Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discovery (RSCAD) News

April 14, 2016

The weekly RSCAD newsletter provides the latest research news, funding opportunities, and academic trends.

Announcements from the Office of the Vice President for Research

Global Food Systems Research Science Communication Workshop

Plan to attend presentations by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are members of Global Food Systems research teams on April 28 at 2:00 p.m. in the Beach Museum of Art UMB Theater. A keynote talk by artist and National Geographic photo-essayist Jim Richardson will follow at 4:30. The K-State speakers received special training to enhance science communication skills.

It's Not Too Late: Register for the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute 2016 Regional Translational Medicine Meeting

The 2016 Regional Translational Medicine Meeting is April 21 and 22 in Kansas City, Missouri. KCALSI's goal is to increase regional collaboration, and a large number of companies are registered. The agenda includes presentations from bone metabolism and diagnostics to bioinformatics and outcomes research. Registration is free. Learn more about KCALSI.

Fulbright Information Session

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will be hosting a Fulbright Scholar Program Information Session at 3 p.m. April 27 in the Alumni Center Lecture Room (third floor). The Core Fulbright Scholar Program offers nearly 500 teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in more than 125 countries. At this session, three faculty members who have been recent Fulbright Scholar awardees — Barry Bradford (Australia), Jonathan Mahoney (Kyrgyz Republic), Joe Sutliff Sanders (Luxembourg) — will talk about their experience, the logistics of setting up an extended stay in another country, and tips for the Fulbright Scholars submission. Register for the session.

New Funding Opportunities

The Funding Connection

The Funding Connection is a weekly publication of Research & Sponsored Programs. For more information about individual programs and for applications, please e-mail research@k-state.edu or call 785 532-6195.

Highlight from this week's Funding Connection: The Core Fulbright Scholar Program offers nearly 500 teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in more than 125 countries for stays of 2 months to 1 year. Opportunities are available for college and university faculty and administrators as well as for professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others. In addition, Fulbright is offering more opportunities for flexible, multi-country grants. If you are interested in this opportunity, please attend the Fulbright Information Session mentioned above.

K-State in the News

Why "Organic" Shampoo Can Be Loaded With Chemicals

4/11/16 CBS News
Much of what's on a product's label involves marketing, rather than information for consumers, said Londa Vanderwal Nwadike, a food safety specialist at Kansas State University/University of Missouri. "There is a regulation that says labeling terms should not be misleading. How much that's enforced is another question."

K-State Graduate Researcher Finds Integrated Approach Critical to Teen Health

4/11/16 Salina Journal
As rural communities struggle to obtain access to health services, a Kansas State University student is researching how medical, dental, social work and mental health providers can collaborate to meet the needs of teens. Bryant Miller, of Goessel, master’s student in marriage and family therapy, said an integrative approach is critical in addressing hot topics for teens, including substance use, obesity, teen pregnancy and parenting, depression, anxiety, ADHD, self-harm, harm to others and suicide.

A Real Peter Rabbit Tale: Biologists Find Key to Myxoma Virus/Rabbit Coevolution

4/05/16 Science Daily
A naturally-occurring mutation in a rabbit-specific virus — related to the smallpox virus — weakens the virus and may give insight to understanding pathogen evolution, according to a Kansas State University study.

A Movie of the Microworld: Physicists Create Nanoparticle Picture Series

4/05/16 Science Daily
The method of taking these pictures is a collaborative creation that involved Kansas State University researchers Artem Rudenko and Daniel Rolles, both assistant professors of physics.

Journal of Dairy Sciences (JDS) Website Offers Additional Article Collections

4/11/16 EurekAlert!
"Timed AI Programs at First Insemination in Lactating Dairy Cattle" [was] compiled by Jeffrey S. Stevenson, Kansas State University.

Biosecurity and Research Are Key Players in the Fight Against Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV)

4/06/16 Pork Network
Professor Jason Woodworth, swine nutritionist and research associate professor at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, has completed a study that explores how pelleting feed could destroy the virus. "We discovered that, if feed and feed ingredients were contaminated with the virus, pelleting that feed at certain temperatures would destroy it," said Woodworth.

