Kansas
State University achievements
2006
Arts and Sciences
*
Erica Cain, a senior in microbiology, has received an award for
research she presented at the annual Biomedical Research Conference
for Minority Students. Cain was honored for her research on baculoviruses
and the factors that enable them to spread beyond the midgut of
the insects they infect. Cain has spent the last two years on
the research team of K-State's Lorena Passarelli, assistant professor
of biology, through grants sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and K-State's McNair
Scholars Program. December 2006
*
A recent K-State graduate has been awarded a yearlong internship
in London. Hillary Glasgow, a December 2006 anthropology graduate,
will participate in the Mountbatten Internship Programme. The
internship is worth about $16,000 for the year and also includes
free furnished accommodations in central London. December 2006
*
Krishna Tummala, professor of political science and director of
graduate program in public administration at K-State, has been
recognized as a leading Asia specialist by the National Bureau
of Asian Research. Tummala received this honor based on his sustained
research in public administration and politics in India, specifically
with a current interest in regime corruption and federalism. The
National Bureau of Asian Research is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
research institution that was established in 1989 with a grant
from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. The institution conducts
advanced research on Asia-Pacific policy issues and makes its
findings available to the public through AccessAsia.org, a site
that facilitates collaboration by enabling specialists to track
their colleagues' current work. November 2006
*
Two K-State Army ROTC cadets are in the top 1 percent of the nation's
3,806 cadets who will commission this year from the 272 Army ROTC
programs across the country. Commissioning is the process in which
cadets, once they graduate from college, are officially appointed
as Army officers. Jonathan Spikes, graduate student education,
curriculum and instruction, Manhattan; and Elizabeth Hill, senior
in history, Riley, both rank in the top 1 percent of the national
Order of Merit List. Both also rank in the top five of cadets
in the 11th Brigade, which encompasses 19 schools from Kansas,
Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota
and Minnesota, and in the top 20 of all cadets in the Western
Region -- essentially all ROTC programs west of the Mississippi
River. Hill is the eighth-ranked cadet of all 3,806. She is the
highest ranked cadet in Kansas. October 2006
*
Jeff VanSickle, senior in German at K-State, was recently chosen
as a 2006-2007 Young Ambassador for the German Academic Exchange
Service, an organization promoting higher education in Germany.
The Young Ambassador competition honors 20 students who have studied
or interned in Germany in the previous academic year to serve
as liaisons for the German Academic Exchange Service in U.S. and
Canada. Ambassadors may help to inspire fellow students to study
in Germany by working in university study abroad offices, volunteering
at study abroad fairs, answering questions from students and organizing
their own events on campus. October 2006
*
A kinesiology professor at K-State has been recognized for his
significant contributions to the fields of kinesiology and physical
education. David Dzewaltowski was inducted as Fellow of the American
Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the academy's
recent 76th annual meeting. Dzewaltowski is only the 463rd individual
since 1926 to be inducted into the honorary organization. To be
inducted, a person must be nominated and approved by members of
the academy based on significant contributions to scholarly literature,
professional literature, leadership activities and other evidence
of leadership in the field of kinesiology or physical education
over a period of 10 years. October 2006
*
Nancy Muturi, professor of journalism and mass communications
at K-State, has been invited to present her paper on health communications
at the first World Congress on Communication for Development.
The conference will be in Rome, Italy, Oct. 25-27. Muturi will
be joining 500 selected participants including scholars, policymakers,
funding agencies, researchers and practitioners from around the
world with the goal of incorporating the development communication
discipline into mainstream development policies and practice.
The congress is organized with support from the World Bank, Food
and Agriculture Organization and the Communication Initiative.
Muturi was invited to present at the conference following a competitive
review process. She was selected based on her research on health
and development communication -- specifically the role of information
communication technologies in AIDS/HIV prevention. October 2006
*
The Russian military and how it has fared under the country's
top political leadership since the end of the Cold War is the
topic of the latest book by K-State's Dale Herspring. "The
Kremlin and the High Command: Presidential Impact on the Russian
Military from Gorbachev to Putin" was released recently by
the University of Kansas Press. Herspring is a professor of political
science and an expert on foreign policy, particularly with Russia,
Germany and Eastern Europe. Herspring's latest book is the first
to assess the relationship between the Russian military and the
political leadership under Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris
Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. October 2006
*
K-State is renaming its Military Science Building in honor of
an alum who has served as the nation's highest ranking military
officer. The name change, to Gen. Richard B. Myers Hall, was approved
by the Kansas Board of Regents. The building is home to K-State's
Army and Air Force ROTC programs. Myers, now retired, joined the
Air Force in 1965 through the Air Force ROTC program at K-State,
where he also earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
He went on to command various Air Force operations in the United
States and abroad, among other leadership positions. His military
career reached the pinnacle when he was appointed the 15th chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving from 2001-2005. Myers Hall
is the only building on campus to be built during World War II.
