GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTER NABS 2011 EMERGING PROGRAM AWARD
When it comes to promoting success, the K-State Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship practices what it teaches.
The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, or USASBE, has presented the K-State center with its 2011 Emerging Program Award.
"It's truly an honor to be named the emerging program by USASBE," said Jeffrey Hornsby, director of the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship and Vanier Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the College of Business Administration. "With so many excellent entrepreneurship education programs across the country, being recognized among our peer institutions is meaningful."
Hornsby said the recognition helps the center continue offering new and advanced programs to serve K-State students.
"Programs encouraging our students to create their own business opportunities are just one way that higher education boosts the Kansas economy," said Kirk Schulz, K-State president. "As we talk about K-State 2025, our road map to become a top 50 public research university, K-Staters have shown their commitment to supporting students with business ideas. The Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship is helping students turn their visions into reality."
The Emerging Program Award is one of six national awards given annually by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship to recognize quality entrepreneurship education and outreach programs. The award is given to entrepreneurship programs that have been in existence for three years or less. K-State's entrepreneurship program was launched in fall 2008.
"In the two and a half years since its inception, the K-State Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship has laid a solid foundation for entrepreneurship and venture creation on the K-State campus," said Yar Ebadi, dean of the College of Business Administration. "This award is a great accomplishment and supports our cross-campus approach to teaching and engagement of students in entrepreneurial thinking.
"This recognition wouldn't have happened without the outstanding leadership and hard work of Jeff Hornsby, the center's director, and Chad Jackson, associate director of the center. We look forward to more success and national recognition as the center grows and involves more students in the entrepreneurial process."
WORLD'S SMALLEST TRANSPONDER ON BOARD K-STATE SALINA UNMANNED AIRCRAFT
It squawks. It's the size of a business card. Weighing less than a cell phone, it's the world's smallest aviation transponder -- and it's on board Kansas State University at Salina's unmanned aircraft vehicle.
The XPS-TR transponder was developed by Sagetech Corporation, Hood River, Ore., and has shattered size records with a footprint smaller than that of a standard business card. K-State Salina's unmanned aircraft program is the first to use the transponder, continuing a long tradition of aeronautical innovation dating back to the dawn of unmanned flight.
The transponder was recently installed in K-State's Aerosonde Mark 4.7.
Transponders facilitate air traffic control radar systems. Virtually all aircraft carry transponders to transmit an active reply to air traffic control interrogations. The replies, known as squawk codes, provide flight plan information like the aircraft call sign and aircraft type, which improve an air traffic controller's picture of the airspace sector. The Sagetech transponder is special because it can fit easily on small unmanned aircraft.
K-State uses the Aerosonde Mark 4.7, produced by AAI Corporation, as a general-purpose research platform. Weighing about 50 pounds and not much larger than a Canada goose, the unmanned vehicle is naturally invisible to air traffic control primary radar. Though stealthy radar invisibility can be a benefit during covert military operations, the inability of air traffic control to monitor unmanned aircraft locations presents a significant barrier for civilian missions in the national air space.
"Adding a transponder to the unmanned platform is a step toward eliminating that barrier," said Kurt Barnhart, head of the department of aviation and director of the Applied Aviation Research Center at K-State Salina.
Sagetech's XPS-TR transponder includes automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast in and out capability, which allows the unmanned aircraft vehicle operator to electronically see surrounding aircraft, greatly improving situational awareness. This means the transponder also can transmit the aircraft's altitude, identification, selected heading and much more. Barnhart said this is ideal where size, weight and power are at a premium, such as with small unmanned aircraft. The transponder's small size and weight create more fuel and payload carrying capacity, providing greater flight endurance and mission capability.
"Sagetech's products are plug-and-play compatible with the Cloud Cap autopilot system that we use to control our Aerosonde. We're especially excited about the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast in and out capability that will offer a paradigm shift in our ability to integrate into the national airspace system," said Josh Brungardt, director of K-State's unmanned aircraft systems program office.
Sagetech Corporation president and founder Kelvin Scribner said he was excited to work with K-State and the AAI Corporation as the first customer for this product line. "Having worked with Aerosonde in 1996, it's especially meaningful to come full circle and be part of the Aerosonde Mark 4.7 team, now as part of Sagetech Corporation," Scribner said.
"K-State continues to impress with their forward thinking as early adopters of some of the most exciting capability offered small unmanned aircraft since the microcontroller-based autopilot," said Canyon Peckham, director of engineering at Sagetech.
Sagetech Corporation has been successfully taking engineering concepts from design to production for the unmanned aviation industry since 1998. An unmanned aviation vehicle subsystems designer and manufacturer specializing in electronics, Sagetech is the original designer of the Insitu ScanEagle UAV Avionics and Mode C Transponder. They have produced more than 20,000 subsystem deliveries since 2000, at a defect-free rate of more than 99.7 percent and an on-time delivery rate of more than 99.8 percent. Sagetech maintains facilities in Hood River and The Dalles, Ore., and White Salmon, Wash. More information is available at http://www.sagetechcorp.com.
Aerosonde is a registered trademark of Aerosonde Pty Ltd. More information about the aircraft is available at http://www.aaicorp.com.
K-State's unmanned aircraft systems program office includes the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technology Evaluation Center and a full surface mount technology lab for unmanned aircraft avionics and payload miniaturization. It also collaborates with military organizations and the private sector to develop unmanned flight in the nation's airspace and training pilots and operators of unmanned aerial systems.
K-State establishes criteria for unmanned aircraft system flight operations, including activity at the Smoky Hill Weapons Range, and eventually at the Herington unmanned aircraft system flight facility. The unmanned aircraft systems program office establishes policies and procedures to enable both military and civilian organizations to fly and test at the area facilities. More information is available at http://www.salina.k-state.edu/uas.
