News & Updates

A National Science Foundation grant led by Town Peterson, University Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and senior curator with the KU Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute, is uniting 21 U.S. herbaria, biodiversity data specialists and African researchers to create one of the largest digital resources of tropical African seed plants ever assembled.

Twenty-nine undergraduate and postbaccalaureate scholars supported by research training programs at Haskell Indian Nations University and KU will present posters of their research at the 26th annual Haskell-KU Student Research Symposium.

Variously horrific- or alien-looking, many female anglerfishes sport long, protruding lures used for enticing prey or signaling during mating. Now, research from the University of Kansas is giving new detail to the evolutionary history of anglerfishes’ lures.

KU has 55 graduate programs in the top 50 among public universities — including eight in the top 10 — in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings.

Three University of Kansas professors — K. Christopher Beard, Jianming Qiu and Michael S. Wolfe — have been elected as 2025 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows, a distinct honor within the scientific community.

Congratulations to EBB PhD student, Ben Wiens, who was awarded KU’s Graduate Student Distinguished Service Award. The Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Service was established in 1983 and is presented annually to a graduate student who has demonstrated a genuine commitment to serving the University of Kansas while maintaining a high level of academic achievement.

The KU Natural History Museum has a full lineup of science-themed public events this spring for both youth and adults. Programs will cover a range of topics, including STEM activities related to legendary scientists and their discoveries, as well as public presentations on digitizing natural history collections and paleontology fieldwork in Turkey.

The KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas has named Christina Lutz as the vertebrate paleontology lead preparator and lab manager. In her role, Lutz will support the research and educational mission of the Vertebrate Paleontology division by preparing fossil material collected from the field and creating high-quality molds and casts of vertebrate fossils for use in research, teaching and public exhibits.

A gift from Tom and Jann Rudkin will support the construction of a new accessible entrance from Jayhawk Boulevard to Dyche Hall. Remaining funds after construction will go toward partial restoration of the historic and beloved Panorama exhibit, including taxidermy specimens and other items on display.

The Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas has named Victor Gonzalez Betancourt as the inaugural Charles D. Michener Assistant Professor and Assistant Curator in Bee Biodiversity and Evolution. He will begin his role in early January 2026 with a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.