K-State Current - January 27, 2021

K-State Current is a weekly news update for the Kansas Board of Regents to apprise the Regents on a few of the many successes and achievements made by K-State faculty, staff and students.

K-State News

Rural Education Center receives NSF grant focusing on drones and geoscience careers

The Rural Education Center in the Kansas State University College of Education has received a $340,000 National Science Foundation grant for using drones and other technology to encourage rural students' interest in geoscience degrees and careers.

"SOARING: Sharing Opportunities, Approaches, and Resources in New Geo-teaching" is a three-year grant that will provide training on the latest in geotechnology for teachers and students at middle schools and high schools in eight partner rural school districts. It will target geotechnology applications of airborne remote sensing in the areas of environmental and hazardous geology, water resources and geology mapping.

According to current data, Project SOARING will likely reach more than 4,400 middle and high school students in Kansas, including more than 1,900 female rural students, 2,200 Hispanic/Latino rural students and more than 200 students underrepresented in STEM fields. School districts involved are Ashland USD 220, Clay County USD 379, Dighton USD 482, Haviland USD 474, Lakin USD 215, Liberal USD 480, Skyline USD 438 and Twin Valley USD 240, all members of the Rural Education Center's newly established Rural Professional Development School network.

"Jobs in education and agriculture are two staples in rural communities and the possibilities are increasing because of this technology," said Debbie Mercer, dean of the K-State College of Education. "Project SOARING is the Rural Education Center's latest multidisciplinary initiative to help rural communities protect their greatest natural resource: their young."

Spencer Clark, associate professor of curriculum and instruction and Rural Education Center director, is the grant's principal investigator. Co-principal investigators are Lori Goodson, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and Rural Education Center assistant director; Aida Farough, teaching assistant professor in the K-State geology department; and Shawn Keshmiri, professor in the aerospace engineering department at the University of Kansas and faculty/researcher with the KU Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets.

"Our Rural Education Center is always looking for ways to bring innovative career awareness and exploration to rural schools in Kansas," Clark said. "This is a very exciting project because not only does it involve teachers and students, it will also expose students to possible career opportunities they'd never considered."

Each year of the grant, nine teachers, accompanied by student apprentices from their schools, will participate in summer training on the KU campus and then teach middle schoolers on the K-State campus. A key element for Project SOARING is the Summer STEM Institute, a successful partnership between Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 and the K-State College of Education. Recently completing its 10th summer, the STEM institute serves around 325 students with a variety of STEM courses. The nine teachers selected for Project SOARING will also teach content at the institute.

Goodson said she is especially excited to see two of her main areas of interest — providing additional opportunities for rural teachers and students, as well as exposing more people to the Summer STEM Institute, which she has coordinated for the past seven years — converging for this project.

"The Summer STEM Institute is an incredible experience for middle schoolers, teachers, and our pre-service teachers who assist with the various classes," Goodson said. "Through Project SOARING, we can expand the institute's reach and impact by including rural students in this opportunity."

University-licensed compound selected as candidate against COVID-19 Yunjeong Kim, left, and Kyeong-Ok "KC" Chang, both virologists in the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine who have developed broad-spectrum protease inhibitors that have been selected as the preclinical lead compound for further development by Cocrystal Pharma.

As the pandemic continues, hope is in sight with the production and distribution of new vaccines and treatments. Kansas State University is continuing to help in the fight with a licensed technology against coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Cocrystal Pharma, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, recently announced that a series of broad-spectrum protease inhibitors developed at K-State and licensed through K-State Innovation Partners in April 2020 has been selected as a preclinical lead compound for further development.

The licensed protease inhibitors were developed by Kyeong-Ok "KC" Chang and Yunjeong Kim, virologists in the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with William Groutas at Wichita State University and Stanley Perlman at the University of Iowa.

"The current FDA-approved drugs for COVID-19 have different mechanisms of action," Kim said. "Further studies are required to reveal the therapeutic potency of our protease inhibitor compared to other approved drugs. Drugs targeting different virus proteins are often combined to maximize their efficacy, so it is always nice to have a repertoire of drugs that work in different ways."

