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About K-State

2017 Faculty Achievements

  • Citation for innovation: Paul Seib a new fellow of the National Academy of Innovators.

  • Aiding the NSF: Geography's Kendra McLauchlan to serve as rotating program director for the National Science Foundation.

  • Certified expert: Agronomy's Colby Moorberg earns prestigious professional soil scientist certification.

  • Research recognition: University gains two new certified research administrators.

  • Going the distance for success: Global Campus programs, staff and student earn regional, national honors.

  • Setting the standard: Vet Med's Brian Lubbers new chair of international veterinary standards committee.

  • Write stuff: Paper by College of Business Administration's Saurav Pathak selected as one of the top 15 papers in international entrepreneurship.

  • Soil champion: Agronomy's Gary Pierzynski presents at United Nations' World Soil Day 2017.

  • Best of the best: Peter Dorhout new fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  • Top teacher: Horticulture's Chip Miller earns U.S. Department of Agriculture's Best New Teacher Award for Food and Agricultural Sciences.

  • High step: Dance program leader Julie Pentz elected director on National Dance Educators Organization's advisory board.

  • International statesman: President Myers honored by Kansas City International Relations Council for global service.

  • Physic phenom: K-State's Abdollah Mohammad named distinguished researcher for his work on the Compact Muon Solenoid detector upgrade at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

  • Well-planned: APDesign's John Keller receives Ad Astra Award for contributions to field of planning in state of Kansas.

  • Success is instrumental: K-State one of only five universities to have all three of its grant proposals, worth more than $2.5 million, selected for funding through the NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program. The proposals are led by three faculty teams.

  • Best in Kansas: Linda Hoag, professor of communication sciences and disorders, is state's speech language pathologist of the year, while Elaine Johannes, associate professor of family studies and human services and extension specialist, named state's communicator of the year.

  • Project perfection: Drawing by architecture's Peter Magyar is finalist for The Architecture Drawing Prize at World Architecture Festival.

  • Teaching innovator: L. Sue Williams receives Innovation in Teaching Award from Colleague 2 Colleague.

  • Formula for success: American Chemical Society honors Christer Aakeroy with 73rd Midwest Award.

  • Top appointment: Dean John Buckwalter elected to the board of directors for Association of Public Land-grant Universities' Board on Human Sciences.

  • Research excellence: Two university distinguished professors are recipients of Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Awards. Vara Prasad, professor of agronomy, is receiving the Irvin E. Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences, and Bharat Ratra, professor of physics, is the recipient of the Olin K. Petefish Award in Basic Sciences. Each receives $10,000 for their ongoing research.

  • Animal welfare warrior: Hans Coetzee receives the World Veterinary Association's Global Animal Welfare Award for his longtime work.

  • Design champion: Hernán Gregorio, instructor of interior architecture & product design, the grand prizewinner of the BOSEbuild Design Challenge.

  • Conservation kudos: Jeffrey Skibbins receives Dwight A. Holder Award, part of the prestigious Hartzog Awards, for his outstanding work with the conservation of natural and cultural resources.

  • Civil engineering's Stacey Kulesza helps document damage caused by Hurricane Harvey as volunteer for NSF's GEER program.

  • Award from down under: Australian Institute of High Energetic Materials names mechanical and nuclear engineering's James Chen as an honorary fellow.

  • Inaugural recipient: Biology's Jocelyn McDonald is among 30 recipients of the new Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

  • In the write: Han Yu, professor of English, authors new book and is lead editor of another newly release book, both dealing with communicating science.

  • NSF tabs biologist: Ted Morgan, professor of biology, to serve as a rotating program director for the National Science Foundation's Division of Integrative Organismal Systems — Directorate for Biological Sciences.

  • Fulbright scholar: Eleanor Sayre, associate professor of physics, is the university's 2017-2018 Fulbright scholar to Canada, conducting research at the University of Calgary.

