KU professor of economics William Barnett. Photo courtesy of Kansas University.

Wichita state professor of chemistry William Groutas. Photo Courtesy of Kansas University.

KU professor of physics and astronomy Siyuan Han. Photo courtesy of Kansas University.

Kansas State University professor of agronomy Mary Beth Kirkham. Photo courtesy of Kansas University.

Four faculty members from Kansas universities have been awarded the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards.

Honorees for the 32nd annual Higuchi research awards, named in part for late Kansas University pharmacy professor Takeru Higuchi, were announced today. The honorees will be recognized at an Oct. 30 ceremony at the Lied Center. The award comes with a $10,000 prize.

Awards are given in four categories, with each named after former high-level KU Endowment officials who each played a role in recruiting Higuchi to the university.

This year’s award winners are: William Barnett, a KU professor of economics who won the Balfour Jeffrey Award in Humanities and Social Sciences; William Groutas, a professor of chemistry at Wichita State who won the Dolph Simons Award in Biomedical Sciences; Siyuan Han, a KU professor of physics and astronomy who won the Olin Petefish Award in Basic Science; and Mary Beth Kirkham, a Kansas State University professor of agronomy who won the Irvin Youngberg award for Applied Sciences.