Gratitude for KU peer reviewers

One hundred sixty-eight.

That’s how many proposals and nominations the Office of Research received this academic year for our internal grant and achievement award programs and limited submission competitions. Each application represents many hours of thoughtful preparation — and many more years spent building the research, scholarship or creative trajectory that led to its submission.

Choosing recipients is never an easy task, but we strive to facilitate a peer review process that recognizes applicants’ tremendous effort. That process relies on faculty and staff experts who carefully evaluate proposals against selection criteria, provide constructive comments to applicants, discuss their assessments with fellow reviewers to reach consensus, and ultimately recommend the top-rated proposals or nominations.
 
As the semester winds down, I want to publicly thank the people — more than 70 of them from a diverse range of disciplines — who graciously served in these roles during the 2023-24 academic year. Your behind-the-scenes work made it possible for our office to support a significant number of outstanding researchers, scholars and creators. We appreciate your time and dedication!

Publishing this list is both an expression of gratitude and an ongoing commitment to transparency. We expanded a number of reforms this year designed to minimize the potential influence of bias in the review process. This included:

• Creating four discipline-specific standing review panels and a fifth panel focused specifically on racial equity awards
• Providing bias training for reviewers
• Revising evaluation rubrics across all competitions based on best practices for avoiding bias
• Publishing evaluation rubrics to assist with proposal preparation

As we continue to assess and reflect on the peer review process and its outcomes, please share your recommendations with us.

In the meantime, please join me in thanking this year’s reviewers. And please consider serving in this critical role if you are invited in the future.

Belinda Sturm
Interim Vice Chancellor for Research

2023-24 Peer Reviewers

The following KU faculty and staff served as peer reviewers for one or more internal grant and achievement award programs or limited submission competitions sponsored by the Office of Research during the 2023-24 academic year. We are grateful to each of you for devoting your time and expertise to helping us identify promising research, scholarship and creative activity for support and recognition — and for providing constructive feedback to applicants as they continue to pursue their lines of inquiry.

Every effort has been made to ensure this list is complete. If you discover a name is missing, please alert Mindie Paget at mpaget@ku.edu.

1. Perry Alexander, AT&T Foundation Distinguished Professor, electrical engineering & computer science, director, Institute for Information Sciences
2. Mike Amlung, associate professor, applied behavioral science and associate scientist, Life Span Institute
3. Meredith Bagwell-Gray, assistant professor, social welfare
4. Beth Bailey, Foundation Distinguished Professor, history
5. Mikhail Barybin, professor, chemistry
6. Theodore Bergman, Charles E. & Mary Jane Spahr Professor, mechanical engineering
7. James Blakemore, associate professor, chemistry
8. Michael Branicky, professor, electrical engineering & computer science
9. Juan Bravo-Suarez, associate professor, chemical & petroleum engineering
10. Carol Burdsal, director of research development, Office of Research
11. Amy Burgin, professor, ecology & evolutionary biology and senior scientist, Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research
12. Doug Byers, assistant director, Kansas NSF EPSCoR
13. Marco Caricato, professor, chemistry
14. Paulyn Cartwright, professor, ecology & evolutionary biology
15. Vitaly Chernetsky, professor, Slavic, German & Eurasian studies
16. Ana Chicas-Mosier, director of education, outreach & diversity, Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis
17. Christopher Cushing, associate professor, applied behavioral science and associate scientist, Life Span Institute
18. Mohammed Dastmalchi, assistant professor, architecture
19. Jaclyn Dudek, assistant professor, curriculum & teaching and assistant research professor, Achievement & Assessment Institute
20. Meghan Ecker-Lyster, director of research, evaluation & dissemination, Achievement & Assessment Institute
21. Ken Fischer, professor, mechanical engineering
22. Kandace Fleming, senior scientist, Life Span Institute
23. Evan Franseen, professor, geology and senior scientist, Kansas Geological Survey
24. Craig Freeman, senior scientist, Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research
25. Teri Garstka, research associate, Life Span Institute
26. Mugur Geana, associate professor, journalism
27. Donna Ginther, Roy A. Roberts and Regents Distinguished Professor, economics, and director, Institute for Policy & Social Research
28. Ayesha Hardison, associate professor, English and women, gender & sexuality studies
29. Meredith Hartley, assistant professor, chemistry
30. Lena Hileman, professor and chair, ecology & evolutionary biology
31. Michael Hoeflich, John H. & John M. Kane Distinguished Professor, law
32. Tzu-Chieh Kurt Hong, assistant professor, architecture
33. Chang Hoon Oh, William & Judy Docking Professor, business
34. Douglas Wayne Huffman, professor, curriculum & teaching
35. Timothy Jackson, professor and chair, chemistry
36. Christopher Johnson, professor, music
37. In-Gu Kang, assistant teaching professor, educational psychology and assistant research professor, Achievement & Assessment Institute
38. John Kelly, professor, ecology & evolutionary biology
39. Hyunjoon Kim, assistant professor, pharmaceutical chemistry
40. Allison Kirkpatrick, assistant professor, physics & astronomy
41. Chris Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor, public affairs & administration
42. Kathleen Lynne Lane, associate vice chancellor for research and Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor, special education
43. Jilu Li, associate research professor, Center for Remote Sensing & Integrated Systems
44. Gaisheng Liu, associate scientist, Kansas Geological Survey
45. Erik Lundquist, associate vice chancellor for research and professor, molecular biosciences
46. Bo Luo, professor, electrical engineering & computer science
47. Stuart Macdonald, professor, molecular biosciences
48. Rick Miller, senior scientist, Kansas Geological Survey
49. Timothy Musch, University Distinguished Professor, kinesiology, Kansas State University
50. Jennifer Ng, professor, educational leadership & policy studies
51. Alison Olcott, associate professor, geology
52. Hannah Park, associate professor, design
53. Dan Reuman, professor, ecology & evolutionary biology and senior scientist, Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research
54. Suzanne Shontz, professor, electrical engineering & computer science and associate dean for research & graduate programs, engineering
55. Benjamin Sikes, associate professor, ecology & evolutionary biology and associate scientist, Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research
56. Joanna Slusky, associate professor, molecular biosciences
57. Steven Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor, chemistry and mechanical engineering
58. Belinda Sturm, interim vice chancellor for research and professor, civil, architectural & environmental engineering
59. Elaina Sutley, associate professor, civil, architectural & environmental engineering and associate dean for diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging, engineering
60. Russell Swerdlow, Gene & Marge Sweeney Professor, neurology, cell biology & anatomy and biochemistry & molecular biology
61. Rebecca Swinburne Romine, associate research professor, Life Span Institute
62. Candan Tamerler, associate vice chancellor for research and Charles E. & Mary Jane Spahr Professor, mechanical engineering
63. Robert Unckless, associate professor, molecular biosciences
64. Maggie Wagner, assistant professor, ecology & evolutionary biology and assistant scientist, Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research
65. Dale Walker, research professor, Life Span Institute
66. Tonya Waller, director of CCAMPIS, Center for Educational Opportunity Programs
67. Robert Warrior, Hall Distinguished Professor, English and American studies
68. Rebecca Whelan, associate professor, chemistry
69. Judy Wu, University Distinguished Professor, physics & astronomy
70. Xinmai Yang, professor, mechanical engineering
71. Jack Zhang, assistant professor, political science