Events

Livestock leaders across the region joined the Animal Health Intelligence Summit on April 29 at the HP Spur educational facility in Council Grove, Kansas, owned by Tom Jones, owner/manager of Hy-Plains Feedyard.

The summit was organized by K-State's Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics and National Agricultural Biosecurity Center.

As one of the first events hosted in the state-of-the-art space, the summit brought together cattle producers, veterinarians, researchers and industry partners to explore data‑driven approaches to animal health, preparedness and on‑the‑ground decision‑making.

Attendees heard timely updates from experts at the Kansas Department of Agriculture and Kansas State's Center for Outcomes Research and Epidemiology, including insights on emerging animal health threats and key issues shaping the cattle industry. The NABC and its research partner, Decision Innovation Solutions (DIS), shared new analysis and tools designed to support industry resilience and informed decision‑making.

Read the K-State Today recap to learn more.

K-State was one of 61 colleges and universities across the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Australia to host DataFest between mid-March and early May. In all, 12 teams of 44 undergraduates competed in the K-State event and were supported by 22 mentors consisting of graduate students, university faculty and staff. Faculty, staff and industry experts also served as judges.

K-State’s Institute of Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics, or ID3A, coordinated and hosted the local DataFest annually as part of the larger global competitions sponsored by ASA. Universities selected one of six weekends to host the event, with undergraduate teams having 48 hours to analyze a large, complex dataset and present their findings. More than 2,000 students worldwide participated this year from disciplines like statistics, computer science, engineering and mathematics.

In just its second year, K-State’s DataFest received a significant boost when Stormont Vail Health became lead sponsor of the event, which allowed the university to extend participation to teams from the University of Nebraska and Colorado State University. SAS and K-State’s Department of Statistics were additional sponsors.

Stormont Vail also powered DataFest on a global scale. Through its research collaboration with K-State, the Topeka-based regional health system was selected as the event’s official data donor, supplying the dataset and challenge used at DataFest events worldwide. That data allowed students to through the Stormont Vail system and uncover insights that could help improve patient experiences and strengthen health outcomes.

DataFest winners

Best Technical Application ​

• Winning team: Numerical Operations for Analysis and Hypothesis Testing, K-State
• Presentation title: Social Determinants as a Predictor in Mental Health Patient’s Journeys

Best Insights ​

• ​Winning team: Standard Deviants, Colorado State
• Presentation title: Starting the Journey: Transportation as the First Step to Healthcare Access

Clearest Communication of Complex Information by the Department of Statistics​

• Winning team: Raikes​, Nebraska
• Presentation title: The Road to Diabetic Crisis

Best Use of Outside Data​

• Winning team: SIGAI, K-State
• Presentation title: How to Have a Terrible Medical Visit

Best Visualization​

• Winning team: The Outliers, K-State​
• Presentation title: Insights for Preventative Care

Best in Show​

• Winning team: Touch Graphs​, K-State
• Presentation title: Silos and Fragmented Care​

Windy, chilly weather didn't keep more than 100 attendees away from a fun, hands-on Ag Tech Day on April 4 at Flickner Innovation Farm in Moundridge, Kansas.

The event, hosted by the K-State Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics, the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment, or KCARE, and Kansas 4-H, offered youth in grades 5-12 a unique opportunity to explore the farm and learn about both new and established technologies that are helping make farm management easier and more efficient. The day included drone and robot demonstrations, John Deere See & Spray activity, soil pit inspection, the NASA STELLA program, technology for finding and tracking insects and more.

ID3A and the Department of Statistics offered two specialized advanced analytics workshops to K-State students, staff and faculty, as well as non-K-State participants.

GISSAL and ID3A hosted a series of hands-on GIS workshops for the K-State community during fall 2025.

The inaugural AI in Kansas Ag Conference took place July 22 at The Ranch House in Lyndon, Kansas.

Co-hosted by K-State Extension and K-State's Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics, the conference drew approximately 200 veteran producers, industry tech leaders, university researchers, graduate students, state lawmakers and early-career farmers from across Kansas and beyond to explore how artificial intelligence is influencing the way farmers grow food and manage their land. Check out the news story of last year's event.

This workshop series helped practitioners understand and develop the intuition for the most common assumptions in mixed models.

The Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics partnered with MathWorks, John Deere and K-State's FarmsLab to offer the complimentary in-person seminar, “Transforming Agriculture with MATLAB & Simulink,” for faculty, researchers, students and staff.

Attendees gained insights into the latest methods for vehicle dynamics modeling, photorealistic simulation, sensor fusion, deep learning for perception, algorithm verification and deployment, all aimed at advancing safety and productivity in agricultural operations.