connie J. Kisinger
Julie Peters Knudtson
Stuart A. Knutson & Hazel Z. Knutson
Mark J. Komen
Pradeep K. Kondamuri, PhD
Fan Kong & Loletta Yimman Ho
Rebecca J. Kraft, EdD & David C. Kraft, PhD
Janice C. Kreamer & Thomas F. Kreamer
Christine Wiley Kubik
Pamela Roger Laborde
Gale D. Lantis
Richard G. Leamon & Yvonne M. Lazear
James Edwin Lee & Jeanette K. Lee
Carolyn Wei-Teh Lee-Parsons
COL William R. Lennard, USAF, Retired Jianhua Li, PhD & Cuiping Zhao
Dion P. Lies
Stephen A. Lightstone & Terry L. Lightstone
Alan Lilleoien
Cole M. Lindemann & Jamie L. Lindemann
Sharon Price Love
John M. Lubert & Paula H. Lubert
Amber Wunder Lucas, PharmD & Kyle J. Lucas
R. Scott Lundgren
Stephen D. Luthye & Melinda A. Luthye
Roger Maeda
Erin Lewis Mannen, PhD
Megan L. Mansfield
John G. Martel & Ida Ana Kellerstrauss Martel Alex L. Martin & Annam Manthiram
James L. Martin
Marian K. Massoth & Vic Robbins
George R. Matocha & Linda Huff Matocha David S. Matos
William D. McCaa Jr., PhD J. Gary McEachen & Joann Watkins McEachen Liz McInerney
Alan G. McKee, OD & Earlena F. McKee, OD G. Craig McKinnis & Janice E. McKinnis David S. McLeod, PhD
Julie Dillon McNerney
Richard D. Mercer & Helen Zimmerman Mercer
Amir Mesarwi
Jane A. Metcalf & Garry W. Metcalf
Joseph D. Meyer & Alyssa Meyer
Janis Biehler Milham & Allan B. Milham
Jeffrey C. Miller
Kent E. Miller
The Hon. Paul E. Miller & Julia Brown Miller
Randy B. Miller
John H. Mitchelson & Beverly Ramsey Mitchelson
Paul J. Moore & Cynthia Powell Moore
Timothy J. Mueller
Paul M. Mullin
Ray W. Myers & Kim D. Myers
Ramish Nadeem
Ronald J. Nadvornik & Sally Smith Nadvornik
Sharon Roy Nellis
Karen M. Nelson
Matthew J. Nelson & Susan L. Nelson
Richard A. New & Rene Eloise McCorkle New Don R. Nottberg & Leslie R. Nottberg
William R. O’Brien
Alexander M. O’Neill
Danny O’Neill
Kelly R. O’Neill
Kevin M. O’Neill
Paul F. O’Neill
Sean A. O’Neill
Kristen Olander Lars Osborne Lucia M. Otto
Patricia D. Owens
Jace B. Parkhurst
Linda K. Parreco & Joseph Parreco
Bozenna J. Pasik-Duncan, PhD & Tyrone Duncan, PhD
LeDell Pearson & Janice E. Pearson
Phyllis Graf Perry
Barnard Peter
Elizabeth M. Peterson
Henry Petroski
Brian K. Pheiffer & Dominique Pheiffer
Samuel A. Pippert
Michelle L. Pleimann
Alfred L. Polski
William E. Porter, EdD & Dianna Hull Porter
Ricky S. Powell
Robert F. Prentiss
Jessie L. Randtke & Stephen J. Randtke
Robert E. Rasberry & Sharol B. Rasberry Tannaz Rasouli
Roger L. Ratzlaff
Perry N. Rea
Jerry D. Rees & Sallie L. Veenstra, MD
Virginia Spong Reid
David P. Reinfelds
Ronald R. Renyer
Eric M. Rhoades & Jody M. Rhoades, MD
Natalie A. Richards
John W. Richardson Jr.
