KU undergraduates Kyra Schrock and Ian Shire receive Courtwright Awards

LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas students who earned Undergraduate Research Awards are the recipients of the Courtwright Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence for spring 2025 through KU’s Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships.

Kyra Schrock

Kyra Schrock is a junior from Olathe in behavioral neuroscience and linguistics mentored by Melisa Rempfer, professor of psychology.

“Young adults who have navigated mental illness can face unique challenges in building recovery-oriented beliefs, especially as they enter a new chapter of their lives,” Schrock said. “My project explores how social support may shape recovery-oriented beliefs, with the long-term goal of improving interventions that empower individuals through community and connection.”

A poster titled “The Impact of Social Support on Recovery-Oriented Beliefs in Young Adults with Childhood or Adolescent Mental Health Diagnoses: A Secondary Analysis” focused on her research will be presented at the KU Department of Psychology 2025 Symposium for Undergraduate Psychology Engagement and Research (S.U.P.E.R.) poster event.

Ian Shire

Ian Shire is a senior from Lawrence in biochemistry and chemistry mentored by Zarko Boskovic, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry.

“Organic chemistry, a branch of chemistry dedicated to the structure, properties and reactivity of carbon-containing compounds, is an incredibly powerful tool," Shire said. “My work focuses on using organic chemistry to generate novel and intriguing molecular scaffolds for medicinally active compounds. I am currently exploring reactions between phosphorus disulfides and ring-strained oxiranes, which have been observed to generate heterocyclic sulfur-containing derivatives of phosphate esters, a common motif found in biological systems and prominently featured in DNA. These 'unnatural' derivatives of phosphate esters may have utility in DNA-related pharmaceuticals/disease monitoring, due to their inherent stability towards native nucleases.”

Shire has submitted an abstract and intends to present his work as a poster titled “Lawesson’s Reagent Can Mediate Ring Expansion of Strained Cyclic Ethers, an Efficient Route to Oxathiophospholane Heterocycles” at both the national and Midwest regional meetings of the American Chemical Society this fall. Additionally, he intends to finalize his work on this project over the summer and submit a manuscript for publication in scientific literature.

The Courtwright Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence was established at KU Endowment in 2020 through the contributions of David (class of 1974) and Chris Courtwright (class of 1983). The Courtwright Award seeks to recognize undergraduate students with majors in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences whose research and creative work stand to make meaningful contributions to their fields of study.

Courtwright Award finalists are selected from applications for the Undergraduate Research Awards each semester. This is the 10th iteration of this award.

Other spring 2025 finalists:

• Meghan Arias, a senior in microbiology from Olathe, "Identification of PARP14's Impact on HSV-1 Strain 17 Infection," mentored by David Davido, professor of molecular biosciences.
• Tamar Kopadze, a senior in microbiology from Gori, Georgia, "Sustainable Agriculture: Exploring the Impact of Soil Microbiome," mentored by Benjamin Sikes, associate professor of ecology & evolutionary biology.
• Sofie Young, a senior in speech-language-hearing from Shorewood, Illinois, "An Analysis of Social Communication Components and Its Related Hierarchy in Autistic Children," mentored by Meghan Davidson, associate professor of speech-language-hearing.