Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — The 12th Capitol Graduate Research Summit will feature 10 Kansas State University graduate students researching a variety of topics important to Kansas, including animal health, nutritional quality of grain products, food safety, product quality and pest management, among other topics.

The event is Thursday, Feb. 12, on the second floor rotunda of the Kansas State Capitol Building in Topeka. The statewide forum includes current research of graduate students at Kansas State University, the University of Kansas, the University of Kansas Medical Center, Wichita State University, Fort Hays State University and Pittsburg State University.

Graduate students will present their research posters from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and interact with legislators, the Kansas Board of Regents and the public. Members of the community are invited to attend.

"Our students show the value of graduate education by demonstrating how their research benefits our state and communities," said Carol Shanklin, dean of Kansas State University's Graduate School. "The research summit provides an opportunity for our students to interact with legislators and share their valuable research with statewide leaders and interested citizens."

University professors and industry representatives will judge the students' posters and presentations. The top presenters from each university will be awarded a $500 scholarship.

The 10 Kansas State University students were chosen based on their research presentations at Research and the State, an annual on-campus event that occurred Oct. 28, 2014, in the K-State Student Union.

The following Kansas State University graduate students will present at the summit:

• Yadhu Guragain, doctoral student in grain science, Manhattan, for "Evaluation of sorghum and its mutants for efficient grain and biofuels production." His faculty mentor is Praveen Vadlani, associate professor of grain science and industry.

• Grace Bokelman, master's student in grain science, Washington, for "Evaluating the use of long-term conditioning or extrusion to extract nutrients from low energy feedstuffs in finisher pigs." Her faculty mentor is Cassie Jones, assistant professor of grain science and industry.

• Curtis Maughan, doctoral student in human nutrition, Lake Mary, Florida, for "Unsafe behaviors observed in consumers when cooking poultry and eggs." His faculty mentor is Edgar Chambers IV, university distinguished professor of human nutrition.

• Shelby Magnuson, master's student in human nutrition, Normal, Illinois, for "Flavor of raw pecan cultivars grown in Kansas." Her faculty mentor is Kadri Koppel, assistant professor of human nutrition.

• Roger Cochrane, master's student in grain science, Bloomfield, Indiana, for "Effectiveness of various chemical mitigation strategies on post-processing contamination of PEDV in feed and feed components." His faculty mentor is Cassie Jones, assistant professor of grain science and industry.

• Ryan Schmid, doctoral student in entomology, Kingsley, Iowa, for "Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor, response to different colors of LEDs." His faculty mentor is Brian McCornack, associate professor of entomology.

• Jan Vosahlik, doctoral student in civil engineering, Czech Republic, for "Air Void Clustering in Concrete." His faculty mentor is Kyle Riding, associate professor of civil engineering.

• Kavitha Penugonda, doctoral student in human nutrition, India, for "Iron bioavailability of sorghum, cowpea, corn and soybean fortified blended foods." Her faculty mentor is Brian Lindshield, associate professor of human nutrition.

• Raghavender Siramdas, doctoral student in chemistry, India, for "Time-controlled thermal effects on the synthesis of indium phosphide nanocrystals." His faculty mentor is Emily McLaurin, assistant professor of chemistry.

• Rukmini Puri Giri, master's student in entomology, Nepal, for "Prevalence of shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in house flies from cattle feedlots." Her faculty mentor is Ludek Zurek, professor of entomology.