CAPT Wendell C. Ridder, USN Retired & Anne H. Ridder
Martha Proctor Riedl & Joseph F. Riedl
Warren G. Riekenberg, PE & Carol Lee Riekenberg Gerald W. Riley
E. S. Riss
Carol L. Ritchie
Lisa Cave Ritchie & A. Scott Ritchie III
Jenifer Sorem Rivera & Robert C. Rivera
Carol Helton Roberts
Karin K. Roberts, PhD, RN & Steven D. Roberts
Thomas H. Roberts & Kimberley H. Roberts
Stacy K. Roderman & Brian L. Roderman
LTC Matthew A. Ross
Randle L. Ross & Elizabeth C. Ross
Joseph P. Roth Jr. & Margaret Carroll Roth
Charles F. Rouse III & Susan Walker Rouse
Emily Reimer Royal
Daniel J. Rudolph & Cara Rudolph
Larry G. Rusco & Karla J. Rusco
Mohammad H. Sadraey, PhD
Kristine Salmon & Denis Salmon
Joseph D. Sandt, PhD
Max L. Schardein
John T. Schwaller & Jennifer Pownall Schwaller
Cynthia R. Scott & J. William Scott
Victor P. Scott & Betty L. Scott
Stephanie A. Scurto & Aaron M. Scurto
Lowell D. Seaton
Robert C. Seletsky
Philip A. Shontz & Niu Niu Su
Michael Shreve
Dennis D. Slattery
Kathryn E. Slawson
George D. Sloop & Nancy L. Sloop
Mark E. Sloop
Andrew K. Smith & Kelly Shepherd Smith, PharmD
Gregory E. Smith & Sylvia R. Smith
Kevin L. Smith
Todd R. Smith
William D. Smith
William M. Smith & Diane Larson Smith
* Indicates donor has passed.
C. A. Spaulding III & Susan S. Spaulding
Tom Spink, USN, Retired
Donald J. Spradling
Charles E. Sprouse, PhD & Patricia Huber Sprouse, PhD
Douglas J. Squire & Jennifer C. Squire
William A. Staggs III & Maxine Mitchell Staggs
Sheryl A. Stanley
Katherin R. Steinbacher & Frank McMahon
John T. Stewart III & Linda Bliss Stewart
Ron Stitt & Karla Jo Stitt
Kathy B. Strunk & Michael F. Strunk
Brian D. Stubbings
Eric D. Stucky, MD & Deborah Ling Stucky
Larry L. Sukut & Inga Riley Carmack
Sam Sul & Anh-Nguyet T. Nguyen, PhD
Charlie C. Sun & Mariann C. Sun
James M. Symons
Charlotte Talley
Peng S. Tan, PhD
Zachary J. Taylor
Jay Templin
William R. Thomas & Karine M. Thomas
C. David Thorell & Linda M. Thorell
Leroy E. Tobler
Katherine Topulos
Warren C. Townsend Merary Trevino
Nathan T. Tritsch
Austin E. Tuggle
Robert A. Uhlenhop
Martin E. Updegraff
Virginia Vadnais
Harriett E. Van Bebber
John L. VanRoekel
Charles F. Vaughan & Kristine A. Vaughan K. Craig Vaughn & Cynthia L. Vaughn
Paul R. Vernon
Subramanian Vetrivelayudham
Jack M. Vochatzer, Sr. & Linda K. Vochatzer
Hans W. Walther
Tracy Clinton Warriner
Kurt D. Watson & Sue Watson
Elizabeth Waugh & J. Scott McCandless
William K. Waugh III & Judith Watson Waugh Michael C. Welch & Carla Sue Welch
Lee A. Weltmer
Darren V. Weninger
Tori Wigle
Arthur O. Wilkonson & Leslie M. Wilkonson COL Richard A. Willhite, USAF (RET)
Mark A. Willis & Hilde Siegmann Willis E. James Wilson & Phyllis Frick Wilson
David L. Wood III, PhD
Thomas A. Wood Jr. & Tonia L. Wood
Linda Woodsmall-DeBruce & Paul E. DeBruce
Rick J. Worner & Lorie Walker Worner
Lihua Xing, PhD
Judy Yager & Earl Yager
Lei Yang, PhD
Xiaoqiang Yao
Anne Beeson Yarnevich
Yezid Yessoufou
Yvette Tak-Ching Yuen & Michael S. James
Philip T. Zeilinger
Yuan Zhao, PhD
John A. Zimmerman & Renee A. Zimmerman
Robert J. Zimmerman & Annette Russell Zimmerman
Individuals who have given up to $99
Kelly D. Abella
Robert Abella Shavonne Abella
Janet Abercrombie
Judy Geisendorf Adams & Charles T. Adams
Paul J. Ahlenius
CDR William D. Aldenderfer
John F. Anderson & Michelle R. Anderson
Nicholas S. Artz
Kemal Ataman
Alfred O. Awani, DE & Denise DeVoe Awani
Fred Barhydt
Deborah S. Barr
Clinton R. Bauer & C. Anne Bauer
William A. Baugh Jr.
