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Lifeline Online  RESEARCH IN ACTION Department of Ed grants support multi-investigator work on weight loss, ADA Several LSI researchers are involved in two recent grants from the Department of Education that will study weight loss in people with physical disabilities and the ability of college students to access ADA accommodations. Read full story and more Research in Action stories. ADMINISTRATIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS AAAS invites researchers to apply science to serve society The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is inviting applications for its Science and Technology Policy Fellowships, which provide an opportunity for scientists and engineers to apply their expertise to the federal policy realm. Read full story.PROJECT DEVELOPMENT NEWS Late summer saw several new grant awards to LSI investigators and a long list of new submissions. See the complete list. IN THE NEWS Talk of the Nation talks to Ann Turnbull Ann Turnbull distinguished professor and co-director of the Beach Center on Disability, was the special guest August 11 on the National Public Radio program “Talk of the Nation” to discuss the legacy of the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Read full story. |
HONORS Higuchi honor goes to Steven Barlow For the second year in a row, an LSI investigator has received a prestigious Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding research accomplishments by faculty at Kansas Board of Regents institutions. Steven Barlow, director of LSI’s Communication Neurosciences Laboratories, received the Dolph Simons Award in Biomedical Sciences. A member of the speech-language-hearing faculty since 2000, Barlow is internationally recognized as a scholar in orofacial and laryngeal neurophysiology and biomedical aspects of speech sensorimotor processing across the life span. His work with at-risk premature newborns led to a new treatment to promote the development of a normal pattern of sucking behavior. A device he invented, the NTrainer system, is now available through KCBiomedix, Shawnee, Kan., to medical centers and hospitals throughout the country. Charles Greenwood, director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, received an Higuchi award in 2008. The Higuchi awards program was established by Takeru Higuchi, a distinguished professor at KU from 1967 to 1983, and his late widow, Aya. Four individual awards are given annually. Each award comes with a $10,000 grant for ongoing research efforts. The award money can be used for research materials, summer salaries, fellowship matching funds, research assistants or other support related to research. The 2009 Higuchi Award winners will be recognized at a ceremony and reception November 2 at the Adams Alumni Center on the KU campus. LSI investigators receive Kemper awards Two LSI scientists won Kemper teaching and advising awards this fall, an honor that is considered one of the most prestigious for KU faculty. Andrea Greenhoot, associate professor of psychology, and Todd Little, professor of psychology, were both honored. Greenhoot’s research focuses on cognitive development and memory in children. Little’s research interests are in both quantitative and developmental psychology. Borchardt scholarships assist two Beach Center grad students. Two graduate students in special education have been named this year’s recipients of the Borchardt scholarship at the Beach Center on Disability. Caya Chiu, a first-year doctoral student originally from Taiwan, and Heather Aldersey, a master’s level student from British Colombia, each received the Borchardt Family Scholarship for Beach Center Graduate Student Study in the Field of Mental Retardation and Community Inclusion. Chiu is interested in studying family-professional partnerships, siblings of individuals with disabilities and cross-cultural studies. Aldersey, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. at KU, hopes to focus on policy, family and disability, and disability in Africa. The endowed scholarship fund was created in 2005 by six members of the Borchardt family, including Julie and Scott Borchardt, the parents of a child with Down syndrome. Scott’s father, Ron Borchardt, is the Solon E. Summerfield distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at KU. Julie and Scott Borchardt, Kelly Elrod and Paul Borchardt are all KU graduates. Barlow named ASHA fellow Steven Barlow, director of the Communication Neurosciences Laboratories and professor of speech-language-hearing at KU, will receive an ASHA Fellowship award on November 20 at the national convention of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association New Orleans. The designation recognizes professional or scientific achievement and is given to members who have made outstanding contributions to the professions. The award is one of the highest honors that ASHA can bestow and is retained for life. LSI scientists Marc Fey, Diane Frome-Loeb, Mabel Rice and Jane Wegner have also received the ASHA Fellowship award.
Pharmacology and Toxicology grad student wins top award Derek Oien, a doctoral student working with LSI scientist Jackob Moskovitz, assistant professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, has received the Young Investigator Award from the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience. His paper, published in the October issue, reported an important discovery on the role of oxidation and counteracting antioxidants for methionine amino acids in cell signaling. These natural antioxidants decline with age, and may play a role in age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such Parkinson's disease. Journal honors three Barlow grad students Three graduate students working with Steven Barlow, director of the Communication Neurosciences Laboratories, have received awards from the Journal of Neonatal Nursing and its publisher, Elsevier. Emily Zimmerman and Susan Stumm, both doctoral students in speech-language-hearing, and Meredith Estep, a neuroscience doctoral student, were honored for having written a top-10 cited paper from 2006 to 2008. The three students were first authors with Barlow and others of papers that reported on research on suck patterns and/or respiratory distress of preterm infants. Shea Obremski receives award from AUCD The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) has named doctoral student Shea Obremski the 2009 recipient of the Anne Rudigier Award. The award, named in honor of the daughter of the Rudigier Family, which funds the annual cash prize, recognizes an outstanding student who demonstrates a commitment to supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families. Obremski’s adviser is Michael Wehmeyer, director of the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities. The award will be presented at the AUCD annual meeting in November in Washington, D.C. |
