Ruth Welti receives Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Award

A Kansas State University faculty member has received a 2026 Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Award, the state of Kansas's most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence in higher education. Ruth Welti, university distinguished professor and Edwin G. & Lillian J. Brychta Chair of Biology, is this year’s recipient of the Olin Petefish Award in Basic Sciences.

Appointed as K-State's director of core facilities in 2024, Welti’s work focuses on plant lipid biochemistry. Her research helps illuminate how plants respond to changing environmental conditions and stress, providing important insights into plants, including economically significant crops.

Welti has pioneered methods for extracting lipids from biological samples and for identifying and quantifying them by mass spectrometry. Her lab’s contributions have advanced the understanding of basic lipid metabolism, including how plant lipid composition is remodeled in response to cold exposure and the characterization of critical enzymes present in plant stress responses.

"My research efforts over the past 25 years have been split between trying to advance our understanding of lipids and providing analytical service to a community of scientists in Kansas and beyond,” Welti said. “It’s gratifying to be recognized for that mix of activities. I’m also very thankful for my colleagues who’ve worked alongside me and for the financial support of our work.”

In addition to her work at K-State, Welti co-founded and serves as the director of the Kansas Lipidomics Research Center, or KLRC. The center is used by researchers worldwide and provides unique training opportunities for learners from undergraduate students to postdoctoral researchers.

Welti has published more than 130 primary research articles and 28 additional reviews, methods papers and book chapters. She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012 and designated a pioneer member of the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2023.

“This is a well-deserved recognition of Dr. Welti’s many contributions to lipidomics and her dedication to advancing research at K-State,” said Hans Coetzee, vice president for research. “We are proud of her success and look forward to celebrating with her at the award ceremony in April.”

The Olin Petefish Research Award is given in recognition of research achievement in the basic sciences to an individual who has a major and substantial impact and who has been of national and/or international interest. This individual’s research is characterized as either profoundly influencing later development in a field or as representing a productive record of significant research that has illuminated basic processes or basic phenomena.