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KU Debate qualifies third team for National Debate Tournament
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas debate team of junior Jacob Wilkus, Lawrence, and Owen Williams, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, have qualified for the National Debate Tournament in Atlanta from April 5-8. Wilkus and Williams were selected as at-large qualifiers for the National Debate Tournament by the tournament’s selection committee based on their record over the course of the season. They are the third KU pair to qualify for the tournament this year.
Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives prestigious NSF award for black hole research
LAWRENCE — A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation will help a University of Kansas scholar continue her groundbreaking research on supermassive black holes. Elisabeth Mills, assistant professor of physics & astronomy, received the five-year, $821,724 grant from the NSF. Along with helping to develop her research, Mills said the award will also support department outreach efforts, like the popular KU AstroNights telescope viewing events, as well as provide important opportunities for KU students.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Scott Harris, KU Debate, 785-864-9878, [email protected], @KansasDebate
KU Debate qualifies third team for National Debate Tournament
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas debate team of junior Jacob Wilkus, Lawrence, and Owen Williams, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, have qualified for the National Debate Tournament in Atlanta from April 5-8.
Wilkus and Williams were selected as at-large qualifiers for the National Debate Tournament (NDT) by the tournament’s selection committee based on their record over the course of the season. They are the third KU pair to qualify for the tournament this year. They join seniors Graham Revare, Shawnee; William Soper, Bucyrus; John Marshall, Lawrence; and Jiyoon Park, Topeka; who had already qualified.
To qualify as a third team, a team must be one of the six best third-teams in the country over the season.
“Qualifying for the NDT as a third team is incredibly difficult, and Jacob and Owen earned it with a remarkable season,” said Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway Director of Debate.
The other schools that qualified three teams to the tournament are Dartmouth College, Emory University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University and Wake Forest University. This is the ninth straight year that KU has qualified three teams for the NDT and the 57th consecutive year of qualifying one or more teams to compete at the NDT.
KU has won the National Debate Tournament six times and reached the Final Four 19 times.
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Contact: Ranjit Arab, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, [email protected], @KUCollege
Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives prestigious NSF award for black hole research
LAWRENCE — A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation will help a University of Kansas Department of Physics & Astronomy professor continue her groundbreaking research on supermassive black holes.
Elisabeth Mills, assistant professor of physics & astronomy, received the five-year, $821,724 grant from the NSF for her research on how supermassive black holes grow.
Every galaxy, including our own Milky Way galaxy, has a supermassive black hole at its center, yet very little is known about how black holes gather gas from their surroundings to grow bigger. Mills will use some of the world’s most powerful telescopes — the Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile — to observe supermassive black holes in neighboring galaxies.
She said the goal is to study the gas and dust in the centers of these galaxies to better understand when they might become the next meal for the black holes.
“This work helps us understand how our own Milky Way galaxy has been formed and how the growth of its black hole might change our galaxy in the future,” Mills said.
The NSF’s CAREER Award is the most prestigious awards given to faculty members beginning their independent careers, providing support to advance outstanding research through commitment to teaching, learning and disseminating knowledge. Along with helping to develop her research, Mills said the award will also support department outreach efforts, like the popular KU AstroNights telescope viewing events, as well as provide important opportunities for KU students.
“It gives students in my group the opportunity to make connections with internationally renowned astronomers from all over the world and makes KU visible on an international stage,” she said.
Arash Mafi, executive dean of KU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, said the award reflects the high caliber of research taking place within the College.
“We are thrilled that the NSF has recognized Professor Mills’ innovative work,” Mafi said. “It is further proof of the world-class research being conducted across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.”
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