If you've been keeping up with headlines, you've probably noticed that stories involving diplomacy have been dominating the news cycle recently. As a Public Diplomacy intern with the U.S.
Issues like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and male relationships can make for sensitive topics of conversation for some, but two nontraditional students in the KU College have built a podcast devoted to tackling those subjects and more.
Rachel Smith is fascinated by the beetles. Water beetles, to be exact. As a biology major with an emphasis on ecology, evolution, and organismal biology, Rachel spends her days working alongside fellow KU entomologists on all things related to insect biodiversity and ecology.
You've probably heard about the recent boost in popularity for the KU Beekeeping Club (KUBC), who signed up nearly 300 Jayhawks at this fall's Hawkfest and Unionfest alone. Not only is the club experiencing rapid growth in membership; they've also found success as a small business, making use of their members' wide-ranging talents to sell everything from honey and lip-balm to stickers and t-shirts.
The opportunities and applications that can stem from subjects like Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing seem to be endless in a world where technology grows at a rapid pace. KU's Avary Kolasinski has utilized her love for these subjects to produce meaningful research and to program theoretical results. The applications of this research affect a variety of fields including but not limited to physics and computer science.
Fengxue Zhang, a junior from Hays, is studying economics, political science, and creative writing. After moving to the United States from China as a child, Fengxue jumped from major to major before finding a home in the College.
In addition to her studies, Fengxue is a Student Advisory Board member of the Dole Institute, the Co-Curation Director for TEDxKU, and the Public Relations Director for the Chinese Students and Scholars Friendship Association. Learn more about Fengxue in our latest student feature.
Water is all around us, and there's a lot of it. More than 2.7 million miles of streams and rivers exist in the U.S. alone, in fact. We're surrounded by H20 in America, and yet there are still large gaps in our understanding of the state and trends of the water cycle, which can have seriously devastating ramifications. James Coll wants to fill that data void, and his research in KU Geography's Ph.D. program centers on ways that drone technology can help scholars measure and categorize that cycle.
Growing up in Kansas City, Courtland Triplett always knew he wanted to bring positive change to the world but struggled to find the right path to achieve that goal. After carefully considering his options, he found that path in government, and at KU, he discovered a program and people dedicated to equipping him with the tools necessary to tackle real-world problems faced by communities at home and across the globe.
How are social norms about gender and sexuality perpetuated through portrayals of robots and other digital entities in sci-fi storytelling? What can these treatments in popular media tell us about the societies in which we live, and how can scholars challenge these narratives?
As a freshman biology major, Nidhi Patel began her KU journey with a path in mind. What she didn't anticipate, however, was that she would find a perfectly complementary second major in English. Now, having recently been accepted into KU's School of Medicine, she's making her dreams a reality by continuing her education, and applying lessons learned with the goal of making the world a better place.