Construction started in 1941 and was completed in 1943. October
2006
*
John Boyer Jr., professor and head of the department of statistics,
was recently awarded the American Statistical Association's Founders
Award for distinguished and longtime service to the organization.
Boyer received the award at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings.
Of the 18,000 members in the association, only five were chosen
for the Founders Award this year. Award winners are nominated
by other members of the association and then ultimately selected
by the founders award committee. According to the association,
Boyer was selected for the award based on his long and distinguished
leadership of a major university statistics department; for enduring
contributions to Section and Council of Chapters activities including
promoting prominence for statistics in science fair competitions
at the state, national and international level; and for excellence
in statistical consulting. October 2006
*
K-State is the first university in America to offer a hand-to-hand
military combatives program for its ROTC students. Currently,
Army ROTC cadets nationwide receive brief, familiarization training
on combatives theory, skills and practice during their junior
year leadership camp. K-State is enabling their cadets to go far
beyond familiarization by providing a semester-long course that
culminates in their being officially certified at the first level
by the United States Army. In addition to life-saving skills in
hand-to-hand engagements, K-State cadets in the course get advanced
education of the ethical dimensions of the use of physical force
as well as strategic insights on human conflict. September 2006
*
Chris Sorensen, a university distinguished professor of physics
and adjunct professor of chemistry, is part of an interdisciplinary
team of researchers that has received a four-year, $1 million
grant from the National Science Foundation's Nanoscale Interdisciplinary
Research Team Award program to conduct curiosity-based nanoscience
and technology research. Other team members include Amit Chakrabarti
interim head of the department of physics; Ken Klabunde, university
distinguished professor of chemistry; Christer Aakeroy, professor
of chemistry; and Xiaomin Lin, a scientist at Argonne National
Lab, who earned both a master's and doctorate from K-State. September
2006
*
Russian historians often have underplayed the role of the military,
and military historians often have ignored Russia altogether.
But a new book by a K-State's David Stone, associate professor
of history, sets out to change that. Stone said he was inspired
to write "A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible
to the War in Chechnya" because previous accounts of Russia's
military history have not tied together the Russian empire, the
Soviet Union and today's post-communist Russia. Moreover, the
story needs updating and Russia's military history is relevant
now. Stone also said there's been a considerable amount of research
done since the fall of the Soviet Union because scholars have
better access to sources. The book was published in August by
Praeger Security International. September 2006
*
K-State was selected as a 2006 HP Technology for Teaching Higher
Education Leadership grant recipient. HP is awarding a total of
$1.2 million in cash and equipment to 10 two- and four-year colleges
and universities in the United States. All grant winners were
previous recipients of HP Technology for Teaching higher education
grants and were selected because of their success integrating
the HP technology into their classroom curriculum, demonstrating
measurable, positive impact on student achievement and proposing
innovative plans to expand and sustain their new approaches to
teaching and learning. K-State receives an award package valued
at more than $120,000, including two wireless HP Tablet PCs, two
HP digital projectors, two HP printers and two HP digital cameras
for faculty use, 40 additional HP Tablet PCs for student use,
and a cash stipend of $10,500. The grant will help the physics
department expand the use of its "K-State InClass" project,
according to N. Sanjay Rebello, associate professor of physics.
Developed and implemented in 2005, K-State InClass is Web-based
interaction software that provides students and instructors a
wide range of communication options. Using the HP Tablet PCs,
which are personal digital assistants, instructors can communicate
digitally with students to determine if they are comprehending
the subject matter. August 2006
*
An educational Web site for K-State's Konza Prairie Biological
Station is being recognized for living up to its billing of being
educational. The Konza Environmental Education Program Web site
has earned an Award of Excellence from StudySphere, an education
portal on the Internet that provides free access to a wide variety
of research-quality, child-safe Web sites that are organized for
education online anywhere, including home and school. StudySphere
can be used as an online educational resource for students, teachers
and parents. The Web site is a way for everyone to find out what
the prairie is like. The site takes visitors on scientific adventures
where they can find out about the animals, reptiles and insects
that live on the prairie. They also can learn about prairie fires,
research projects and other activities at the Konza. The Web site
even provides resources for teachers and activities for children.
