November 22, 2023
K-State student researchers win top honors at governor's water conference
Two K-State students won top honors for their research at last week's Governor's Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas. The conference was hosted Nov. 15-16 in Manhattan.
Nearly 40 posters from graduate and undergraduate students were displayed at the conference this year, showcasing work from student agronomists, geologists, hydrologists, engineers and more. Approximately half of the posters displayed were from K-State, with the rest from University of Kansas students. Winners and runners-up were chosen for graduate and undergraduate posters.
Shiseido Robinson, a graduate student in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, was awarded first prize for her research, "Synthesis and Additive Manufacturing of Titanium Carbide (Ti3C2Tx) Mxene Electrochemical Sensors for 4-Nitrophenols."
Undergraduate student Kyle Kohman won runner-up for his work, "Automatic Gully Mapping Using Generative Adversarial Network."
"This is one of my favorite parts of this conference, because it really shows how passionate our young scientists are about the topic of water research," said Susan Metzger, director of strategic interdisciplinary program development at K-State and director of the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment. "This is high-quality science that directly addresses the water issues facing Kansas, and these students are working to tackle these topics head-on."
The governor's water conference is an annual statewide conference that focuses on the latest policy and research developments of water issues in Kansas. This year, more than 550 attended, including state and Congressional legislators, state and federal officials, organizations, and citizens who share an avid interest in the state's water resources.
The Kansas Water Institute is a major sponsor of the event and provides prize money for the conference's student poster contest, with winners receiving $250 and runners-up receiving $125.