From rivalry to results: KU, K-State research partnerships deliver big wins for Kansas

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas and Kansas State University may be fierce rivals on the field and on the court, but they’ve long been teammates in labs and Kansas communities, tackling problems that matter to the state.

“We love a good Sunflower Showdown,” said Shelley Hooks, vice chancellor for research at KU. “But outside of stadiums and arenas, KU and K‑State have been on the same side for years — collaborating on research that protects Kansans’ health, strengthens our infrastructure, supports our farmers and so much more.”

“Partnerships between K-State and KU catalyze collaboration that moves Kansas forward,” said Hans Coetzee, vice president for research at K-State. “K-State researchers are growing what’s possible, strengthening our capabilities and bringing teams across KU and K-State together — tackling problems no institution can handle on its own. 

“From human and animal health to food security and cybersecurity, and nuclear engineering to secure energy systems, together we align complementary strengths through collaboration to generate new knowledge and deliver practical solutions that improve lives across Kansas.”

From major programs like the Kansas National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) to individual collaborations that leverage homegrown expertise to address Kansas needs, researchers at KU and K-State are setting aside rivalries to build and sustain partnerships that benefit people, communities and local economies.

Stopping dangerous viruses

Through a partnership more than a decade in the making, KU structural biologist Scott Lovell and K‑State virologist Kyeong‑Ok Chang are developing antiviral drugs designed to stop a wide range of RNA viruses. 

They focus on a shared vulnerability in many viruses: an enzyme called a protease, which viruses use like a tiny pair of scissors to cut and assemble the proteins they need to replicate. Once those “scissors” are jammed or disabled, the virus can’t spread. 

By determining high‑resolution 3D structures of these enzymes complexed with small molecules — essentially capturing molecular‑level snapshots — the team designs precise antiviral molecules that latch onto the protease and shut it down.  

Their candidate drugs have already shown therapeutic benefits in animal models of deadly coronavirus infections, proving they can work as treatments, not just preventions.

“Over nearly 15 years of working with Dr. Chang, we’ve determined more than 150 viral protease structures bound to antiviral compounds,” said Lovell, director of KU’s Protein Structure & X-ray Crystallography Laboratory. 

“The atomic-level images we generate reveal how the inhibitors interact with the protease, and Kyeong’s team uses that insight to create stronger antivirals through structure-based drug development.”

This matters for Kansas in big ways. The viruses they target don’t just affect people; they also threaten livestock and wildlife. 

Lovell and Chang’s work includes developing antiviral candidates for foot‑and‑mouth disease virus, a devastating threat to cattle and other livestock, and rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, which affects both wild and domestic rabbit populations across the Great Plains.

“Our collaboration with Dr. Lovell has been essential to securing more than $20 million in National Institutes of Health grants and publishing over 20 papers in high-impact journals,” said Chang, professor in K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “This scholarly activity helps broaden knowledge among scientists and accelerate discoveries that can save lives.”

By improving tools to combat human and animal diseases, this collaboration strengthens Kansas’s public health, agricultural stability and regional biosecurity.

“This is One Health in action,” said Matthias Salathe, KU’s chief research officer. “When we build antivirals that work across viral families and host species, we’re protecting Kansans — people, pets, livestock and wildlife — while safeguarding our farms and ranches.”
 

Modeling community resilience

Humans all rely on essential systems — electricity, water, transportation, emergency services and more — in daily life. Think of these systems like a row of dominoes. When one system fails, it can knock over several others. A power outage can shut down water pumps. A water system failure can disrupt hospitals. A transportation interruption can affect emergency response. 

Losing any of these systems can greatly disrupt quality of life.

Researchers associated with the NSF EPSCoR-funded ARISE project are collaborating to understand how these systems work together so communities can prepare to rebound faster and suffer less from major disruptions such as storms, cyberattacks or long-term drought.

Led by KU engineering professor Belinda Sturm — with co-leads Bala Natarajan of K-State and Elaina Sutley of KU — this five-year, $24 million initiative represents a massive research effort uniting KU, K-State and Wichita State University. Beyond research, the initiative invests in statewide workforce development through data‑science training at institutions large and small.

One aspect of their work is a sophisticated computational model that connects communities’ physical systems — like power lines and water pipes — with the social and economic systems that depend on them. Much like a flight simulator, this computational model will allow city planners to test recovery strategies in a virtual environment before a real disaster hits. A powerful new computer server at K‑State drives the large, data-intense simulations.

“The simulations allow us to see the impact of various disasters by tracking cascading failures through communities — and to observe the recovery process,” said George Amariucai, associate professor of computer science at K-State. “That foresight helps counties make practical investments and operational decisions that keep people safe and speed up recovery.”

The research team is also surveying households statewide to understand real experiences with outages and service interruptions. Those insights help local leaders plan for emergencies, strengthen weak points and improve recovery times.

“This research is rooted in Kansas communities,” said Sutley, associate professor of engineering at KU. “The systems we are analyzing represent systems in Ford, Finney, Seward, Johnson and Wyandotte counties; and the data we are collecting helps us incorporate the voices and real experiences of Kansans. Together, this ensures the recommendations our research produces can have real impact.”

Conserving water, generating energy

Kansas farmers and renewable energy producers are increasingly competing for the same resource: flat, sunny land. Farmers also need water for crops and are in a third year of tight crop profit margins. A team at KU’s Kansas Geological Survey, working with collaborators at K‑State, is testing an innovative approach to address all these challenges simultaneously.

Many irrigated fields use center‑pivot irrigation systems that sweep in a circle — watering a round field inside a square parcel and leaving the corners dry. Kansas Geological Survey researchers saw opportunity in those often-unused corners. They installed modified solar panels that both generate clean electricity and capture rainfall, directing it from collection gutters through the soil and back into the High Plains aquifer before it can evaporate or run off.

Led by KU scientists Sam Zipper and Hanna Szydlowski, the team installed the pilot system last fall. Early data shows increased soil moisture under the solar arrays and significant energy generation even in winter months. As the 2026 growing season approaches, the team will evaluate how much water the system can help return to the aquifer and how much farm energy use the system offsets during peak irrigation demand.

Meanwhile, K‑State economists are studying the financial side: how on‑farm energy production can generate additional income for cash-strapped crop farms and how improved groundwater recharge can improve long-term farm viability.

“This project explores the opportunity to generate additional income from an often-underutilized part of the farm while helping producers save water in the long run,” said Micah Cameron Harp, assistant professor of agricultural economics at K-State. “It’s a pragmatic Kansas solution to a pressing Kansas challenge.”

If solar recharge can help farmers stay productive and financially resilient while preserving groundwater for future generations, “it could be an energy, water and economic win-win-win for farms across Kansas,” Zipper said. “And we are working to build industry partnerships to start testing these types of systems at a larger scale.”

Better together for Kansas

These collaborations work because KU and K-State contribute different but complementary strengths to realize their shared vision for the role of public research universities in their home state — as drivers of people-centered innovation, economic prosperity and workforce development.

By combining capabilities — along with shared facilities, data and expertise — KU and K-State are moving ideas faster from the lab to the field and from models to real‑world solutions.

“On game day, we wear different colors,” Hooks sad. “But when it comes to research, we’re energized by opportunities to score points for Kansas.”