Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University's annual Phi Zeta Research Day shines a spotlight on the research efforts of graduate students working toward Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Master of Science, Master of Public Health and/or doctoral degrees at the university's College of Veterinary Medicine.

The annual event is organized by the university chapter of Phi Zeta, a professional honor society for veterinary medicine. This year's event, March 4, included oral and poster presentations describing basic or clinical research as well as clinical veterinary case reports. At an evening awards ceremony, several awards for the day are presented, along with some awards from the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Students earning awards included:

• Ashlea Berry, third-year veterinary medicine student, Goddard, Miller Pathology Scholarship Award.

• Scott Ferguson, doctoral student in physiology, Hillsboro, A.S.R. Ganta Graduate Student Award.

• Laura Constance, Manhattan, research poster award for "Cochlear pendrin expression is not a requirement for maintaining hearing after noise exposure."

• Megan Niederwerder, doctoral student in pathobiology, Manhattan, first place in clinical science, applied research companion animal or other presentations for "Clinical response of 4-week old pigs following challenge with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus" and first place in clinical science or applied research food animal presentations for "Characterizing the effects of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) modified-live virus vaccination on the response of 8-week old pigs to co-infection with PRRS virus and porcine circovirus type 2."

• Michelle Pavlick, third-year veterinary medicine student, Manhattan, A.S.R. Ganta Veterinary Student Award.

• Ellen Heinrich, second-year veterinary medicine student and master's student in public health, Wamego, third place in clinical science, applied research companion animal or other presentations for "Public health campaign to promote hand hygiene before meals in a college of veterinary medicine," research poster award for "Effect of Sucralfate on the Relative Bioavailability of Minocycline in Greyhound Dogs" and the Dr. Cornelius Graduate Student Travel Award.

From out of state:

• Jennifer Reinhart, master's student in biomedical science, Buffalo Grove, Ill., second place in clinical science, applied research companion animal or other presentations for "Mean corpuscular volume difference (dMCV) as a marker for serum hypertonicity during water deprivation in dogs."

• Aaron Schaffer, third-year veterinary medicine student, Fairbury, Ill., second place in clinical science, applied research companion animal or other presentations for "The association between calfhood BRDC and subsequent departure from the herd, milk production, and reproduction: an observational, retrospective, study."

• Shane Terrell, doctoral student in pathobiology, Gothenburg, Neb., Mahlon Vorhies Production Animal Award.

• Michael Porta, first-year veterinary medicine student, Suffern, N.Y., the Benjamin and Catherine Kurz Research Scholarship.

From out of country:

• Pragathi B. Shridhar, master's student in biomedical science, India, third place in clinical science, applied research companion animal or other presentations for "Prevalence and characterization of E. coli O104 in cattle feces."

• Vinay Shivanna, doctoral student in pathobiology, India, first place in basic science research presentations for "Host Factors Required for Entry of Caliciviruses into Host Cells" and received the Dr. Harish C. and Ved K. Minocha Scholarship.