  • Potential recognized: Maggie Syme, assistant professor of gerontology, is the recipient of the Early Career Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association's Office for Early Career Psychology, while Melanie Derby, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering, is the recipient of the 2017 American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels Outstanding Early Career Award.

  • National leader: Dan Devlin named president-elect of the National Institutes for Water Resources.

  • Outstanding contributor: Mechanical and nuclear engineering's Amy Betz receives the 2017 American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels Outstanding Leadership Award.

  • Top of his profession: Flea and tick expert Michael Dryden recognized as top veterinary microbiologist by national organization.

  • 2017 fellow recipients: Alice Boyle, biology, American Ornithological Society; Asad Esmaeily and David Steward, both civil engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers; Gordon Smith, grain science and industry, Institute of Food Technologists; and Kimberly Kirkpatrick, psychological sciences, Association of Psychological Science.

  • Awarded agronomists: Soil and Water Conservation Society presents Chuck Rice with Hugh Hammond Bennett Award, while Colby Moorberg receives Outstanding Service Award.

  • Leadership post: Mechanical and nuclear engineering's Gurpreet Singh named chair of Bulletin Editorial Advisory Board of the American Ceramic Society.

  • Perennial winner: Chad Miller receives Perennial Plant Association Award for exceptional leadership in education.

  • Poster plaudit: Chemical engineering's Ryan Hansen receives top poster award at American Society for Engineering Education's Chemical Engineering Summer School.

  • Tasked for excellence: Fred Burrack selected for Knowledge Development Task Force.

  • National impact: Two K-State physicists part of world's biggest neutrino experiment.

  • Select honor: U.S. Department of State selects Jolene McConnell for its English Language Fellows Program.

  • A better way: American Veterinary Medical Association's 2017 Animal Welfare Award to College of Veterinary Medicine's Hans Coetzee.

  • Top teacher: Kansas Association for Career and Technology Education names College of Human Ecology's David E. Thompson its Post Secondary Teacher of the Year.

  • Top work: College of Engineering's Hayder Rasheed earns Best Paper Award for Research on FRP Strengthening of Existing Structures at international conference.

  • Faculty, grad students earn honors from American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

  • Best book: "Wildflowers and Weeds of Kansas," co-written by K-State's Jon Haddock, receives 2016 Jan Garton Prairie Heritage Book Award.

  • National leader: Kevin Sauer serving on board of directors of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

  • Record-breaking achievement: Dong Lin's 3-D printed graphene aerogel is officially named world's least dense printed 3-D structure.

  • Soil support: Chuck Rice receives national honor for outstanding contributions for research, teaching, extension, or administration made outside of the U.S. by a current agronomist.

  • Engineering leader: Julia A. Keen, associate professor of architectural engineering and construction sciences, Kansas State University, serving one-year term as vice president on ASHRAE board of directors.

  • Top researcher: University Distinguished Professor Walter Dodds receives the Society for Freshwater Science Award of Excellence.

  • State's best: Gary Clark named 2017 Engineer of the Year by Kansas Society of Professional Engineers.

  • Select honor: K-State Police Lt. Jessica Brooks graduates from FBI National Academy.

  • Plan for success: Personal financial planning faculty, students earn honors.

  • Service rewarded: Jim Stack presented Distinguished Service Award from the North Central Division of the American Phytopathological Society.

  • Awards to grow on: Horticulture graduate student, faculty receive North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture awards.

  • At the top: Karen Schmidt named president of American Dairy Science Association.

  • Distinguished recognition: David C. Pool earns distinguished lectureship award from American Physiological Society.
  • Conservation leader: Park management and conservation assistant professor serving three-year term on IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.

  • State leader: Human Capital Services' Shanna Legleiter president of state chapter of human resources association.

  • Salute for service: K-State professors are inducted to the US Army Noncommissioned Officer Corps.

