2013 Student Achievements
* Heidi Ramzel, junior in physics and geography with a minor in chemistry, received a 2013 Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She was one of 126 recipients of the $8,000 scholarship, which is awarded to outstanding students with two years left of undergraduate study. It also includes a summer internship at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility.
* The Dairy Judging Team took reserve champion honors at the Western National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in Richmond, Utah. It was the highest finish for the university at this contest. Representing the university at the event were Nathaniel McGee, senior in agricultural education; Maggie Seile, junior in agricultural communications and journalism; and Kyle Jacobs, senior in agricultural education. The team is coached by Jon Pretz, master's student in animal sciences and industry. May 2013
* The Chem-E-Car Team landed a spot in the national competition, set for Nov. 1-2 in San Francisco. The team earned its spot by finishing in third place at a recent regional competition in Norman, Okla. The team entered two cars -- Catmobile and Wildcat Cruiser -- in the event, which earned third and fourth places in performance and first and third places in the poster presentation. May 2013
* Bronson Blasi, a senior in architectural engineering, was one of just five national recipients of a scholarship from the Besal Scholarship Fund for the 2013-2014 school year. Blasi received a $3,000 scholarship. May 2013
* Casey Droddy, junior in agricultural communications and journalism, and Jake Erceg, sophomore in animal sciences and industry, were selected members of the 2013-2014 Agriculture Future of America leadership team. Droddy was named a student advisory team member and Erceg was named a campus ambassador. May 2013
* Jessica Bauerle, junior in elementary education, andAngela Glean, junior in kinesiology, received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad. Bauerle's study abroad destination is Ghana, while Glean's Gilman Scholarship is for study in Ecuador. The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards up to $5,000 for undergraduates to study abroad. Award recipients are chosen through a competitive selection process. May 2013
* Jenny Barriga, junior in chemistry and biochemistry, Dodge City, has been awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. She is the university's 69th Goldwater scholar, which ranks K-State in the Top Five of all U.S. universities for total Goldwater scholars. Brianne Pierce, junior in microbiology and premedicine, Wichita, and Kyle Snow, junior in chemical engineering, Eudora, are honorable mentions in the scholarship competition. April 2013
* Derrek Wilson, doctoral student in physics, Liberal, Mo., received a 2013 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which recognizes outstanding students who are pursing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. He will receive more than $120,000 across three years, which includes a yearly $30,000 stipend and $12,000 in lieu of tuition and fees. Elizabeth Everman, doctoral student in biology, Smithville, Mo., received an honorable mention from the foundation. April 2013
* Kaitlin Morgan, sophomore in animal sciences and industry and agricultural communications, Deerfield, and Barret Wellemeyer, sophomore in civil engineering, Derby, are among the 50 honorable mentions selected nationally for the 2013 Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. April 2013
* A team from the College of Engineering is among 10 selected nationwide to participate in the inaugural National Collegiate Wind Challenge, sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado is the competition organizer, under direction of the U.S. Department of Energy. The team's goal is to build a small wind turbine that can charge an electronic device such as a cellphone or an iPad. Team members will be selected in the summer, with the competition taking place in May 2014. April 2013
* Clint Frye, doctoral student in chemical engineering, Haddam, was named a Lawrence scholar by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is the university's first recipient of the prestigious award and one of 12 scholars chosen this year. April 2013
* An interdisciplinary team of graduate students from Kansas State University, University of Kansas and University of Missouri-Kansas City won the Urban Land Institute's Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition with the entry "The Armory." The award included $50,000 for the students. The team was led by Kevin Cunningham and included Kylie Harper and Derek Hoetmer, all Master of Landscape Architecture students. The team's main adviser was Jason Brody, assistant professor of regional and community planning. April 2013
* K-State students finished in the top 14 percent among the 578 colleges and universities and nearly 4,300 students participating in the 73rd annual Putnam Mathematical Competition. The university had one student place in the top 13 percent of the competition: Joshua Ericson, senior in mathematics, Junction City. April 2013
* Three students from the College of Agriculture, all members of the university's chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, won awards in the photo or speaking contests at the national society's 28th annual Career Fair and Training Conference. Lonell Brown, senior in animal sciences and industry, received first place in the photo contest; Simone Holliday, sophomore in animal sciences and industry and chapter president, received second place in the photo contest; and Taneysha Howard, junior in agricultural communications and journalism, received second place in the public speaking contest. April 2013
* Leaders in Freshman Engineering, or LIFE, which is a part of Kansas State University's Engineering Student Council, has been named the best freshman council in the nation. The award was presented at the recent 2013 conference in Urbana, Ill. April 2013
* K-State's chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi is the best in the Midwest. The fraternity has received the 2012-2013 Midwest Provincial Chapter of the Year. The award is the highest honor Kappa Alpha Psi awards to a chapter in its Midwest province, which includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and part of Arkansas. The chapter is now eligible to compete for Kappa Alpha Psi's National Chapter of the Year award, which is awarded in August. April 2013
