Kansas State University

Ten graduate students to present research posters at the Capitol

Submitted by Megan Miller

The 17th Capitol Graduate Research Summit on Wednesday, Feb. 26, will feature 10 Kansas State University graduate students whose research address topics with important implications for issues in the state of Kansas, including insecticides, groundwater management, crop management, prostate cancer, survivors of sexual violence and gender framing.

The event will be on the first-floor rotunda of the State Capitol Building in Topeka. The statewide summit includes current research from graduate students at Kansas State University, Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Pittsburg State University, University of Kansas, the University of Kansas Medical Center and Wichita State University. Graduate students will present their research posters from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and interact with legislators and the public.

A university professor and an industry representative will judge the student poster presentations. The top presenters from each university will be awarded a $500 scholarship. In addition, BioKansas will select a winner from each university whose research has the greatest potential for commercialization. Each winner will receive a $100 award and a certificate for enrollment in a professional development workshop from BioKansas.

The 10 K-State presenters were chosen based on their research presentations at Research and the State, an annual on-campus event, in October 2019:

• Dryden Baumfalk, doctoral student in kinesiology, "Effects of prostate cancer and exercise training on left ventricular function and cardiac and skeletal muscle mass."
• Arvind Damodara Kannan, doctoral student in civil engineering, "Beneficial recovery of ammonia from swine wastewater for reuse as targeted slow release fertilizer."
• Ashish Kumar, doctoral student in biochemistry, "Fluorescence assays for detection, discrimination and quantification of siderophores."
• Stephen Lauer, doctoral student in sociology, "Conserving Kansas communities through voluntary group efforts to manage Ogallala groundwater."
• Randall Martin, master's student in grain science, "Functional starch properties of extrusion pre-cooked chickpea flours."
• Paige McAllister, doctoral student in couple and family therapy, "Self-compassion in the aftermath of sexual violence."
• Hannah Quellhorst, doctoral student in entomology, "Efficacy of novel, reduced-risk insecticides as an alternative management tactic for postharvest insects in food facilities."
• Paula Silva, doctoral student in genetics, "Harnessing the wild side to improve wheat curl mite resistance."
• Holly Speck, master's student in mass communication, "Band of brothers (and sisters): Gender framing in U.S. Army commercial advertising."
• Catherine Stewart, doctoral student in genetics, "Seasonal effects of cover crops and phosphorus fertilizer management on PLFA and microbial biomass in a no-till corn-soybean cropping system in northeastern Kansas."