David G. Beach
Charles E. Beaman & E. Irene Beaman
Robert A. Bella Sr. & Elizabeth Lunney Bella
Michael M. Belt & Barbara Hines Belt
William J. Benne
Franklin C. Berrier
Sandeep G. Bhat
Philip W. Birk
Karen L. Blanco & Luis F. Blanco
Lori A. Blaylock
Clayton A. Bonny
Donald N. Booth & Kim Chi Thi Booth
William L. Boyd & Susan Boyd
Daniel R. Brown
Dr. Wayne Mullar Brown & Ann H. Brown
Stephen D. Buehne & Nancy E. Buehne
Craig A. Buhr & Ellen K. Buhr
Christopher L. Burns
Martha Schovee Byers, MD
Robert Canny
Laura E. Carpenter
Sharon Menasco Carroll & Roland W. Carroll Jr.
Maureen Cassani
Michael J. Chapman & Ann Davis Chapman
Thomas D. Clark
Warren L. Clark
Amanda Collins-Baine Arline Lockerbie Colvin
CDR James C. Coudeyras
Joseph E. Cronin
M. Karen Crowe
Susan M. Cunningham
Natalie J. daCosta
Thomas E. Davis & Myrna Frazer Davis
Thomas H. DeAgostino & Laura L. DeAgostino
James L. Deckert & Phyllis E. Deckert
Janice S. Deering
Kelly B. Deeter, DDS & Marjorie Jones Deeter
Jennifer K. Deines
Jeanne DeValk
Jeffree S. Dickinson
Enid R. Dickson & James W. Dickson
Anne Donnelly & John Donnelly
Mary Dormer & Lon Dormer
James C. Douglass & Helga J. Douglass
Annette Dubey
Susan B. Dubey
Mai Duong
Dan W. Durham
David L. Durstine
Bobbie J. Eaker
Amalia Eljammal
Adam S. Ellenbogen
Michael S. Fitzcharles
Thomas P. Frieze
Melinda Jones Garrett & Christopher L. Garrett
Francis W. Gerlach
Donna S. Gerren, PhD & Richard Gerren, PhD
John L. Gladson
Vicki L. Graf & Mike F. Graf
Nancy Graham & William Graham D’Ann Gunn
Cheng-Jen Gwo
Jessica L. Haberstock
Merlin B. Halverson & Judith M. Halverson
Gary W. Hamilton II & Kimberly J. Hamilton
Diane P. Harsh & Robert N. Harsh
Nathaniel L. Williams, PhD & Leigh Ann Hartman Carol A. Haulotte & Leonard D. Haulotte
Scott Hayen & Kelley Jo Hayen
Cheryl Ziegler Heck
Bryan C. Hedges & Laura Penny Hedges Amy Heisler Maynard M. Herron
Paige L. Hildebrandt
Ralph E. Hite, III & Donna E. Hite
Mary Lynn Holbrook & Reid F. Holbrook
Richard L. Horvath & Meredith L. Horvath
Susan F. Hruby & Gary E. Hruby
James R. Hubbard & Susan B. Hubbard Don L. Hursh & Jane Sullivan Hursh
John V. Jackson
Feilin Jia, PhD
Daniel Jones
Jeffery A. Jordan & Amanda L. Jordan Gregory J. Kallos
Catherine Kane Kathy Kappes-Sum Christopher Kennedy Kasonia S. Kisangani
Peter N. Konstant
Edwin W. Korff & Marvel L. Korff
Robert E. Lambour Brianna Lane George Z. Li
Jilu Li, PhD
Robert Y. Li, PhD
Carolyn W. London James D. Lord Todd Loveland Nicolle Lucas
Jennifer E. Ludlow
Rick H. Mason
Rodney A. May & Teresa A. May
Melinda A. McCoy & Hal W. McCoy II Matthew L. McFarlane & Ebony A. Onianwa Robert McGowan & Kathleen McGowan Kenneth M. McRae & Susan M. McRae
Stephen C. Meredith & Rosalie M. Meredith
Thomas E. Mertz
Joseph W. Morgison & Ronda K. Morgison Marlane A. Morris
Frank E. Motley
Jason M. Murnane
Lewis R. Nash
Frank B. Nelson
Cooper L. Nickel, MD & Lynda Westervelt Nickel Michael G. Norris & Kory Jurney Norris
Gayle Nye
Rodney K. Odgers, MD & Karen E. Odgers
Terry L. Oldham, USAF, Retired & Kay Oldham Steven Wallace Panknin & Jane C. Panknin
Thomas M. Partridge & Kimberly Stewart Partridge, PharmD Achal S. Patel
Curtis J. Patterson III & Linda Katz Patterson Kay Blair Patterson, EdD
Susan Collins Peach & Donald F. Peach, PE Kent T. Perry & Julianel S. Perry
Don L. Pfannenstiel & Mitzi Martin-Pfannenstiel Vo Thien Tri Pham
James W. Phelps
Eric H. Pippin & Nicole Corcoran
Kevin M. Player & Amy G. Player Brooke Porras
