Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — Ten Kansas State University graduate students who are researching Kansas-related topics have been chosen to represent the university at the 12th Capitol Graduate Research Summit in early 2015.

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

"By focusing their research on topics important to our state, these students are making a difference in their communities and in their disciplines," said Carol Shanklin, dean of the Graduate School. "These students are demonstrating the quality of research being conducted at Kansas State University and the influence the results have on addressing key issues in our state."

Research and the State involved 37 participants from five colleges and 15 departments. The event was sponsored by the Graduate Student Council, the Graduate School, the office of the president and the office of the provost. Each winner received a $250 scholarship.

The 10 students will present at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in February 2015 in Topeka. The annual statewide summit for Kansas legislators features 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. A university professor and an industry representative will judge the poster and student presentations. The top two presenters from each university will be awarded a $500 scholarship.

The Kansas State University graduate students selected to present at the summit include:

• Grace Bokelman, master's student in grain science, Washington, Kansas, 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.

• Yadhu Guragain, doctoral student in grain science, Nepal, 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.