Interdisciplinary projects
The Kansas Water Institute uses new approaches to sustainable food and agriculture production. These interdisciplinary research projects integrate information and data from the KSU-Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) Program.
The KSU-TAPS program is an innovative, “citizen-science” approach that combines interactive learning with interdisciplinary research. The KSU-TAPS program invites Kansas producers to join a farm-management competition where they will make real-time decisions which will be implemented in replicated plots on the same field. The competition is structured to enable direct comparison and evaluation of each team’s production, efficiency, and economic outcomes.
Wildcat Hackathon: Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Water Use in Kansas
This project will host a campus-wide, interdisciplinary hackathon leveraging data from the KSU-TAPS platform. The hackathon will be opened to all K-State students, who will form teams to create the first ever campus-wide and water-centric competition of this nature. Participants in the hackathon will be challenged to create innovative solutions that translate field observations into actionable decisions, with the aim of enhancing sustainable water management and conservation practices.
PI: Andres Patrignani, Agronomy
Creation of Novel Use Case Studies Based on Actual TAPS Data
This project will create new and novel case studies based on real-life examples from KSU-TAPS program participants. These case studies will engage learners in evaluating how they would make management decisions on their “farm.” Agronomic, weather, economic, and social aspects of each “case” will be incorporated into to narrative to deepen the learning experience. Each “case” can be integrated into existing courses at the secondary and post-secondary levels to strengthen key academic skills.
PI: Gaea Hock, Agricultural Education
Bilingual Initiatives to Address Pressing Water Sustainability Challenges
Project Abstract: The project team will conduct research and engage with the Spanish-speaking farming communities in Garden City and Dodge Kansas respectively—by conducting interviews and gathering data to unveil critical water needs and issues in the region, write a report about the findings and the specific water sustainability needs in the farming community, and publish an article. This will be the base to develop a new interdisciplinary course, “Water in the Americas”, taught in Spanish, that will delve into the complexities of sustainable water management from Western Kansas to Southern Chile. This transformative course will equip students with the knowledge and skills to address water challenges in Kansas and beyond, fostering bilingual education, promoting cross-cultural understanding, and empowering future leaders in sustainable water management.
PI: Maria Theresa DePaoli and Raelynne Hale, Modern Languages
Informing an environmental live cycle assessment (LCA) using TAPS program data
This project will use KSU-TAPS program data to inform environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) in both research and education activities. LCA is a systems-thinking framework through which environmental impacts of a product system throughout its lifetime are quantified. KSU-TAPS data detailing water, fertilizer, and other chemical inputs will be used to develop robust inventory models and uncertainty analyses. A key focus of inventory development will be to inform regional water footprint analysis (using both irrigation and soil moisture data), which will support future research to trace water and other environmental flows through beef, bioenergy, and other corn-based production systems.
PI: Trisha Moore, Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Refining soil moisture estimation by integrating satellite data with local irrigation practices
This interdisciplinary research aims to refine soil moisture estimation by integrating satellite data with local irrigation practices. The project will employ advanced statistical and machine learning techniques, including random forests and neural networks, to downscale the passive microwave SMAP radiometric data with higher-resolution ground-based observations and ancillary data, such as surface temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, topography, land cover, and soil characteristics. The team will integrate irrigation data from the KSU-TAPS project to allow for the calibration and validation of the downscaling models, ensuring they accurately reflect the actual soil moisture dynamics influenced by human activities. By combining expertise from remote sensing, agronomy, hydrology, and data science, the project aims to produce highly accurate soil moisture maps at both higher spatial and temporal resolutions.
PI: Jeeban Panthi, Biological and Agricultural Engineering