Gilbert J. Potter & Patty Potter
Audrey L. Puderbaugh
C. David Quinn & Becky L. Quinn
Jeffrey G. Ream & Heather Yord Ream
Caleb D. Regan & Gwendolyn Salmon Regan Charles B. Richardson
Shirley L. Roberts & Fred F. Roberts, MD
Brian A. Rock, PhD, PE & Kristie M. Rock, PE
Jerusha P. Rowden
Jason H. Rubis & Jennifer Shilling Rubis
Brian Sayre
Ross A. Schaller & Karen Schaller
Robert W. Schies & Judy E. Schies
Michael J. Schmidt & Tuija K. Schmidt
Marcia Kraft Schoenfeld & Fred R. Greenstein
Robert L. Siegele & Paula J. Siegele
Ann Ardahl Smith
Mark Smith
Michael D. Stanley
Peter B. Stebbins & Patricia A. Stebbins Dr. Paul S. Stein & Cynthia L. Stein
Mark E. Stevens
Paul D. Stone & Betty J. Stone
Mikel L. Stout
LCDR Daniel L. Stueckemann, USN, Retired & Cathy S. Stueckemann
Carol M. Sykes & Homer W. Sykes, Jr. Belinda B. Thompson
Barbara L. Thompson & Willard B. Thompson * Su-Gin Tiong
Brenda L. Trainor
Henry Treftz
Christina J. Trotter
Steven J. Tyler & Laura Armato Tyler
David G. Underwood & Luanne Underwood Francisco B. Villanueva
James C. West, PhD & Jane L. Sittler West
Carolyn R. Wilson
Carolyn S. Wolff & John Wolff
Carol A Wollenberg
LCDR Hsin-Fu Wu, USN, Retired & Theresa Wu
Olivia Zarth
Elinor Zugazagoitia
1517 Fund
2012 Jayhawk Motorsports Team
AIAA Foundation
Air Power Consultants, Inc. Alarm.com
Alberici Constructors
American Society of Civil Engineers-Kansas City Section
Association of American Medical Colleges
Bartlett & West, Inc.
Sean D. Biggs Memorial Foundation
Black & Veatch Foundation
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas
Brand New Box
Brown Industries, Inc.
Burns & McDonnell Cashco, Inc.
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP
Cornejo & Sons LLC
DARcorporation
JE Dunn Construction Company
Evergy, Inc.
ExxonMobil Foundation
Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Inc.
Garmin International, Inc.
Garney Companies, Inc.
The Glasnapp Foundation
The Golf Guys
Google LLC
H&R Block, Inc.
Halliburton Foundation, Inc.
Henderson Engineers, Inc. Himoinsa Power Systems, Inc. HNTB Companies
Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies
Honeywell International Corporation
International Foundation for Telemetering
Jack & Jill of America, Inc.
Kansas Kiwanis Foundation, Inc.
Kansas Section American Society of Civil Engineers
Kao Family Foundation
Robert W. Keener & Barbara J. Keener Foundation
Kiewit Corporation
Robert & Barbara Kleist Charitable Trust Koch Industries, Inc.
KU Alumni Association
Lawrence Rotary Club
M.S.P.E. Auxiliary Western Chapter Matterport, Inc.
McClure Engineering
Microsoft Corporation
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs
Monarch Cement Company
National Society Of Black Engineers
National Stone Sand and Gravel Association
NBKC Bank
Olsson Associates
ONEOK Foundation, Inc. Palomino Petroleum, Inc. Pepsi-Cola
Phelps Engineering, Inc.
Ripple Labs, Inc.
River City Engineering, Inc.
SAE International
The Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving Security 1st Title, LLC
Security Benefit Group, Inc.
Smith & Loveless, Inc.
James Sorem, LLC
South Mountain, LLC
Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.
SS&C Technologies, Inc.
Sunrise Oilfield Supply Tradebot Systems, Inc.
TranSystems Corporation
Twilio
Vertical Flight Society
Veterans United Home Loans
Villas of Highlands Ranch & Neighbors
Wichita Southeast H.S. Buffalo Gals Class of ‘62
The Wonderful Company
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