WEDNESDAY, MAY7, 2003
NEWS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Under wraps
Andy Samuelson/Kansan
Facilities Operations workers Sid Hayes, left, and Lester Edwards tape down a tarp over the Chi Omega Fountain. Hayes said yesterday that workers would paint it today if the weather cooperates.
Researcher selected for national council
By Nikki Overfelt
noverfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A researcher at the University of Kansas Medical Center is making KU history.
Joan Hunt has been named to the National Advisory Research Resources Council of the National Center for Research Resources.
hunt is the first person in University history to be named to a National Institute of Health council. Hunt is the senior associate dean for research graduate
education at the school.
"I am greatly honored by the appointment," Hunt said. "The position will provide me with the opportunity to speak for Kansas as research resources are considered."
The council meets three times a year in Washington D.C., and decides on spending for new and ongoing research programs. Council members serve four-year terms.
Hunt said working with the council would help the University get into the top 25 public teaching and research universities in the United States.
Although this is Hunt's first time serving on the council, she has worked with the council before. She had served on the council study section for eight years and served as chairwoman for the past three. Hunt is also overseeing a $5.6 million council grant to establish a research network among universities in Kansas.
Hunt will bring a great deal of experience to the council, said Glen Cox, vice dean of the school of medicine and senior associate dean for educational and aca-
Cox said Hunt's appointment to the council would also benefit the University.
"It will certainly help raise the University of Kansas profile to the national level," he said.
Edited by Andrew Ward
Program pushes Haskell students into science fields
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University are teaming up to increase Native Americans' presence in the field of science.
One student, Sonny Duncan wants to take his environmental research experience at the University back to his reservation in Arizona. He is one of 12 students from Haskell who is involved in the RISE program — Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement.
"Where I'm from on the reservation, there's a lot of things that can be improved by beautifying our land," Duncan said. "With my education and my ability to talk to tribal people, I can educate them as to why they want to enhance the reservation."
The RISE program, a collaborative effort between the University and Haskell, encourages Native-American students to obtain advanced degrees in the sciences, a field with few Native Americans, said Claude Laird. RISE program coordinator at Haskell. The National Institute of Health gave the KU Center for Research $4 million for four years to run the program.
Duncan said RISE allowed Native-American students to participate in research at the University and use instruments Haskell didn't have.
Cynthia Larive, associate professor of chemistry, serves as Duncan's mentor. She helps provide background research and
gives him advice for his research.
"Haskell is a wonderful nurturing environment for native students, but at the University of Kansas, a world class research institution, we have resources they can't possibly have." Larive said
Pamela King, Haskell senior, is doing psychology research with a graduate student at the University on Native-American hope what makes children do the things they do.
Michael Roberts, director of the clinical child psychology program, sponsors King's research.
"The research illustrates something very relative in their own life as well as answering an important scientific question," Roberts said. He said Native Americans were underrepresented in the field of psychology.
King presented her research at the Haskell Undergraduate Research Symposium Thursday. Professors from Haskell and the University attended.
King said many of the professors pushed the students toward the medical field. "To have the true, honest support of professors from both universities makes it all worthwhile," she said.
The grant also funds the development of an Office of Institutional Research and Planning at Haskell and a Sponsored Projects Office.
"If we want to be an integrated society, we need to make a sizable efforts to bring along students who haven't had the opportunities you and I have had," Laird said.
— Edited by Andrew Ward