K-State graduate students recognized with excellence awards from university distinguished professors
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024
Kansas State University has recognized three graduate students with the University Distinguished Professors Excellence in Doctoral Studies Award. Awardees are pictured above, from left: Kiana Schulze, doctoral candidate in kinesiology; Zhenjiao Du, doctoral candidate in grain science; and Ashley Schiffer, doctoral candidate in psychology. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Three Kansas State University doctoral students have been recognized with the University Distinguished Professors Excellence in Doctoral Studies Award for their outstanding achievements in academic and scholarly work from the university's highest-ranking professors.
The recipients are Kiana Schulze, doctoral candidate in kinesiology, Shawnee; Zhenjiao Du, doctoral candidate in grain science, Hubei Province, China; and Ashley Schiffer, doctoral candidate in psychology, Northville, Michigan.
The awards recognize doctoral candidates who have accomplished exceptional achievements in graduate studies. These doctoral students demonstrated excellence in scholarship through publications and other accomplishments suitable for their academic fields. The university distinguished professors group established guidelines and criteria to evaluate candidates and partnered with the Graduate School to coordinate the selection process.
The goal of Schulze's research is to understand how impaired blood flow to muscles, including the diaphragm and skeletal muscles, contributes to difficulty breathing and reduced exercise capacity in pulmonary hypertension patients. The next step in her research, Schulze said, is to explore interventions that act on the diaphragm blood vessels with the hopes that they will improve muscle blood flow. This information will inform patient treatment plans and allow them to live more comfortable and active lives.
Schulze said she became interested in her research as an undergraduate student at K-State while taking the Exercise Physiology course: "I remember asking Dr. Tim Musch to elaborate on why something happened, and he said, 'We don’t really know yet,' and it occurred to me how much more there is to learn, and that research was the avenue to be at the forefront of finding answers to some of these questions."
Schulze received a $2,600 award to recognize her doctoral work. Schulze's major professors are David C. Poole, university distinguished professor of kinesiology and physiology, and Tim Musch, university distinguished professor of exercise physiology. View a brief video summary of Schulze's research.
Du's research pertains to bioactive peptides, which are protein fragments with beneficial biological effects.
"My research focuses on developing machine learning models to predict the bioactivity of peptides derived from agricultural byproducts," Du said. "These models allow us to virtually screen for high-activity peptides, guide the design of wet-lab experiments for protein hydrolysate preparation and significantly reduce the costs associated with trial-and-error experiments."
Du's research has successfully validated the use of protein language models in peptide sequence representation, leading to the design of more than 20 predictive models for peptide property prediction. These models are deployed on user-friendly web servers, gaining recognition in the food chemistry and biochemistry communities. Du said the predictive models help researchers efficiently identify potential protein candidates.
Du received a $2,600 award to recognize his doctoral work. Du’s major professor is Yonghui Li, associate professor of grain science and industry. View a brief video summary of Du's research.
Schiffer's research examines perceptions of suicide by people with a terminal illness, including perception variation regarding method and motive.
"My research consistently shows that people generally have favorable attitudes toward people with terminal illnesses who commit suicide," Schiffer said. "My dissertation research suggests that attitudes are more favorable when the suicide method is medical in nature. Interestingly, I did not find many differences in perceptions across various suicide motives, like physical pain and mental distress. These studies have implications for understanding stigma, cause of death reporting, and potentially voting behaviors related to health care policy and practices."
Schiffer received a $2,600 award to recognize her doctoral work. Schiffer's major professor is Don Saucier, university distinguished teaching scholar and professor of psychology. View a brief video summary of Schiffer's research.
University distinguished professors Mary Kirkham, crop physiology and soil-plant water relations; Jun Li, chemistry; and Yoonseong Park, entomology, served on the award selection committee.
"Selecting the top recipients for the UDP Excellence in Doctoral Studies Award was an incredibly challenging task due to the impressive number of highly qualified applicants, each bringing unique skills and knowledge," Park said. "The strengths these applicants have demonstrated across diverse research fields at Kansas State University highlight the vibrant academic community at K-State."
The awards are made possible through a combination of donations from individual university distinguished professors and external donors.