* The Mid America CropLife Association board of directors selected K-State's Paige Druffel as one of 12 college students in the nation to receive its $2,000 Young Leader Scholarship for college expenses. Paige Druffel is an agricultural communications and journalism major. Her summer internship is with Monsanto. April 2013
* A team from K-State's student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management won first place in the society's recent case competition in Austin, Texas. The team competed against 15 universities from the Southwest. The competition focused on issues management practices, recruitment, training, development and employee labor relations. Team members included Jody Forge, senior in management, Leavenworth; James Geary, senior in management, Overland Park; and Michelle Allison, junior in management, Wichita. The team was accompanied by faculty adviser Valerie Evans, an instructor of management at the university. April 2013
* Brendan Bishop, president-elect of the Engineering Student Council, was elected regional recruitment coordinator for the National Association of Engineering Student Councils. His election came at the association's 2013 conference in Urbana, Ill. April 2013
* The K-State Salina Enactus team advanced to the national competition by claiming a regional championship April 10 in Dallas, Texas. The team also was named a 4.0 Award recipient and recognized as an Enactus 4.0 Club for earning a 4.0 or higher in competitions on a 5.0 scale. The awards recognizes the K-State Salina chapter for quality education programs, success in Enactus and long-term sustainability in enabling progress through entrepreneurial action. April 2013
* Lynn Brien, doctoral candidate in geography, was awarded the prestigious Lortz Scholarship by the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. She is the first K-State student to win the award in the last 20 years. The award of $1,000 will be used to support her dissertation research on "Modeling Vegetation Productivity of Coastal Louisiana Marshes: A Remote Sensing Approach." April 2013
* Damien Downes, plant pathology-based doctoral student in the interdepartmental genetics graduate program, won a Student Poster Prize at the 10th International Aspergillus Meeting. The prize was sponsored by the industrial biotechnology company Novozymes. Downes also won a Genetics Society of America-sponsored Best Student Poster Award in the Functional and Comparative Genomics and Gene Regulation category at the 27th Fungal Genetics Conference. April 2013
* Ross Allen, a sophomore from Holton, is one of seven students in Kansas named to the Newman Civic Fellows program. Allen has explored how community and student organizations viewed service work, reviewed reflections and evaluations of service participants, and how service and learning could be integrated into co-curricular service work. The program is sponsored by Campus Compact. April 2013
* The K-State Proud campaign has raised more than $650,000 in its seven years. The student-run campaign establishes a culture of philanthropy, with the money raised helping students who are struggling financially. March 2013
* A team of Kansas State University students won the 2013 Washburn Leadership Challenge Event, March 7-8, at Washburn University in Topeka. The event challenges students to address a variety of problems and situations that simulate real-life experiences, with their leadership decisions determining the competition's outcome. Members of team included Magen Witcher, junior in pre-professional secondary education, Elkhart; Grant Goodack, senior in economics, Olathe; Collin Huerter, junior in political science, and Avery Simecka, freshman in arts and sciences-open option, both from Topeka; and Ryan Haxton, freshman in pre-journalism and mass communications, Valley Center. Team advisers were Lori Kniffin, adviser of academic programs, and Bethany Miles, special projects assistant, both with the School of Leadership Studies. March 2013
* The Kappa Pi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. won the Dorothy King Tucker Outstanding Undergraduate Chapter for the Midwest Region at a conference this month in Tulsa, Okla. K-State's chapter was chosen over chapters in Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Montana, Missouri and elsewhere in Kansas.
* The Kansas Athletic Training Society recognized several students in the athletic training program for outstanding academic achievement. Four students are earning the society's All-Academic Honors, four students are earning second team All-Academic Honors and 10 students are earning honorable mention. Honorees must be juniors or seniors with a minimum 3.8 grade point average. March 2013
* A team of graduate students from Kansas, including three students from the K-State department of landscape architecture and regional and community planning, was named one of four finalists for the Urban Land Institute's Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The Kansas team will compete for a $50,000 prize. K-State team members, all master's students in landscape architecture, include Kylie Harper, Derek Hoetmer and Kevin Cunningham. The team's main adviser is Jason Brody, assistant professor of regional and community planning, with Stephanie Rolley, head of the department of landscape architecture and regional and community planning; Blake Belanger, associate professor of landscape architecture; and Gary Stith, professor of regional and community planning. March 2013
* For the third time in the last six years, a K-State interior design student team won the annual Interior Design Educators Council Student Design Competition. The team claimed first prize for its entry "A Refreshing Education." The award was presented at the annual conference of the Interior Design Educators Council, which was Feb. 17-19 in Indianapolis. Team members included Andrea Sisk, Overland Park; Sydney Hall, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Haoran Hu, Wuhan City, China. Faculty advisor was Migette Kaup, associate professor of apparel, textiles and interior design. K-State teams also won the competition in 2008 and 2010. March 2013.