Preclinical animal studies of these K-State coronavirus compounds published in the prestigious medical journal Science Translational Medicine showed in vivo efficacy against Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, or MERS, a related deadly human coronavirus infection, in a mouse model. Further testing allowed Cocrystal to identify this promising candidate for preclinical lead development for COVID-19. According to the company, there is significant potential for delivering this compound either for injection or inhalation and for potential use as both a therapeutic and prophylactic, protecting uninfected individuals who may become exposed.

“Choosing a preclinical candidate is a very significant milestone decision,” Chang said.

With the selection of this candidate, the company will initiate studies to evaluate potential toxicity risks and conduct safety pharmacology studies before the phase 1 clinical trial.

"It is very exciting to see the basic research from Drs. Chang and Kim and their colleagues translated into drug development to fight COVID-19," said Beth Montelone, K-State interim vice president for research.

This is one of several new technologies that K-State has licensed to corporate partners to combat the disease. Additionally, more than $7.7 million in contracts for COVID-19 research at K-State have been secured.

"Long before COVID-19 came along, we worked collaboratively on protease inhibitors for important human and animal viruses, such as MERS, human norovirus and feline infectious peritonitis, a deadly feline coronavirus infection — some of which are also under commercial development," Kim said. "So, we think that our research, along with other high-impact COVID-19-related research currently going on at Kansas State University by many different laboratories, shows our strengths as a research institution."

K-State recognized for CliftonStrengths program K-State student CliftonStrengths Peer Coaches with Mike Finnegan, director of the program, show off the Don Clifton Strengths for Students Award

The Staley School of Leadership Studies is pleased to announce that Kansas State University was awarded the Don Clifton Strengths for Students Award. Universities that receive this award are exceptional in helping students utilize their strengths to achieve success in the classroom and beyond. Educational leaders in the CliftonStrengths program are focused on what is strong with students, not what is wrong. Read more about the award.

K-State has been a CliftonStrengths school since 2012 and will continue to focus on student engagement and well-being because of the financial investment from the Mistler Family Foundation. Led by the Staley School of Leadership Studies, K-State’s aim is to help students identify and develop students’ top five Clifton Strengths as they transition in, through and out of K-State.

The program compels students to focus on strengths and not weaknesses. This type of thinking can improve students’ self-awareness, lead to understanding how to work well with others and increase confidence to overcome challenges and obstacles.

“We are thrilled to provide campus leadership to facilitate a program that is not just in the best interest of individual students, but for the university community as a whole. As our campus community makes a commitment to the strengths development of our students, faculty and staff, we are helping to create the conditions for people to play to their strengths more often than not so they can thrive,” said Mike Finnegan, Staley School professor and campus lead of the K-State CliftonStrengths program.

Strengths Peer Coaches, who are also K-State students, have been instrumental in helping Wildcats further develop their strengths. Nearly 700 K-State students are served each year through a peer coaching session. The coaches help their peers name, claim and aim their strengths toward individual and collective goals that improve our campus community.

The CliftonStrengths assessment is free to new and incoming K-State students, but if you haven’t taken it yet, visit the website to learn more about how to unlock your top five strengths. Students can also schedule a session with a Strengths Peer Coach to learn how their strengths drive goal attainment and personal success.

K-State Faculty Highlights

Michelle Geering and Karol Fike recognized as Professional Staff and Professor of the Week Michelle Geering, left, public information officer in the Division of Communications and Marketing; and Karol Fike, teaching associate professor of animal sciences and industry, were recognized as the Professional Staff and Professor of the Week.

Michelle Geering, public information officer in the Division of Communications and Marketing, and Karol Fike, teaching associate professor of animal sciences and industry, were recognized as the Professional Staff and Professor of the Week at the Jan. 9 men's home basketball games, respectively. Faculty Senate, the Office of the President, K-State Athletics and the Division of Communications and Marketing wish to recognize these individuals' contributions to K-State.