August 2006
*
K-State's Aimee Norris, a junior in creative writing and art with
a minor in Japanese, has received a Benjamin A. Gilman International
Scholarship. Worth up to $5,000 to study abroad, Norris will use
the scholarship to study the Japanese language and culture at
Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata City, Japan. The congressionally
funded scholarship is administered by the Institute of International
Education and was established by the International Academic Opportunity
Act of 2000. August 2006
*
Electronic theses submitted by K-State graduate students have
won two of the three 2006 "Innovative ETD" awards given
by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Christopher Spaw, May 2005 master's graduate in architecture,
Manhattan, and an assistant professor of architecture at K-State,
won for his thesis, "1219 Colorado." Howard Camp, a
May 2005 doctoral graduate in physics, Woodbridge, Va., won for
his dissertation, "Measurements of the Time Evolution of
Coherent Excitation." Each award is worth $400. Spaw's thesis
contains hundreds of sketches, design drawings, construction documents
and photographs assembled as an exhibition within the framework
of a PDF document. Camp's dissertation incorporates several animated
graphs and charts embedded as audio video interleave files within
the PDF text. June 2006
*
A Kansas State University undergraduate student will spend the
summer researching a virus that could help farmers control crop-damaging
insects. Erica Hutfless, a senior in microbiology, received a
Microbiology Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the American
Society for Microbiology. The fellowship aims to increase the
number of undergraduate students of color pursuing graduate careers
in microbiology. The fellowship allows students to conduct summer
research at their own institutions or at guest institutions. Hutfless
will spend the summer at K-State working with Lorena Passarelli,
assistant professor of biology. Passarelli said Hutfless will
be examining a viral gene that may be involved in spreading disease
within the insect host. Passarelli said the project is important
because insects can be pests to crops and forests. June 2006
*
A Kansas State University graduate student in geology was selected
to present his research at the Geological Society of America conference,
"Backbone of the Americas: Patagonia to Alaska," April
3-7 in Mendoza, Argentina. Pragnyadipta Sen discussed his research
about the Blythe River basin on the South Island of New Zealand.
The river basin is in a tectonically active transitional region.
Sen's presentation included a geological map of the basin and
two models which explained how the basin was formed by the active
fault lines around and within the river basin. Sen said the study
will help geologists understand what controls the rhombus shape
of the basin. May 2006
*
A K-State trumpet student has been awarded a scholarship by the
International Trumpet Guild. Kari Brooks, junior in applied music,
has received the scholarship to attend the 2006 International
Trumpet Guild Conference, June 6-10, at Rowan University, Glassboro,
N.J. Brooks competed against 80 other applicants to receive the
scholarship through her recorded audition. Ten scholarships were
awarded in the category of ages 18-22. May 2006
*
Five Army ROTC cadets from K-State competed at the 13th annual
Military IronMan Competition, April 22, at the University of Texas
at Austin. The cadets were invited to compete because of their
performance in other top, military skills competitions nationwide.
May 2006
*
K-State graduate student in public administration, Sarah Bouker,
Hays, has received a Presidential Management Fellowship, which
allows her to work with a federal agency for two years. She also
received an award from the Kansas Chapter of the American Society
for Public Administration, which recognizes outstanding students
in public administration from participating Kansas universities.
April 2006
*
An interdisciplinary project being offered through Kansas State
University's College of Arts and Sciences is trying to make municipal
and other community Web sites friendlier and more useful places
to visit by people who do not speak English. Proyecto de Internet
para las Grandes Llanuras is recruiting K-State students to work
with Kansas communities to update their Web sites, particularly
with Hispanic residents in mind. April 2006* K-State's A.Q. Miller
School of Journalism and Mass Communications received a $48,000
grant from the Robert McCormick Tribune Foundation to support
a conference on community readiness communications. The conference
will be for journalists, risk communication scholars, public officials
and the military to help these groups work together to plan, prepare
and share information when communicating a crisis situation to
the public. April 2006
*
K-State's Chris Culbertson, assistant professor of chemistry,
is the recipient of the 2006 Award for Young Investigators in
Separation Science. The award is given by the American Chemical
Society Division of Analytical Chemistry and is sponsored by Agilent
Technologies. It recognizes young scientists who have made unique
and outstanding contributions to the field of separation science.
Earlier this year, Culbertson received a $530,000 National Science
Foundation grant to develop "lab-on-a-chip" technology.