* Three K-State students received individual awards at the 2013 Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government. Brittany Garcia, junior in psychology, Garden City, received the Barbara Jordan Political Action Award; Marcus Bragg, senior in management information systems, Kansas City, Kan., received the Most Outstanding Senior in the Big 12 Conference award; and Justice Davis, freshman in business administration, Kansas City, Mo., received the Dyric Burt Most Outstanding Freshman in the Big 12 Conference. March 2013
* Six K-State Air Force ROTC cadets landed pilot training assignments after their graduation and commissioning. The cadets, members of the university's Detachment 270, were selected for pilot training by the Air Force Rated Aviation Board. They were the only six cadets nominated for training assignments by the university. The 100 percent selection rate tops the 57.9 percent national selection rate for the highly competitive process. March 2013
* For the sixth time in the last eight years Kansas State University's Black Student Union has been awarded the Clarence Wine Award for Outstanding Big 12 Council of the Year. The honor is presented annually to an outstanding undergraduate black student government or council in the Big 12 Conference. It recognizes an organization that has demonstrated a serious commitment to unity, academic achievement, scholarship, campus programming and community service. March 2013
* Rabia Akhtar, doctoral candidate in security studies, won a Mehboob ul Haq Research Award from the Regional Center of Strategic Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Through collaboration, Akhtar will write and publish a monograph on "Nuclear Learning in South Asia" for the center. The project is an outgrowth of her ongoing research on nuclear proliferation, particularly on American policy toward nuclear questions in India and Pakistan. February 2013.
* Kelly Foster, master's student in biomedical sciences, and Feraidon Ataie, doctoral student in civil engineering, were named KansasBio winners for their research presentations at the 10th annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit. They each received a $500 scholarship from KansasBio. February 2013.
* Students from the College of Business Administration won the Kansas City Chartered Financial Analyst Society's 2013 CFA Institute Research Challenge. The team advances to the Regional Americas Research Challenge in Toronto in March. The challenge is an international competition, conducted at the local, regional and global levels, is between university-sponsored teams of both undergraduate and graduate students. February 2013.
* Tammy Sonnentag, doctoral candidate in psychological sciences, and Jarred Pfeiffer, master's student in fine arts-ceramics, received the 2013 Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Excellence in Teaching Award, which honors graduate students who exemplify excellence in the teaching and learning missions of universities. Sonnentag earned the doctoral-level award and Pfeiffer received the master's-level award. February 2013.
* The Meats Judging Team won reserve high team overall at the Iowa State Invitational Meats Judging Contest. K-State was the high team in pork judging, specifications, cured ham and total placings. February 2013.
* Jordan Bever, senior in the industrial and manufacturing systems, received first prize in the technical paper competition at the 2013 South Central Regional Student Conference of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. Her paper, "Designing a Palletization Process for Heart to Heart International," outlines the evaluation, design and implementation of a solution to improve the warehouse performance of a disaster relief agency. It was co-written by Lauren Cody and Brandon Mais, both December 2012 graduates in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering. The project adviser was Jessica Heier Stamm, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering. February 2013.
* The Mock Trial Team advanced to the first round of the national mock trial championships by qualifying at the Great Plains Regional Mock Trial Competition, Feb. 15-17, at Washburn University. February 2013.
* Architectural engineering students Alyssa Shinn and Kyle Knuth earned scholarship for the 2013-2014 school year from the Kansas City chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE. Shinn, received a $1,000 scholarship and Knuth earned a $3,000 scholarship. February 2013.
* Ismael E. Badillo-Vargas, doctoral student in plant pathology, was awarded a predoctoral fellowship grant of more than $71,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture for his research on the tomato spotted wilt virus and its relationship to thrips. The competitive scholarship is for agricultural students who have two more years to complete their doctoral degree programs. Recipients receive two years of funding for research expenditures, tuition, a graduate research salary and conference travel. January 2013
* Entomology doctoral student Shelly Wiggam-Ricketts won the award for best student presentation by the Kansas chapter of The Wildlife Society at the 2013 Kansas Natural Resources Conference. Her poster presentation was "Pollinator Resource Use in Rangelands that Utilize Patch-burn Grazing." Wiggam-Ricketts is working under the mentorship of entomology professors Gregory Zolnerowich and David Margolies. January 2013
* K-State Salina's Steven Gish, freshman in aviation maintenance, Olathe, received a $5,000 scholarship from the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading Foundation. As a recipient, Gish will attend an institution sanctioned by the Council of Aviation Accreditation. Scholarship requirements included meeting academic standards and demonstrating need. January 2013