Fike joined the faculty at K-State in 2006. Fike has a passion for teaching and working with students. She advises students, teaches Farm Animal Reproduction, Animal Sciences and Industry Career Preparations, Feedlot Management, Physiology of Reproduction in Farm Animals, and she coordinates the departmental internship program. She also provides leadership to the Animal Sciences Academic Quadrathlon competition. Fike was recently awarded the 2020 K-State Ag Alumni Outstanding Professor award. Her student evaluations include the following comments: "Dr. Fike is a wonderful professor. She was very understanding and always willing to help. Dr. Fike cares deeply about student development. She is student-oriented and makes the students feel comfortable and appreciated. Her teaching is a definite asset to this university." Fike's research interests include beef cattle reproductive physiology and management and evaluation of factors affecting sale price of beef calves marketed via video auction.

Geering serves as social media manager and media relations contact for K-State. During these trying times, Geering has helped keep K-Staters up to date on what's happening at the university. She has answered hundreds of media requests for information and interviews. She also has responded to social media queries from students, faculty, staff and the public, working round the clock in responding to the rapidly changing environment. Social media is not always considerate. Not only does she have to ensure she gets messaging out in a timely manner, but when challenging issues come up, Geering is called upon to respond and monitor. Those comments come 24/7, so it takes a dedicated professional to sort through and know when it is in the university's best interest to respond and respond quickly. Geering's dedication, professionalism and expertise have been invaluable to K-State, especially during this time of COVID-19. In addition, she participates in multiple staff and committee meetings to stay apprised of the latest developments. Hers is not an easy job, as news trends in the negative these days. She handles it with grace and no complaints.

K-State Student News

Landscape architecture student awarded in international design competition

Anna Rader, a third-year landscape architecture student from Springfield, Missouri, in the College of Architecture, Planning & Design, received the Institutional Excellence Award for her design "Forest City Market" in the UNI Street City Vietnam international design competition.

Open to both students and professionals, the competition requested ideas to "rejuvenate the street market culture through physical structures" on a specified site in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Rader prepared the design submission during the 2020 summer semester as part of the Narratives and Placemaking Design Studio, taught by Blake Belanger and Jon Hunt, both associate professors of landscape architecture and regional & community planning.

Rader's design is inspired by Ho Chi Minh City’s historical identity as a "city in the forest" with a prominent fishing culture, narratives clearly expressed through her writing and artistic photomontage renderings. Elegant and sustainably-sourced bamboo market structures, inspired by her research on generations-old traditional fishing traps and contemporary architecture in Vietnam, provide an iconic identity for the market in the context of the rapidly developing Thu Thiem District. Her market design is lushly planted with trees, shrubs and grasses to create a feeling of being in a garden or a forest. In addition to using renewable building materials, Rader addressed sustainability by designing the site to filter stormwater through permeable paving and bioswales, as well as specifying native plants. While her market design addresses the functional needs of vendors and shoppers, it also creates a memorable place for diners, tourists and residents of the surrounding neighborhood.

"Receiving this award is a huge honor and is exciting to be recognized by an international jury," Rader said. "I am most proud of how the market design uses local materials and structures inspired by traditional fishing traps to create a market that respects the history of Ho Chi Minh City."

Thirteen of Rader's classmates were also selected as finalists in the competition. There were 35 student entries and 22 professional entries in the competition.

"I am delighted by this group of third-year landscape architecture students for their creativity in developing coherent and inspiring concepts, as well as their determination to generate world-class design submissions," Belanger said. "Anna's design proposal is outstanding and demonstrates that K-State landscape architecture students are equipped to compete with top designers from around the globe."

UNI selected 32 finalists in the competition, nearly half of which were K-State landscape architecture students.

Each of the K-State entries draws upon a local or regional narrative for design inspiration. Hunt notes that each student identified and explored place narratives through in-depth research and creative processes such as drawing, modeling, videography, photomontage and written word.

"In the end, they emerged with a stronger intuitive design process and a new sensitivity to place and experiences," Hunt said.

"It is very exciting for our students to be recognized on the UNI global platform of design competitions," said Stephanie Rolley, professor and department head of landscape architecture and regional & community planning. "Anna's recognition by the international jury is an outstanding accomplishment for a student early in her academic career. Professors Belanger and Hunt built a tremendous learning opportunity out of the UNI Street City Vietnam competition."

Rader hopes to build on her success in the competition.

"This experience has taught me a lot about creating narratives in design and will greatly help my understanding of placemaking in the future," she said.

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