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September 2018
Enhancing research and engagement
Greetings all, and welcome back to another exciting semester.

I'm excited to announce the formation of a new advisory committee on campus. The committee will be charged with naming itself, but the focus will be on making recommendations to the administration as we seek to harmonize, integrate, encourage, and enhance external research and engagement activities. Areas of deliberation for this group include:

  1. Developing a strategic plan to encourage greater external engagement between faculty/staff, stakeholders and communities.
  2. Providing recommendations for greater integration of existing and future research, scholarly, and creative activity and discovery and associated opportunities.
  3. Recommendations for building integrated interdisciplinary proposal teams.
  4. Fostering a greater level of integration between Polytechnic campus disciplines and academic programs on other campuses and at other institutions.

Please join me in offering special thanks to those who volunteered for this committee. This committee will have a budget of $5,000 to spend as they see fit in pursuit of these objectives. Please support this team as they get started on this task.

—Kurt Barnhart, associate dean for research and engagement
First patent for K-State Polytechnic
Saeed Khan has been granted a patent for a helical antenna wireless power transfer system by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Khan is professor and coordinator of the electronic and computer engineering technology and unmanned aircraft systems design and integration degree options at K-State Polytechnic.

This is K-State Polytechnic's first patent. Read more.
TALK Salina
For the past seven years, K-State Polytechnic has hosted the popular monthly Civic Luncheon Lectures , coordinated by faculty member Greg Stephens. In Spring 2018, attendees made it clear that they wanted more in-depth discussion and information, so TALK Salina was born. 

The group held a highly impactful discussion in March, when the topic was "Coming to America. Who Should We Welcome? What Should We Do?" Read more .
Assessment report for NFO FarmStarts Program
The National Farm Organization received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work with beginning farmers who have been in business for fewer than 10 years and who wish to become organic dairy and feed producers. The project workshops are designed to increase current producers’ knowledge and skills in production, management and marketing and to attract new producers to the field.

This three-year project relies on the assessment skills of K-State Polytechnic faculty members Siny Joseph and Greg Stephens to design, collect, and evaluate surveys to track the progress of the grant outcomes. Read more.
Geary County teachers learn STEM skills
Thanks to a grant from the Kansas Board of Regents , Geary County school teachers have received training, equipment and supplies to help students expand their hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills. The 18-month “Enriching and Integrating 21st Century Science and Technology Knowledge and Skills into Today's Classroom Through Effective Partnerships” grant focused on staff and students in Geary County with a multi-faceted program.

The grant paid for 40 teachers to participate in two weeks of applied training from Polytechnic faculty Troy Harding and Engineering Lab Technician Dustin Keiswetter in June 2017 and 2018 . They learned robotics, programming, 3D printing skills and more — and they left with a “can do” attitude. Read more.
Updated student lab space
During the summer of 2018, the K-State Polytechnic Materials Lab got a student-centered facelift.

Dedicated classroom work space, laptops, wireless access, tool racks, and a laser cutter/engraver are among the additions. Read more.
Have suggestions for future issues? Email polytechresearch@k-state.edu
polytechnic.k-state.edu
785.826.2601