  • Successful scholar: Jayendra "Jay" Amamcharla the 2017 recipient of the American Dairy Science Association's Foundation Scholar Award in dairy foods.

  • Rising young researcher: Assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering receives $360,000 from the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program.

  • Living legend: Zelia Wiley receives 2017 Legend Award from Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences.

  • Driven to succeed: Computer science associate professor receives Young Investigator Award from Office of Naval Research for autonomous autos research.

  • Best at the job: Biology's Joyce Brite receives high recognition from Wildlife Management Institute.

  • National appointment: Kevin McCluskey selected for three-year term on National Genetics Resources Advisory Council.

  • Trendsetter: Dean of College of Agriculture John Floros named co-chair of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's Science Breakthroughs 2030 project.

  • Key appointment: Curator of university's Fungal Genetics Stock Center to serve three-year term on the National Genetic Resources Advisory Council.

  • Highlighting the Sunflower State: Ted Cable publishes "Driving across Kansas: A Guide to I-70, Revised and Updated Edition."

  • Building a stellar reputation: Katie Loughmiller receives Associated Schools of Construction Excellence in Teaching Award.

  • New author: Senior electronic media coordinator Brent Anders writes first book, "How to Enhance Instructional PRESENCE: Research & experience based techniques to improve both online & face-to-face instruction."

  • Research abroad: History professor receives Fulbright Fellowship for Serbia.

  • Advising excellence: NACADA's Charlie Nutt is first-ever recipient of the United Kingdom Advising and Tutoring Fellowship.

  • Standout designer: APDesign's Sebnem Demirkan receives 2017 Design Intelligence Award in the Design Frontiers category.

  • Making a CAREER of it: Industrial and manufacturing systems engineering's Jessica Heier Stamm becomes university's fourth NSF CAREER award winner this year.

  • National leadership: College of Education's Deepak Prem Subramony is president-elect designate of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology's pioneering Culture, Learning and Technology Division; College of Veterinary Medicine's Brad White named president of the Academy of Veterinary Consultants; and College of Agriculture's Gary Pierzynski new president-elect of the American Society of Agronomy.

  • Master musician: David Pickering receives an E. Power Biggs Fellowship of the Organ Historical Society.

  • A career of excellence: K-State geography professor receives lifetime achievement award from the American Association of Geographers.

  • Tops in his field: Andrew Smith, Kansas State Polytechnic Campus, named 2017 Ivan D. Livi Aviation Maintenance Educator of the Year.

  • Top teacher: College of Education's Lisa Rubin named among the outstanding women leaders in higher education.

  • Author, author: Kakali Bhattacharya, associate professor of educational leadership, published second book.

  • Top paper: Shireen Roshanravan, American ethnic studies, receives Jane Addams Prize from the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy.

  • Engineering potential: Mechanical engineer's research related to water conservation earns NSF CAREER award.

  • Best in state: Phillip Vardiman is Kansas Athletic Trainer of the Year.

  • Paper perfection: Personal financial planning faculty member, student earn best paper award.

  • Simply the best: College of Education's Kakali Bhattachary receives the 2017 Outstanding Book Award from the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry.

  • Top-tier educator: Dean of Graduate School, Carol Shanklin, a 2017 Icon of Education.

  • Top paper: The 2016 Robert J. House Best Paper Award from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Project goes to Saurav Pathak, entrepreneurship assistant professor.

  • Building potential: Katie Loughmiller, assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction science, receives Associated Schools of Construction Region 4 Regional Teaching Award.

  • Recognized role model: APDesign's Tim de Noble receives award for advocacy of architecture.

  • Financial finesse: Journal of Financial Research selects article by K-State's Sabuhi Sardarli as its most outstanding in 2016.

  • Excellent agronomist: Mary Beth Kirkham receives Distinguished Scientist Award from Soil Science Society of America.

  • "Sum"one special: Anna Zemlyanova, assistant professor of mathematics, new vice president of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Central States Section.