The award is through the foundation's Early Career Development
program, which helps promote the careers of university researchers
and teachers who show promise of becoming academic leaders in
this century. Culbertson's research centers on using microchips
to analyze chemicals as an alternative to methods that rely on
bulky instruments. April 2006
*
Getting interviews and other primary research from terrorists
is understandably difficult, but a Kansas State University faculty
member said a fellowship program will offer him the next best
thing. Craig Stapley, visiting associate professor of political
science at K-State, has been accepted as a 2006-2007 Academic
Fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracy. The fellowship
includes a program in Israel later this spring. The fellowship
program strives to educate participants about terrorism and how
democratic states combat the threat. Stapley said the fellowship
will benefit K-State in establishing the university's security
studies program nationally and internationally. Stapley, who is
helping to develop the new interdisciplinary master's and doctoral
programs, has made terrorism the focus of his study and expertise.
He said the fellowship program will give him additional expertise
in counter-terrorism operations, intelligence and counter-intelligence
programs, terrorism financing, target selection, and the arms
terrorists use. April 2006
*
Brandon Lutterman, who recently completed his course work for
a master's degree in fine arts at K-State, is the winner of the
2006 Niche Award for his ceramic sculpture "Unearthed."
The Niche Awards are sponsored by Niche magazine, an exclusive
trade publication for American craft retailers. The awards honor
outstanding creative achievements of American and Canadian craft
artists in a variety of media. Works by this year's winners were
featured in February at the Philadelphia Buyer's Market of American
Craft, as well as in the spring issue of Niche magazine. Lutterman,
of Madelia, Minn., said "Unearthed" represents
the landscapes and solitude of the Boundary Water canoeing area
between the Minnesota-Canada border. It was created using curved
slabs of clay that rest on legs that resemble tree branches. Rocks,
branch sprigs and other natural objects were pressed into the
clay to give it texture. Its glazes range from metallic to bright
teal in color. April 2006
*
A book by a K-State history professor was recognized with the
Jefferson Davis Award for distinguished book length narrative
history from the Museum of the Confederacy. Charles W. Sanders
Jr., wrote "While in the Hands of the Enemy: Military Prisons
of the Civil War," published by the Louisiana State University
Press in 2005. The Museum of the Confederacy's annual book awards
competition recognizes outstanding historical research and writing
on the period of the Confederate States of America. Each winner
is presented with a framed certificate bearing a red wax impression
from the original Great Seal of the Confederacy. The judges chose
Sanders' book from among 35 nominations after narrowing the field
to five finalists. April 2006
*
A K-State faculty member has been invited to participate in a
summer research institute at Cornell University about the National
Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect. Ryan Spohn, assistant
professor of sociology, will be in New York from May 31 to June
4 for training to analyze data from the archive. The archive is
sponsored by the federal government, which seeks to increase knowledge
of causes and consequences of child maltreatment. The research
institute's goals are to facilitate analysis projects which will
result in publication of the results, as well as providing opportunities
for networking and collaborating with other researchers. April
2006
*
During K-State's 2006 spring break, 15 K-State Army ROTC cadets
went to White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruces, N.M., to compete
in the Bataan Memorial Death March -- a 26.2 mile military marathon
across the desert. K-State's "Wildcat Light" Military
Coed Light team, competing in military uniforms without rucksacks,
took third place among 20 teams. Michael Weilbacher, senior in
architectural engineering, placed third in the military light
individual division. The competition, now in its 17th year, is
conducted annually to honor the service members who defended the
Philippine Islands during World War II. This year, about 4,000
competitors from across the U.S. and different nations participated.
April 2006
*
Two K-State students received honors for their Japanese writing
and speaking abilities at a recent five-state regional essay contest
in late March at the University of Iowa. Contestants were judged
on content, grammar and appropriateness of expression, language
pronunciation and intonation, and delivery and memorization. Micah
Larson, senior in computer engineering, placed third in college
advanced level for his essay, "Maybe I'm a Sunflower?"
Violet Wright, sophomore in mechanical engineering, received first
place in college intermediate level for her essay, "Lessons
from Bugs." April 2006* K-State's Army ROTC program is the
best in the West. The K-State program received the 2006 Outstanding
Army ROTC Unit Award for the U.S. Army Cadet Command's Western
Region. That means K-State's Army ROTC unit is the best of the
140 Army ROTC programs in the Western Region and ranks among the
top in the United States. A winner also is selected for the Eastern
Region. The Outstanding Army ROTC Unit Awardis sponsored by the
Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. The criteria for
the award include the number and quality of commissioned officer
graduates; military retention rates; results of a comprehensive
inspection of the department; number of scholarship awards and
use; and cadet success rates at national leadership summer camps.
April 2006
*
Kansas State University's William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
team finished 26th out of the 500 participating teams in the event.
It was the third highest finish ever for a K-State team and placed
K-State among the top 5 percent of the colleges in the competition.
Results of the Putnam competition, held in December 2005, were
recently released by the Mathematical Association of America.
