Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics -Life in Manhattan, Kansas-

Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics
-Life in Manhattan, Kansas-

Where are We? Manhattan, KS

Kansas State University is located in the city of Manhattan (www.ci.manhattan.ks.us), a pleasant community of about 50,000 located in the scenic Flint Hills of north central Kansas, about 2 hours west of Kansas City. There is lots of “Hype” about Manhattan, KS? Read all about it at the site below.

Local recreational opportunities include programs in the performing arts, a large lake/park system, and the 8,616 acre Konza Prairie Biological Station (kpbs.konza.ksu.edu), a tallgrass prairie reserve that is jointly managed by the Division of Biology, that contains several miles of hiking trails as well as about 200 bison.
Kansas State University Kansas State University is a medium sized research institution of approximately 24,000 students. The campus community has numerous opportunities for stimulating academic interaction. These include the large and diverse Division of Biology (www.ksu.edu/biology), as well as the interdepartmental programs of the Ecological Genomics Institute (ecogen.ksu.edu) and the Arthropod Genomics Center at Kansas State University (www.ksu.edu/agc).

Division of Biology General: The Division of Biology currently has forty-four tenure track faculty members, plus twenty-three additional research and instructional faculty members. The research facilities in the Division of Biology are performed in four on-campus sites--Ackert Hall, Bushnell Hall, Chalmers Hall, and Leasure Hall--as well as at the off-campus site of the Konza Prairie Biological Station. The Division provides fundamental instruction, and conducts research, across the diversity of biological sciences disciplines. Expertise of faculty members ranges from molecular and cellular biology through ecology and evolutionary biology. In addition to service courses crucial for many campus-wide programs, the Division is home to almost seven hundred undergraduate biology majors in three degree programs. Our graduate program of sixty-eighty students.

Graduate Student Life: The Division of Biology has an active and productive group of graduate students that participate in research, teaching, and service within the Division of Biology. The graduate students in the division are hard-working, productive, and friendly! Recent graduates have gone on to high-quality post-doctoral positions and faculty positions at prestigious universities. The biology graduate students are organized within the Biology Graduate Student Association, which facilitates many professional and social graduate student events within the division, including the annual fall semester bbq at Konza Praire, multiple graduate student meetings with the division leadership, as well as the hosting of multiple graduates student hosted seminar speakers throughout the year.
In addition to these activities facilitated by graduate students there are many informal academic activities that promote the academic development of students at all levels. These include, numerous journal clubs (e.g., ecological genomics, molecular genetics, aquatic ecology), weekly informal seminar series (eeb seminars, mcdb research forum), as well as the presence of many joint lab meetings within the division. All of these activities facilitate the exchange of ideas among students and labs within the division and more generally foster a rich intellectual environment within the Division.
Finally, as a graduate student in the Division of Biology, salary is guaranteed! However, this salary goes a long way in Manhattan as this college town has a very modest cost of living (see www.ci.manhattan.ks.us for more information).

Interdepartmental programs housed in Biology: Biology also houses the interdepartmental ecological genomics institute (see diagram below) as well as the interdepartmental center for genomic studies of arthropods affecting human, animal, and plant health. In addition the KSU Bioinformatics Center is housed in Chalmers Hall. Konza Prairie Biological Station, an NSF-funded LTER site and tallgrass prairie reserve (see arial image below), is jointly managed by the Division of Biology and the Nature Conservancy. Finally, the Kansas Lipidomics Research Center, is based in Biology. The Lipidomics Research Center is a part of the K-State Functional Genomics Consortium, other components of this program include the Biotechnology Proteomics Facility, the Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility, and the Glycomics Facility. Also available on campus are the Biotechnology Core Lab, the Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Support Facility, and the DNA Sequencing Facility.

Facilities:
Ackert Hall is the main biology facility. Ackert Hall provides modern well-equipped laboratories for teaching and research, and, in addition, contains the division offices, a three-section rooftop greenhouse, an electronics shop, a research supply storeroom, and small animal rooms. Equipment available for research includes ultracentrifuges, beta and gamma counting systems, high performance liquid chromatography systems, growth chambers, a research microscope facility (with confocal and transmission electron microscope plus image processing capabilities), mass spectroscopy, and glassware cleaning and sterilizing facilities. Faculty members with an interest in environmentally oriented studies have offices and laboratory space in Bushnell Hall. Included in this building are the K-State Herbarium, three environmental chambers, dark rooms, and tanks for fish culture ranging from 100- to 2,000-liter capacity. Extensive computing and imaging facilities support the climatology and remote sensing activities Chalmers Hall was completed in November 2002 and is attached to Ackert Hall. This modern facility houses ten Division of Biology faculty and research programs in 12,300 square feet on the second floor of the building. Some of the research areas include: Bioinformatics, Ecological Genomics, and Kansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Development (K-BRIN). Leasure Hall is used to house the Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. This unit is a partnership of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Kansas State University, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and the Wildlife Management Institute. Three U.S. Department of the Interior employees, as Division of Biology adjunct graduate faculty members, coordinate fisheries and wildlife research programs with state and university participation. Approximately 8,616 acres of native tall grass prairie has been set aside as a unique outdoor laboratory for long-term research. This land was purchased by the Nature Conservancy with funds provided by Katharine Ordway. Land management is designed to provide experimental manipulations, in order to understand patterns and processes in maintaining the prairie ecology.

Ecological Genomics

Fun outside the Lab

Life in Manhattan

Mailing address:

Division of Biology

116 Ackert Hall

Manhattan, KS 66506

Phone Numbers:

Ted’s office: 785-532-6126

Molecular lab: 785-532-6074

Fly lab: 785-532-6416

Fax: 785-532-6653

email: tjmorgan@ksu.edu

Ted’s skype: morganlab.ksu

Physical Location:

Fly Lab: Chalmers 257

Molecular Lab: Chalmers 261

Incubator Lab: Chalmers 263

Ted’s Office: Chalmers 239D

This is where you can find us on the campus map.