Purple Praise
Celebrations of faculty, staff and students
From scholarships and awards to research discoveries and creative achievements, K-State's talented faculty, staff and students continue to advance the university's culture of excellence by providing and participating in hands-on, world-class experiences.
Purple Praise highlights notable accomplishments both on and off campus, including awards and honors; fellowships; performances; elections to regional and national boards or committees in professional organizations; conference presentations; and unique learning and engagement opportunities.
Student achievements
Animal sciences and industry students showcase research during annual symposiums
Each year, students within the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry engage in a wide range of impactful research projects at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The Keith Bolsen Graduate Research Symposium and the Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium provide valuable opportunities for students to present their work while engaging with faculty, researchers, industry professionals and peers. Read more here.
Blue Key Senior Honorary awards leadership scholarships
Braden Adams and Zoey Pudenz, of Kansas State University's Blue Key Senior Honorary class of 2025-2026, received the William L. Muir II and John T. Muir Alpha Tau Omega Blue Key Leadership Scholarship for their commitment, dedication, support of others, unselfishness and willingness to help.
Adams served as president during the 2025-26 academic year. Throughout college, he interned with Garmin, TRU Simulation and Textron, working in project management, customer support and systems improvement.
Adams was also involved with the Student Alumni Board, the Student Governing Association, the engineering ambassadors and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas. Adams graduated with a degree in computer science.
Pudenz served as vice president during the 2025-2026 academic year. Pudenz was actively involved in the National Strategic Selling Institute, the Student Governing Association, the Student Alumni Board and Gamma Phi Beta sorority. During college, she interned for K-State's Office of Recruitment and Admissions and Dell Technologies. Pudenz graduated with a degree in professional strategic selling and marketing.
Dairy products judging team takes home first-place award
K-State's Dairy Products Judging Team competed for the first time in 20 years at the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest, delivering an outstanding performance and receiving top honors. Read more here.
Department of Animal Sciences and Industry names outstanding seniors
The Department of Animal Sciences and Industry is excited to recognize its outstanding seniors for 2025-2026. This award honors seniors who have demonstrated excellence through their academics, industry involvement, leadership and service to the department. This award is an accompaniment to the Don and Jane Good Outstanding Senior Award. Read more here.
Department of Grain and Food Science students place first in hygienic design competition
A team of three Department of Grain and Food Science students took first place at the 2026 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc., or 3-A SSI, Student Hygienic Design Competition.
The competition challenged teams to develop novel solutions to cleaning challenges in food processing equipment, where trapped fine powders, such as flour and spices, can serve as reservoirs for pathogens if not cleaned effectively. Teams worked over a three-month period under the mentorship of industry coaches before presenting their solutions at the 3-A SSI 2026 Summit on Hygiene Design.
Suhan Bheemaiah Balyatanda, Shivaprasad Doddabematti Prakash and Jared Lou Rivera won first place and a shared $10,000 prize for their project "Dry-to-Safe: Moisture-free powder removal for pathogen-safe processing." The team's system leveraged a static-dissipative coating and a heated-air mechanism to dislodge and capture dry powder residues without introducing water, avoiding activation of dormant pathogens in powder-based good environments.
Department of Horticulture names outstanding students
The Department of Horticulture selected Alana Wood as Outstanding Undergraduate Student and Pierce Hayden as Outstanding Graduate Student to be recognized by the American Society for Horticultural Science.
Wood was recognized for her academic performance, extra-curricular leadership — particularly as an officer in the horticulture club — and success with nationally competitive scholarships. She will study abroad this summer as part of her program.
Hayden was recognized for his exemplary research, focused on understanding the impact of microbial activity during conditions of overwatering on micronutrient deficiency in greenhouse production. He is also a teaching assistant for the horticulture program.
Department of Psychological Sciences announces 2025-26 student awardees
The Department of Psychological Sciences announced its award winners at its annual ceremony, honoring students excelling in academic and research endeavors.
Engineering students advance to national competition
After winning their regional competition, a team of engineering students will represent K-State at the American Society of Civil Engineers, or ASCE, Civil Engineering Student Championship.
Jakoby Lagud, junior in architectural engineering, and Lillian Schrick, junior in mechanical engineering, will attend the ASCE student championship June 25-27, held at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia.
The pair qualified after winning the Sustainable Solutions category at the ASCE's Mid-America Student Symposium in April, posting the top score among seven competing teams. This is the first year a K-State team has competed in the category.
Faculty achievements
Chris Shumway honored with May 2026 Charlie Award
The K-State Advisor Forum has awarded the Charlie Award for May 2026 to Chris Shumway, academic advisor for the College of Business Administration online students.
Shumway was nominated in honor of his work serving both on-campus and online business undergraduate students, as reflected in student feedback from their advising surveys. He has also streamlined curriculum resources and implemented processes to account for online course seat demand, collaborating with college leadership to strengthen scheduling and enrollment management.
The K-State Advisor Forum thanks Shumway for his work and congratulates him on this award. For more information about the Charlie Award or how to nominate someone, please visit the recognition page. The Advisor Forum Committee selects recipients and delivers awards once a month.
Das co-leads study published in Journal of Physical Chemistry
Suprem Das, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering and an affiliated faculty member in electrical and computer engineering, co-lead a study published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, a publication of the American Chemical Society.
The study, highlighting Das' team's work on light-matter interactions on printed graphene and graphene-like nanocarbons, will be featured on the upcoming journal edition's cover.
Lisa Rubin honored with University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumna award
Lisa Rubin, professor in the Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs, was recognized as Higher Education Alumna of the Year by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' College of Education. The award recognizes those with a history of outstanding service to the university and the community through leadership, service, scholarship and a commitment to student success.
Pesnell elected to national Board of Directors position
Beth Pesnell, teaching assistant professor in the College of Education, was elected as an at-large director on the National Science Teaching Association's Board of Directors.
The board, comprised of 13 members who oversee the association's finances, policies and procedures, and strategic planning, represents a community of more than 35,000 science educators and professionals committed to best practices in teaching science and its impact on student learning.
A strong advocate for K-5 science and STEM instruction at K-State and in the local community, Pesnell will continue as a voice for science education with a four-year term on the national board.