From Our Peers

Alone on the Range, Seniors Often Lack Access to Health Care

4/08/16 MSN.com
Aren’t country folks supposed to be hardier and healthier, with all that fresh air and exercise, than their urban counterparts? “When you actually do the research, it’s pretty much a myth,” said Leah Goeres, a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon State University who led a research team comparing rural and urban dwellers’ health.

New Research Indicates Regular Fresh Pear Consumption May Improve Blood Pressure in Middle-Aged Men and Women with Metabolic Syndrome

4/08/16 Yahoo! Finance
"These initial results are very promising," said Dr. Sarah A. Johnson, PhD, RDN, lead author and now Assistant Professor and Director of the Functional Foods & Human Health Laboratory in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University. "With metabolic syndrome being of such high prevalence in the U.S., we feel it is important to explore the potential for functional foods such as pears to improve cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure in affected middle-aged adults.

There is a Powerful Relationship Between the Population of Single Women and Social Progress

4/10/16 Yahoo! Finance
The progressive impact of single women makes sense, given that marriage seems to make women more politically conservative. Kelsy Kretschmer, sociology professor at Oregon State University, says her research shows that after marriage, women tend to shift their priorities from promoting women’s collective wellbeing to that of their partner’s success.

Want to Stop Bullets and Block Radiation? Try This New Composite Metal Foam

4/11/16 Yahoo! Finance
Professor Afsaneh Rabiei heads up the Advanced Material Research Lab at North Carolina State University where she is developing a breakthrough metal product known as a composite metal foam (CMF). The new wonder material has properties that make it an excellent insulation against high heat and even enable it to protect against bullets, which are obliterated on impact.

New Material That May Speed Computing Discovered

4/11/16 Science Daily
"This type of electron transport is very special," said Adam Kaminski, Ames Laboratory scientist and professor at Iowa State University's Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Our research has been able to associate the extreme magnetoresistance with novel features in their electronic structure, which may lead to future improvements in computer speed, efficiency and data storage."

RSCAD Trending Topics

The Researchers Who Sank a Bogus Canvassing Study Have Replicated Some of Its Findings

David Broockman and Joshua Kalla last year became political-science stars, but not in the way they wanted. In 2014, when Mr. Broockman and Mr. Kalla were graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley, they were inspired by a paper by Michael J. LaCour, a graduate student at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Donald P. Green, a professor of political science at Columbia University. The paper said that short conversations with canvassers could change people’s minds on gay marriage. Science published it in December of that year, and it quickly became the hottest piece of political-science research in recent memory. Mr. Broockman and Mr. Kalla wanted to expand on that work. Instead, they ended up debunking it.

Agriculture Drone Market Set to Surge

Think drones are already a red-hot topic in the agriculture industry today? Just wait, according to a report from RnR Market Research. According to the report, the worldwide market for agricultural drones currently sits at $494 million, but RnR expects that amount to balloon to $3.69 billion by 2022. Drones, sensors and other so-called “digital agriculture” tools are in line with consumer trends of demanding end-to-end transparency of how their food is produced, according to lead author of the study, Susan Eustis.

NSF's FY 2015 Performance and Financial Highlights

Kansas City Design Week Convenes Community for Creatives

A quick trek through the Crossroads Arts District effortlessly affirms that Kansas City is a hub for creativity. And with Kansas City Design Week, those creative-types have a hub of their own. The KCDW, set for April 7 through 16, brings together a plethora of creative minds to challenge skills, connect designers with business resources and celebrate the area’s vibrant design community.

U.S. Senators Advance Biomedical Innovation Bills, But Key NIH Funding Issue Unresolved

The tally of biomedical innovation bills trickling through the U.S. Senate got an update yesterday: 18 down, with at least one more to go. Lawmakers on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee held the last of three meetings to approve bills that, once bundled together, will form a companion to the House of Representatives’s mammoth 21st Century Cures bill. That legislation, which the House passed this past July aims to spur medical breakthroughs through reforms at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration. But a final piece of the puzzle—a Senate agreement on how to increase funding for those agencies, and by how much—is still missing. The House version of 21st Century Cures includes $8.75 billion in so-called mandatory spending for NIH, dedicated money not subject to annual appropriations which would be provided by selling oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

HIV Overcomes CRISPR Gene-Editing Attack