Student researchers in programs at Haskell and KU have been hard at work preparing for the yearly symposium that showcases their work. It’s coming up Thursday — a week to the day after the program director learned their federal grants had been cut without notice.
The 25th annual University of Kansas-Haskell Indian Nations University Student Research Symposium is set for 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10 at Stidham Union on Haskell’s campus.
There, 11 undergrads and 13 postbaccalaureate scholars will welcome the public and present on the bioscience research they’ve done with their professors’ mentorship. The students are involved in programs of KU’s Office for Advancing Success in Science, or OASiS.
Paulyn Cartwright, professor and director of OASiS, learned last week that the federal funding that four of five programs within the office receive has been terminated. The email she received stated as the reason for the termination only “due to changes in NIH/HHS (National Institutes of Health/Health and Human Services) priorities.” About 30 participants are currently involved in the affected programs.
Cartwright shared last week how devastated she was, and how unclear the situation remained — whether funds would even be available to ensure students could finish out the semester was unknown. As of Tuesday afternoon, she said she had no updates.
Mollie Rose Ahthawats Coffey, Comanche and Delaware, is a junior at KU majoring in microbiology. She holds her associate degree in natural sciences from Haskell, and she’s been preparing to participate in what will be her second research symposium.
Coffey has been a participant in two of the OASiS programs: the Bridges Program, which supports Haskell students who want to pursue a science major that isn’t offered at Haskell, in fall 2024, and currently the Maximizing Access to Research Careers program, or MARC, which helps support KU undergrads financially so they can get experience doing biomedical research that they otherwise might not be able to do.
“These programs have provided stability I could not have found elsewhere and have allowed me to be a scholar,” Coffey said.
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She’s been able to attain research hours she needed to become a competitive applicant for graduate and medical school, and “I have learned how to harness my skills in science and apply them to questions I would not have been able to understand without my experience with these programs,” she said.
She said she’s been able to grow so much academically and career-wise, but she’s also grown as a person in ways she doesn’t believe would be possible without the programs. She’s also been able to make connections in her field and attend research conferences.
With the programs cut, she’s lost her tuition assistance and stability. In addition, when she lost her car to mechanical issues last semester, MARC Program Coordinator Adri Gordey got her in touch with emergency funding; when her laptop broke earlier this semester, Bridges Program Coordinator Becky Welton at Haskell was able to provide her a laptop until she can graduate in fall 2026.
“The loss of these programs has been devastating as a student and an individual trying to survive through this economy,” she said. “… This is a blow that I can’t fully comprehend or explain.”
But Coffey is excited to present her research at Thursday’s symposium, which will give her an opportunity to show her growth as a researcher and as a presenter.
Coffey and two other students, Kate Rosa and Jared Melendrez, work in the immunology lab of Robin Orozco, assistant professor of molecular biosciences, studying an allele that is expressed in all immune cells, Coffey said.
“Our lab studies a mutation of this allele that is linked to autoimmunity and while there is a lot of research into what this mutation means for autoimmune diseases like diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, we have been focusing on its ability to clear virus and fight tumors,” Coffey said. “My current project is understanding how our mutation during virus infection affects weight loss. My poster is clarifying that a T cell called CD8 T cells does not mediate weight loss for our mutation during chronic virus infection.”
Coffey said she wants people to know that these programs are “in no way a waste of money” and that they’re necessary to continue inspiring students to become scientists and to provide opportunities for mentors to develop their skills as leaders in this community.
“This decision to cancel these programs that would not have happened if as a nation we appreciated scientific innovation and integrity,” she said. “Students in these programs are not to meet a quota or to give those from underrepresented backgrounds in science an easier path but to provide opportunities for individuals who wish to further scientific understanding from ecology to biotechnology.”
See a list of all student presenters and brief descriptions of their research at this link.
Read more on how federal funding cuts are directly affecting Lawrence and Douglas County community members in the articles linked below and on this page.
Contact information for the congressional delegation representing Lawrence and Douglas County is available at this link. The nonprofit 5 Calls, 5calls.org, has phone numbers and templates of scripts to help people make their voices heard on several federal issues.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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