September 26, 2001

Contact: Ranjit Arab, University Relations, (785) 864-8855.

KU announces winners of the $10,000 Higuchi award for research achievement

LAWRENCE - The University of Kansas has announced the four recipients of the 2001 Higuchi/Endowment Research Achievement Awards.

Each winner will receive a $10,000 award to further their research efforts. The awards will be presented on Oct. 24 in the Bruckmiller Room of KU's Adams Alumni Center.

The professors chosen to receive this year's awards are:
 • F. Allan Hanson, professor of anthropology, humanities and Western civilization at KU, who will receive the Balfour Jeffrey Award for research achievement in humanities and social sciences.
 • Jeffrey Aube, professor of medicinal chemistry at KU, who will receive the Olin Petefish Award for research achievement in the basic sciences.
 • Joe Lutkenhaus, professor of microbiology, molecular genetics and immunology at the KU Medical Center, who will receive the Dolph Simons Award for research achievement in the biomedical sciences.
 • Larry E. Erickson, professor of chemical engineering at Kansas State University, who will receive the Irvin Youngberg Award for research achievement in the applied sciences.

The awards were established in 1981 by the late Takeru Higuchi, KU distinguished professor of chemistry and pharmacy and chair of the department of pharmaceutical chemistry, along with his wife, Aya. Higuchi created the award with the stipulation that faculty members at all Kansas regents institutions be eligible. The annual awards are named for people who have worked through the KU Endowment Association to further KU's overall research program.

Recipients may use their awards for research materials, summer salaries, fellowship matching funds, research assistance or other support.

 • F. Allan Hanson
Hanson received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago and did postdoctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh and Oxford University. He is regarded as an international authority on Polynesian cultures and the art of Oceania. He has published eight books and 65 chapters and refereed papers. One of his articles on the New Zealand Maori has been selected to appear in a collection of the most important papers published in American anthropology in the last 25 years.

Hanson is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has held fellowships and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He has been a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, Italy, and has recently completed an appointment as Distinguished Lecturer in Humanities and Western Civilization. Hanson is currently researching the impact of automated information technology on the organization of knowledge, with the support of a senior fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a research grant from the National Science Foundation.

 • Jeffrey Aube
Aube received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Duke University in 1984, and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. He was named a fellow in the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science in 1996, received the American Cyanamid Faculty Award in Organic Chemistry in 1993, and has been an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. Aube's numerous teaching awards include a W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the 1994 HOPE Award. He was the managing editor of Chemtracts -- Organic Chemistry from 1987 until early this year, and has been secretary of the AAAS chemistry division for the past six years. Aube has written more than 90 research articles, chapters, review articles and other scholarly works. He is professor of medicinal chemistry at KU where he has been a member of the faculty since 1986.

 • Larry E. Erickson
Erickson received his Ph.D. from Kansas State in chemical engineering. He became a full professor after only eight years on Kansas State's faculty. In his 36 years of service to the field of chemical engineering he has co-authored more than 330 papers covering a wide range of topics and has consulted with numerous international industrial clients and academic institutions. Erickson's professional memberships include Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, and the Society of Fermentation Technology of Japan.

He is co-author of chapters in six books and 330 journal articles and reports. Erickson serves as director of the Center for Hazardous Substance Research at Kansas State. The center's selection as one of only five national EPA Centers for hazardous substance research is a testimony to Erickson's ability to garner significant external funding as well as to function as a respected researcher and valued director. Significant advances in techniques for the remediation of contaminated soil developed through Erickson's research have resulted in cost savings at many field sites including sites in Kansas.

 • Joe Lutkenhaus
Lutkenhaus received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Iowa State University in 1969 and earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from UCLA in 1974. He did postdoctoral work at Edinburgh University in Scotland from 1975-1978 and the University of Connecticut Health Sciences Center from 1979-1980. He serves as professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology at the KU Medical Center where he has been a faculty member since 1981. Lutkenhaus serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Bacteriology, Microbiology, and the Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. He has published 74 refereed papers and been invited to and presented at more than 80 symposia, conferences and seminars all over the world. Lutkenhaus received a prestigious NIH Merit Award in 2000. He has been described by colleagues as being the world's leader in the area of bacterial cell division.