The competition began in 1938 and is the most prestigious math
contest for undergraduates at universities in the United States
and Canada. Team member Jeffrey Amos senior in mathematics and
statistics, finished among the top 3 percent of the students in
the competition and had one of the top two performances among
students from the Big 12 Conference. April 2006
*
Teams from K-State took the top two places in the recent 2006
Kansas Collegiate Mathematics Competition. K-State also won most
of the competition's individual honors, with two students tying
for first place overall, and another student taking third place.
The competition was part of the Kansas section meeting of the
Mathematical Association of America. Members of the K-State team
placing first in the competition were Michael Higgins, senior
in mathematics and statistics, who also tied for first in individual
honors; Jeffrey Amos, senior in mathematics and statistics, who
finished third individually in the competition; and Aly Deines,
senior in mathematics. Members of the K-State team placing second
were Matthew Burkemper, senior in mathematics, who tied for first
in individual honors; Adam Gelroth, senior in mathematics, and
Kevin McBeth, senior in mathematics, statistics and economics.
March 2006
*
A K-State graduate student in ceramics, Brandon Lutterman, Madelia,
Minn., is a 2006 Niche Award winner for his ceramic sculpture,
"Unearthed." Each year, the Niche Awards recognize individual
artists in a number of media and provide a new level of exposure
for their artwork. Lutterman's work was exhibited in February
at the Philadelphia Buyer's Market of American Craft. It also
is featured in the spring issue of Niche magazine. March 2006
*
Kansas State University geography graduate students Sumanth Reddy
and Mitchel Stimers were among the five members of the Great Plains-Rocky
Mountain student geography bowl team that won the 2006 National
GeoBowl Championship at the annual meeting of the Association
of American Geographers in March. Patrick Abbott, also a K-State
graduate student in geography, won third place for overall scoring.
He was a member of a substitute volunteer team at the competition.
March 2006
*
K-State's Ebony Theater received a 2006 Kennedy Center American
College Festival Medallion for outstanding and significant contributions
and lifetime achievement in theater at the regional Kennedy Center
American College Theater festival. The theater, established in
1977, is the only theater company in the region devoted to the
presentation of works written by African-American playwrights.
Of the nine theater productions invited to the festival, two were
from K-State. February 2006
*
A historic limestone barn at the Konza Prairie Biological Station
will be renovated to make more room for research scientists, K-State
students and the several thousand elementary and secondary students
from throughout the state who visit the Konza Prairie annually.
The bulk of the funding for the current project comes from a $300,000
gift to the Kansas State University Foundation to establish the
Rushton G. Cortelyou Memorial Fund for the 94-year-old barn's
renovation. Cortelyou was a 1927 K-State graduate in civil engineering.
The fund is in honor of his father, John Van Zandt Cortelyou,
a K-State faculty member from 1909-1934. Also funding the project
are a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and
$157,000 from the Division of Biology. The improvements will include
an auditorium, all-purpose classroom and kitchen. February 2006
*
Lola Shrimplin, senior in pre-journalism and mass communications,
has won second place in the editorial writing competition of the
2005-2006 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Shrimplin receives
$1,500 scholarship and a certificate of merit. K-State's A.Q.
Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications also receives
a matching donation. February 2006
*
The National Science Foundation has awarded $530,000 to Kansas
State University's Christopher Culbertson, assistant professor
of chemistry, for his research to develop chemical analysis tools
for "lab-on-a-chip" devices. The five-year award is
through the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career
Development, or CAREER, program. The CAREER program helps promote
the career development of university researchers and teachers
who show promise of becoming academic leaders of the 21st century.
Culbertson has proposed developing universally applicable methods
for detecting and identifying proteins and peptides. His method
will not require tagging these molecules, as is generally necessary
now to measure them at low concentrations. Rather, his chemistry,
in a field called microfluidics -- an emerging field within the
realm of the nanotechnologies -- will create the basis for miniaturized,
hand-held instruments capable of analyzing proteins and peptides
in very small sample volumes, such as from a single white blood
cell. February 2006
*
The Beta Psi chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, in the K-State department
of geography, was named the 2005 Gamma Theta Upsilon Chapter of
the Year. Gamma Theta Upsilon is an international geographic honor
society for graduate students. The award is given to chapters
that exemplify active participation at their university. The K-State
chapter actively organizes and sponsors activities that fulfill
the society's mission to advance geographic knowledge and increase
public awareness about geography. K-State also received this award
in 2000. January 2006
2005
Arts and Sciences
2004
Arts and Sciences
2003
Arts and Sciences
2002
Arts and Sciences
2001
Arts and Sciences
Prior
years highlights
Achievements
index
K-State
College of Arts and Sciences
