05/05/21
K-State Current - May 5, 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
Enrollment management work recognized in national advertising competition
Kansas State University's Division of Communications and Marketing recently earned two advertising awards for student recruitment marketing efforts in the annual Educational Advertising Awards competition.
A gold award was earned for the undergraduate admissions viewbook in the student viewbook category. The viewbook, created in partnership with the Office of Recruitment and Admissions, serves as an important piece within the university's recruitment collateral package, offering future students an opportunity to explore academics, student life and traditions through beautiful photography, design and writing.
K-State also earned a bronze award in the integrated marketing campaign category for the Don't Make the World Wait brand campaign. Working in partnership with Milwaukee-based brand agency BVK, as well as representatives from all university campuses, Communications and Marketing led the development of a strategic, universitywide, values-based brand campaign. The campaign directly supports the university's strategic enrollment management initiative to create a more unified brand and messaging strategy and is integrated across all units and campuses.
"We are incredibly honored to have these projects recognized nationally for their excellence, especially during these extraordinary times," said Ashley Martin, assistant vice president for communications and marketing. "These awards truly exemplify how the university's marketing efforts are elevated to new heights through universitywide collaboration and participation."
Educational Advertising Awards is the largest educational advertising competition in the country. K-State competed against more than 300 other colleges, universities and secondary schools in earning these awards. Both the viewbook and the Don't Make the World Wait campaign were also recognized by the District VI Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE, for creative excellence.
University and Fort Riley renew partnership
Kansas State University President Richard Myers and Fort Riley Maj. Gen. D.A. Sims recently renewed the 12-year partnership between the two institutions. The central aim of this public-to-public partnership is to mutually support each institution's unique missions through collaboration and intellectual and cultural sharing.
The focus of the partnership is to support the 1st Infantry Division's Victory Wellness Program, the Big Red One Year of Honor professional development program and other quality of life efforts. K-State is expanding its academic student internships in public service with Fort Riley's Garrison activities and is assisting in many human services offered to local military.
"We have had major growth in K-State's work in local, regional and national military/veterans affairs," said Art DeGroat, Colonel H. Duane Saunders executive director of military and veterans affairs for K-State. "Our enduring partnership with the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley Garrison remains our keystone for outreach, education and research needed to improve the quality of life and service of these great people."
Many innovative programs and activities have been created that support the military mission of readiness, operations and maintaining a high quality of life and resilience for military-connected people. The university benefits from research, outreach assistance and educational opportunities to serve the large military community at Fort Riley.
Additional information on the partnership is available on the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs website.
K-State Faculty Highlights
Kansas State University researchers are developing a robotic monitoring platform to collect water samples and measure lake characteristics that may drive formation of harmful cyanobacteria blooms.
Harmful cyanobacteria blooms, also known as cyanoHABs or blue-green algae, are an emerging challenge to managing reservoirs and other freshwater systems in Kansas and across the globe because of the myriad of ecological, economic and human health issues they cause.
To address this concern, a Kansas State University research team is developing novel mobile monitoring platforms to better understand spatial dynamics of cyanoHABs. The team will then use the data to couple mechanistic and machine-learning models to improve cyanoHAB prediction.
Trisha Moore, associate professor and Peggy and Gary Edwards Cornerstone teaching scholar in the Carl and Melinda Helwig Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, will lead the three-year project, "Integrated data science — mechanistic modeling framework to predict cyanoHABS in contrasting freshwater systems." The project has been funded for $249,746 by the U.S. Department of Interior's U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, program.
Through collaboration with USGS water scientists, Moore and her K-State colleagues — Aleksey Sheshukov, associate professor, and Daniel Flippo, associate professor and Patrick Wilburn Keystone research scholar, both from the biological and agricultural engineering department; and Lior Shamir, associate professor and Nick Chong Keystone research faculty scholar in the computer science department — will work in bodies of water in Kansas and New York to test transferability of the models across very different freshwater systems.
"Our aim is to advance understanding of the complex environmental interactions under which cyanoHABs develop and persist as well as to provide tools to help lake managers better monitor and forecast these blooms," Moore said. "CyanoHABs impact our state, national and global economies and ecosystems. This project has the potential to support both high-impact research and outreach while providing opportunities to train graduate students and engage undergraduates in research and discovery."
K-State receives NRC funding for Nuclear Engineering Fellowship Program
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, has funded a new Nuclear Engineering Fellowship Program to provide financial support and mentoring to at least three Kansas State University nuclear engineering doctoral students.
Students selected for the four-year, $400,000 program — under the direction of Amir Bahadori, associate professor and Steve Hsu Keystone research scholar in the Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering — will perform research in areas of interest to the NRC.
Collaborators on the project — all K-State associate professors of mechanical and nuclear engineering and Steve Hsu Keystone research scholars — include Walter McNeil, Jeremy Roberts and Hitesh Bindra.
"Fellows will gain a deeper understanding of the present challenges facing nuclear engineering and contribute to solutions for these challenges," Bahadori said. "They will research topics such as advanced reactor safety and design, low-dose radiobiology and novel neutron transport methods."
Expected beneficial outcomes of this program include diversification of the nuclear engineering graduate student body at K-State; student completion of doctoral degree programs; publications and conference proceedings; and employment of K-State graduates in the nuclear industry, government agencies and academia.
"Increasing the number of Ph.D. students and Ph.D. graduates through the Nuclear Engineering Fellowship Program will help achieve the goals of K-State 2025 and the Kansas Legislature's University Engineering Initiative Act," Bahadori said.
Applications are now being accepted for the program at kstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0vo9y5uKOqyxfee.
K-State Student News
Civil engineering senior wins national scholarship from American Society of Civil Engineers
Sarah Carr, Kansas State University senior in civil engineering from Hampshire, Illinois, has been awarded the Eugene C. Figg Jr. Civil Engineering Scholarship from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The scholarship is presented annually to one undergraduate civil engineering student for junior or senior year tuition expenses and fees. Its purpose is to further the education of a worthy student interested in bridge design and construction. Carr will have $3,000 deposited into her K-State scholarship account to cover academic expenses.
Created by the employees of the Figg Engineering Group, Tallahassee, Florida, the scholarship fund was established in 2002 as a memorial to Eugene C. Figg Jr., a fellow and design awardee of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Figg had dedicated his career, his company and his life to creating bridges as art.
Scott Schiff, teaching professor and Wallis-Lage Family — Carl and Mary Ice Cornerstone teaching scholarin the civil engineering department, is the ASCE student chapter adviser. Hani Melham, professor and Richard B. and Mary Jo Myers — Carl and Mary Ice Cornerstone teaching scholar in civil engineering, serves as Carr’s academic adviser.
A student from the K-State civil engineering department was also the recipient of this award in 2019.