FRONTIERS OF KNOWLEDGE

Whether putting on special gear to enter a research clean room or a stout winter hat to meet climate researchers in the Arctic, Chancellor Hemenway oversaw a veritable explosion of research at KU.

KU’s research expenditures more than doubled under Hemenway’s leadership, reaching $297.4 million in FY 2008, two-thirds of which came from external sources. At any given time, between 1,500 and 1,800 KU faculty, staff, and students are working on externally funded research projects in Lawrence alone.

To support this work, which encompasses nearly all fields,KU has expanded its research infrastructure.

This includes new computing resources, collaborative tools like the K-INBRE research network, and facilities including the Multidisciplinary Research Building and the Structural Biology Center in Lawrence, and the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center at the Medical Center.

KU’s research efforts span many disciplines and take place on every continent, but one area of research stands out: cancer.

Chancellor Hemenway committed KU to join the battle against cancer, declaring the fight against the disease to be the university’s top research goal.

KU is already well on the way to earning a National Cancer Institute designation that would make advanced treatments and cures available to Kansans through a network of health care partners.

KU’s drug discovery efforts have led to drugs such as Nanotax, a cancer drug already in clinical trials, and the cancer research firm OncImmune established its North American headquarters in Kansas in order to coordinate with KU cancer researchers.

And thanks to a 2008 vote, Johnson County will soon be home to an education and research triangle anchored by KU’s cancer center.

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