 |
|
|
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.HONORS Kemper awards go to LSI investigators Two LSI scientists won Kemper teaching and advising awards this fall, an honor that is considered one of the most prestigious for KU faculty. Read full story and more Honors stories.MILESTONES Two LSI staff honored for years of service Two long-time members of the LSI family were honored for 40 years of service to the University at a ceremony held September 4 in Topeka. 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. |
RESEARCH IN ACTION: SERVICE TO KANSAS AND THE WORLD 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. Muriel Saunders and Amanda Reichard, assistant research professors, and Richard Saunders, senior scientist, received $599,467 for a three-year project to implement and study a weight loss program for Wichita residents with physical disabilities. The project will educate participants about a diet for weight loss and weight management and then evaluate the health outcomes of the resulting weight loss. All three researchers are with the Research and Training Center on Independent Living. Richard and Muriel Saunders also are affiliated with LSI at Parsons and the Center for Weight Management and Physical Activity. Researchers at the KU Medical Center are co-investigators. Three other LSI-affiliated scientists received $598,770 to develop a training technology based on the American with Disabilities Act. Glen White, director of the Center on Independent Living, Jean Ann Summers, research professor at the Beach Center, and Cathy Rooney Howland, project coordinator at the Center on Independent Living, will direct the effort to train students with disabilities at KU and Kansas State University to help them learn how to access the ADA accommodations they need.  Steven Barlow Steven Barlow, director of the Communication Neurosciences Laboratories, received a grant from the National Institutes of Health through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as part of the federal stimulus program to stimulate new work. The $50,000 grant will be used to supplement his ongoing randomized trails on the NTrainer in high-risk premature infants at KU, Stormont-Vail Regional Medical Center and Overland Park Medical Center. Beach Center joins in American-Chinese partnership to benefit survivors of Sichuan Province earthquake The Positive Behavior Support and School Reform units of the Beach Center on Disability have entered into a partnership with Centerstone of Nashville, Tenn., the nation’s largest provider of community-based behavioral healthcare for people with mental illness or substance abuse problems. The purpose of the partnership is to develop a long-term project in conjunction with PsychCN, an entity based in China, to provide training and technical assistance to school personnel in the zone of the devastating May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province. The project team consists of Beach Center associates Amy McCart and Nikki Wolf and former Beach Center doctoral student Mian Wang, now at University of California, Santa Barbara. Beach Center scholars Xiaoyi Hu and Yujie Liu will serve as advisors. If funded, the two-year project will begin in 2010. Obesity conference holds annual meeting in Las Vegas KU’s 11th Annual Conference on the Prevention and Treatment of Overweight and Obese Individuals was held September 10-12 in Las Vegas, attracting nearly 300 attendees in such fields as health care, public health, nutrition, physical therapists, parents and teachers. Fifty faculty from across the country were included in the program, directed by Joe Donnelly, director of the energy balance laboratory and the Center for Physical Activity and Weight Management, and Debra Sullivan, associate professor of dietetics and nutrition at KUMC. Kimberly Johnson, CPAWM project coordinator, served as the conference coordinator. White addresses U.N. convention Glen White spoke about independent living at the Conference on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on July 22 in Washington, D.C. White is director of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living and professor of Applied Behavioral Science. His talk was part of a panel that examined the opportunities for U.S. disability advocates and other interested individuals to assist in promoting livable communities in other countries in the context of CRPD implementation. The United States signed on to the Convention on July 30. White will continue to work with disability organizations nationwide to help advocate for ratification of the Convention by the U.S. Senate through his role as chair of the U.S. International Council on Disabilities (USICD) Education and Outreach Committee. Fox facilitates national paralysis taskforce and helps prepare local emergency grant  Michael Fox Fox also helped Together Prepared of Douglas County, Kansas write an emergency management proposal that was funded by the National Libraries of Medicine. The two-year grant is allowing the Douglas County Health Department to partner with the Lawrence Public Library to expand outreach and communications during emergencies for vulnerable populations. Since the project began in the spring, Together Prepared has held four community forums and provided training to Douglas County service providers who work with persons with disabilities. Three LSI scientists now serving on state coordinating council Dale Walker, associate research professor at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, has been appointed by Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson to the Kansas Coordinating Council on Early Childhood Developmental Services. The council works to integrate services for young children with or at risk for developmental delays and their families. Council chair is Eva Horn, professor of special education and an LSI-affiliated scientist. Co-chair is David Lindeman, director of LSI at Parsons. Wehmeyer becomes AAIDD president-elect Michael Wehmeyer, executive director of the Kansas University Center for Developmental Disabilities, has been elected the 2009-2010 president-elect of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He served on the AAIDD terminology and classification committee responsible for the 11th edition of the manual defining intellectual disability, Intellectual Disability: Definition, Classification and Systems of Supports. Other LSI scientists who are former AAIDD presidents include Ann and Rud Turnbull, co-directors of the Beach Center on Disability, and Steve Warren, vice provost for research and graduate studies at KU. Ekerdt named chair of gerontology section David Ekerdt director of the Gerontology Center, has been elected chair of the Behavioral and Social Section of the Gerontological Society of America. The Society is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education and practice in the field of aging. Beach Center attracts scholars from Asia Three scholars from Asia are visiting the Beach Center on Disability this year to expand their research and scholarship on disability-related topics. Yuji Liu is a second-year doctoral student in special education at Beijing Normal University in China. She is studying with Wayne Sailor, Beach Center associate director, and will focus on behavioral intervention and support for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities with particular emphasis on positive behavior support and integration. Doosik Kim, a professor at Kyungpook National University Law School in Daegu, South Korea, is spending his sabbatical at the Beach Center to write a book on how popular culture, such as films, depicts stereotypes of people with disabilities. His sabbatical is supported by the Korean National Human Rights Committee. Kim earned a law degree from Cornell University. Rud Turnbull, Beach Center co-director, is facilitating his visit. Mia Lee, a postdoctoral research at Pusan National University in Pusan, South Korea, is researching how universities and communities collaborate to support children with emotional and behavioral disabilities and their families. She is working with Jean Ann Summers, Beach Center research professor. |