EBONY THEATER SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN OF COLOR IN FREE PERFORMANCES
K-State's Ebony Theater is giving free performances of the Broadway play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf."
The play will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20, in K-State's Nichols Theater. Advance tickets are not required to attend.
Written in 1975 by Ntozake Shange, the play is about what it was like to be a woman of color in the 20th century and is expressed through the words, gestures, dance and music of seven ladies.
The play begins and ends with the lady in brown. The other six performers represent the colors of the rainbow. The ladies improvise as they shift in and out of different roles.
"For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf" achieved critical success on Broadway and was the recipient of the Obie Award.
The K-State production will be directed by Marci Maullar, managing director of K-State Theatre and professor of theater. The play will be directed in a readers' theater style but with movement and memorization throughout.
POETS, NOVELISTS AND MORE MAKE FOR LITERARY MONTH AT K-STATE
Late February and early March offer a literary flair with lectures by noted scholars and poetry and fiction readings being offered by the department of English.
All events are free and open to the public. They include:
*Reading by poet Eamonn Wall, 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, Room 213, K-State Student Union. A native of Ireland, Wall has lived in the U.S. since 1982. He is a Smurfit-Stone Professor of Irish Studies and professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of five collections of poetry, and his book, "Writing the Irish West: Ecologies and Traditions," will be published in March by the University of Notre Dame Press. For more information visit http://www.eamonnwall.net/.
* Reading by novelist Philipp Meyer, 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25, Little Theater, Union. Meyer's first novel, "American Rust," made numerous 2009 best book lists. He was a finalist in 2010 for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award, was recognized in The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 fiction issue and received a Guggenheim Fellowship. More information on his presentation is available at http://www.k-state.edu/english/visit.html.
* Lecture by Susan Bordo, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, Ballroom, Union. A feminist scholar and cultural theorist, Bordo is a professor of English and gender and women's studies at the University of Kentucky. Her lecture is "The Creation of Anne Boleyn." The event is co-sponsored by the department of English and the women's studies program.
* Lecture by Terry Castle, 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 5, Little Theater, Union. Castle, professor of English at Stanford University, will present "'Outsider Art' and the Problem of Aesthetic Value." Her talk will address the global phenomenon of "outsider art" and the challenge it poses to traditional aesthetics and conceptions of the artist. The event is co-sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa, the department of English, the University Honors Program and the women's studies program.
* Poetry on Poyntz, 7 p.m. Friday, March 5, at the Strecker-Nelson Gallery, downtown Manhattan. Join various English department faculty and students as they gather to read some of their literary work.
K-STATE LIBRARIES HOST "THE FUTURE OF INTEGRATION"
K-State Libraries will host a two-day event featuring a playing of an extended version of the newly discovered recording from Martin Luther King's speech at K-State in 1968. The recording was acquired from Galyn Vesey who obtained a tape of the speech shortly after it was broadcast over the radio in Wichita.
Titled "The Future of Integration," the presentation is named after the convocation speech King delivered at K-State.
The recording will be played Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:05 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The recording will be replayed on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The event will be held in the Hemisphere room on the fifth floor of Hale Library and is free and open to the public.
In addition to King's speech, the nearly 80-minute recording includes opening remarks by K-State radio announcer Ralph Titus, K-State President McCain's introduction of King and a Q&A session following the speech in which K-State students and media question King about issues at K-State and in Kansas.
The recording was first played for the public at the Martin Luther King luncheon at K-State in January. However, only the speech was played at the luncheon, so the introduction and Q&A session audio are new to the public.
"You get to hear K-State students and members of the press from the state of Kansas ask King questions and hear King's answers," said Tony Crawford, university archivist. "You can hear the questions and answers loud and clear. This segment was not published in 1968.
"We're really proud of our role in acquiring this recording and being able to showcase it at this event, particularly during Black History Month," said Crawford.
NOVELIST PHILIPP MEYER, ONE OF NEW YORKER'S TOP 20 UNDER 40, SPEAKING FEB. 25
Author Philipp Meyer, who in 2010 was selected as one of The New Yorker's top 20 fiction writers under the age of 40, will read and discuss his work at K-State.
Meyer's presentation will be at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25, in the Little Theater at the K-State Student Union. A short question-and-answer session and a book signing will follow. All events are free and open to the public.
Meyer's first novel, "American Rust," was named one of the best books of 2009 by numerous magazines and newspapers. The novel begins with a murder in chapter one and then examines the complexities of emotion, honor and responsibility that follow.
It's a deeply literary novel, but also a finely plotted page-turner and a social document that scrutinizes the 21st-century tragedy of a dying steel town, said Daniel Hoyt, assistant professor of English.
"At its core 'American Rust' is the story of the two young men involved in the death, but the novel -- through stream of consciousness -- examines the lives and mindsets of six major characters," Hoyt said. "Reviews of 'American Rust' place Meyer in a tradition of American realism that includes John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner."
Inclusion on The New Yorker's 20 under 40 list brings great attention to and scrutiny of the selected writers, Hoyt said. The magazine's original 20 under 40 list, published in 1999, included several little-known writers who have since become major literary figures, including Jonathan Franzen, Jhumpa Lahiri and Junot Diaz.
"Although lists like The New Yorker's can be debated, they help more readers find more writers," Hoyt said. "Meyer is immensely talented, and his work is immensely human. All kinds of readers should be aware of 'American Rust,' and we hope people will come out to get a taste of Meyer's work Feb. 25."
Meyer's reading is sponsored by the K-State's department of English.