To UM System President Mun Choi
Written by Rodney J. Uphoff
Feb. 23, 2026

For the past seven years, I have provided you a report summarizing the activities and outputs of the UMSAEP for the prior year. As in past years, I reached out to 135 past UMSAEP awardees and requested updates on 2025 activities with an UMSAEP collaborator. I received a response from 102 awardees. It is likely that some of the people did not respond because they left the UM System or UWC, retired or passed away. Indeed, based on email responses, I now know that at least 14 of the 135 have retired or left either the UM System or UWC. This report only reflects the significant outputs of those responders still working at UWC or for the UM System. I suspect a few of the non-responders may still be involved in an active collaboration, but I believe I have captured most but probably not all of the 2025 outputs. Moreover, a significant number of the respondents specifically mentioned that it had been many years since they received an UMSAEP grant and were no longer in any contact with their former collaborator. Thus, it is not surprising that they had no outputs to report. On the other hand, some researchers continue to work productively with a UWC or UM System collaborator despite not receiving any recent UMSAEP grant. 

Publications

UM System and UWC faculty reported that one book was published in 2025 and one more has been accepted and will be published in 2026. One book chapter was published in 2025, and another submitted for publication. 31 manuscripts or articles were published during 2025 and two more were published in open access journals. Two more have been accepted for publication and six additional articles have been submitted for publication and were under review or revision. In addition, UMSAEP participants reported 20 manuscripts were in progress.

Conference papers/presentations

UMSAEP participants reported five international and 10 national conference presentations based on their collaborative work. 

Grants

UM System and UWC faculty reported submitted four external grant applications last year that were not funded and two more that were submitted and are under review. Several grant applications are in progress and should be submitted this year. The following grants were awarded in 2025 based on UMSAEP-funded work: 

  • Bryan Books (UMKC) received a $409,000 grant from the Internet Society Foundation to address global internet related issues.
  • David Mendoza-Cozatl (MU) received a $649,995 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) for the period of February 2026 through January 2029. 
  • Jennifer Chipps (UWC) received $162,257 from the Swiss National Science Foundation to study VR simulations for nurse training. MU's Knoo Lee is a consultant on the project. 
  • Marshall Keyster (UWC) and Ashwil Klein (UWC) received a 2025 industry-linked grant from GrainSA for ZAR 534,408. This work package is related to the UMSAEP collaboration with co-PIs Mendoza-Cozatl, Walter Gassman and Antje Heese (MU). 
  • Keyster (UWC) also received a 2025 grant of ZAR 500,000 from UWC's Sibusiso Bengu Fund as a result of his new position as research chair. This work package is also related to the UMSAEP collaboration with co-PIs Mendoza-Cozatl and Heese (MU). 
  • Wilson Majee (MU) received a $10,000 grant from the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, South Africa to work with his multiple South African collaborators. 
  • Keenau Pearce (UWC) received a 2025 grant of ZAR 200,000 per year for three years from the South African Medical Research Council. 
  • Keagan Pokpas (UWC) received a grant of ZAR 480,000 from the South African Medical Research Council and one of ZAR 300,000 from the National Research Foundation. 
  • Natasha Ross (UWC) received a grant of ZAR 545,000 from the National Research Foundation for 2024–26 to work on solar technology. 

Creating student research opportunities/capacity building

The UM System has played a major role in helping to build capacity at UWC since the inception of this partnership. This continued in 2025.

  • UWC's Mongi Benjeddou's Ph.D. student Samantha Cairncross learned valuable skills working with MU's Greg Biedermann. Based on her work in Missouri, she was able to finish her thesis and earn her Ph.D. in 2025. 
  • MU's David Mendoza-Cozatl co-supervised two of UWC's Marshall Keyster's students — Adele Barker and Kacey Hattingh — in his lab in fall 2024. Barker earned her Ph.D. in 2025. 
  • UMKC's Jerry Wyckoff is supervising Tershlin Jephtha, one of UWC's David Fisher's Ph.D. students who received a Fulbright scholarship to study at UMKC. 
  • Former UWC student Etienne Nkongolo received his Ph.D. from UMKC in May 2025. Another former UWC student, Resicky Kalombe, previously earned a Ph.D. at UMKC under John Kevern's supervision. A third UWC student, Evral Ntsa, is working on a Ph.D. program at UMKC and is hoping to finish in 2026.
  • Rucia November, a UWC Ph.D. student, earned her doctorate in sports science in 2025. UMSL's Haiyan Cai and UWC's Lloyd Leach co-supervised November and her visit to UMSL was critical in completing her thesis. 
  • UMKC's Thiagarajan Ganesh worked with UWC's Kiran Palakurthy to complete his Ph.D. dissertation. Palakurthy earned his Ph.D. in 2025.
  • MU's Michelle Teti work with UWC's Brian Van Wyck to develop a photovoice training program. In 2025, two of Van Wyck's students — Yoland Mayman and Charne Petinger — completed their projects and earned Ph.D.s based on that training last year, and also authored four publications from this work. 
  • S&T's Sajal Das is co-supervising one of UWC's Antione Bagula's Ph.D. students, Ferdinand Kahenga, who completed his thesis in 2025 and will earn his Ph.D. later this year.
  • MU's Antionette Landor took four Mizzou students with her on a research trip to UWC in 2022. In 2024, one of those students, Jasmine Godwin, was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship of $159,000. A second student, Jessica Marmolejos, was selected for a $20,000 John D. Bies International Discovery Fellowship in 2025. 
  • While a UWC Ph.D. student, Olanreqaju Fatoba worked in the Rolla lab of S&T's Kwame Awuah-Offei. After completing his Ph.D., Fatoba was hired as an assistant research professor in mining and explosive engineering at S&T, specializing in sustainable mining practices with research interests in materials, heavy metals in fly ash and explosives. He is an active researcher with numerous publications, focusing on environmental impacts in mining and contributing to research groups like the Mine Sustainability Modeling Research Group. Fatoba is currently hosting a UWC post-doc in his lab on an UMSAEP-funded project. 

Faculty promotion/awards

UWC's Marshall Keyster's application was successful for the South African Research Chair Initiative in Sustainable Agriculture (Tier 1), which will include UMSAEP activities in collaboration with MU. UWC's Chris Arendse was also selected for the South African Research Chair Initiative in Physics. 

Conclusion

This report highlights the major outputs of the UMSAEP in 2025. Find reports that describe the broad range of UMSAEP-funded projects across a variety of academic disciplines.