Fostering Community Health and Well-Being
K-State is building partnerships to tackle the most pressing and imperative challenges facing Kansas communities, because if we do good in Kansas, we can do good for the world.
Creating Connections, Supporting Communities
As the nation's first operational land-grant university, Kansas State University understands the importance of outreach with Kansas communities. And through our consistent and intentional engagement and vast statewide extension network, no university is more tuned in to assist with the most pertinent challenges facing Kansans. Whether we are forging partnerships to enhance health care access, leading sustainable housing initiatives, collaborating to bolster child care solutions, or continuing to champion accessible education within our state, K-State keeps the needs of Kansans at the forefront.
In May 2024, the inaugural cohort of K-State’s physician assistant studies program finished 27 months of intensive classroom and clinical training, launching the next generation of medical professionals excited to make a difference in treating acute and chronic illnesses and injuries, especially in areas that face health care shortages.
Why the rural focus? The program was created due to the need for more statewide health care providers. Out of Kansas' 105 counties, more than 60 are medically underserved under the state's standard for primary medical care, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
That is also one of the reasons why Kansas State University and The University of Kansas Health System have also forged a partnership to work together to explore ways to support health care in rural Kansas communities. The first-of-its-kind collaboration brings together the land-grant mission and statewide presence of K-State through K-State Research and Extension with the expertise and experience of the state's only academic health system.
Michael Gibson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Kansas State University, teaching design studio, environmental systems, and research seminars since joining the faculty in 2011. Gibson is the faculty lead of the Net Positive Studio, an ongoing service-learning course in the K-State architecture department, where students collaboratively research, design, and construct affordable, net zero homes with a variety of community partners across the region. The studio’s name represents its mission to demonstrate homes that are not only energy efficient, but give back to homeowners and communities through the many economic and wellness benefits of sustainable homes. Following its inception in 2018, the studio has designed, prefabricated, and built several prototype homes with its partners, who have raised millions in additional financing and grants to duplicate high performance housing designed by K-State student teams. When asked about the Net Positive Studio, Gibson shared, “Our mission is to research, develop and demonstrate housing models that can support households and communities. Through lean construction and thoughtful design, the homes intend to foster the quality of life and well-being of residents by freeing up income, minimizing required maintenance, improving social connections and building restorative connections to the outdoors.”
Other research and coursework by Michael addresses energy use and technologies in buildings and has involved experimentation with full-scale prototypes, computer simulation, and numerous collaborations with industry and practice. His past projects were awarded a 2008 American Institute of Architects RFP Research Grant and a 2013 NCARB Award for the Integration of Practice and Education.
Bronwyn Fees serves as Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs in K-State's College of Health and Human Sciences. Her research focuses on physical activity of young children within programs, early care and education programs, affordances of the physical environment for children with autism and international perspectives on early education. 
Bradford Wiles serves as an associate professor and extension specialist in K-State's College of Health and Human Sciences. Wiles' program of research focuses on building health and resilience in vulnerable families. Specifically, he leverages the strengths of the Extension system’s multi-state research project, Rural Families Speak about Resilience (NC1171), focusing his efforts on understanding resilience in rural, low-income, ethnically, and racially diverse families with young children.Hear more from Bronwyn Fees and Bradford Wiles
Listen to an interview by Jeff Wichman with Bronwyn Fees and Bradford Wiles on the weekday radio podcast, Sound Living.
Bryant Tamayo is going to be a Formula One team engineer.
It’s what he’s dreamed of ever since he was a kid racing his Hot Wheels on the carpet-printed roads in his bedroom. It’s what he’s felt he is capable of after he rebuilt a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado in high school.
He knows it’ll take more hard work to realize that dream, but Tamayo also knows he’s at the right place to succeed.
Tamayo, a junior transfer student majoring in mechanical engineering from Garden City, is one of several hundred first-year students at Kansas State University this fall finding the abundance of opportunity the university provides through its world-class education, applied learning experiences, student-led clubs and competitive performance teams.
“It’s such a small number of people who get those chances to join an F1 team,” Tamayo said. “But you can’t become a racing engineer without first being an engineer, and K-State is helping me do that through both in the education and in the connections and experiences I’m receiving.”