K-State events and announcements

Kamesh Sirigireddy, one of the first recipients of the Sarachek fellowship as well as a 2003 and 2007 graduate of Kansas State University. He is the Graduate School’s alumni fellow this year. Sirigireddy is the epitome of what one can achieve after pursuing graduate education at K-State. 

You are invited to meet with Kamesh Sirigireddy for lunch at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 14  in Eisenhower 121.

Please let the Graduate School know if you are able to attend by completing this RSVP.

K-State faculty, staff and students are invited to design and facilitate a hands-on activity for the workshops. There is no set theme for the summer workshops. The goal is to provide students with hands-on experiences in a broad range of STEM disciplines, and introduce them to career options in STEM. For more information about facilitating at the workshops and for activity proposal templates, visit the website. The KAWSE office is happy to provide letters of support to grant agencies for those who collaborate with us. Activity proposals are due by May 17.

Any questions about the GROW/EXCITE summer workshop may be directed to Stephanie Wacker, KAWSE Program coordinator, at swacker@k-state.edu. 

Innovation Festival aims to elevate students and postdocs while highlighting interconnections between disciplines and sectors. Conference programming this year spans biotechnology, nutrition and the microbiome, human and animal health, engineering, data science, digital tech, pharmacology, deep tech, and more. 

Travel award applications are now open for both those applying to present, as well as those just wanting to attend. 

• Applying to present? The travel award application is included in the Innovation Festival - Conference Presenter Application Form
• Just attending but need some travel support? Complete this form. 

Innovation Festival is taking a novel approach to placing students and postdocs into industry jobs and academic research programs, including full-time jobs; internships; post-baccalaureate, summer, graduate, and postdoctoral training programs; and more! Industry companies and academic institutions will be in attendance to recruit attendees into highly sought-after positions. 

You’ll have the opportunity to:  

• Present your research orally or as a poster to industry and academic leaders, or to just attend! 
• Experience one-on-one conversations with industry and academic leaders interested in helping you reach your goals.  
• Participate in unique experiences to build your network and identify new career or training possibilities.  

Open the door to this unique experience and a wealth of opportunities by submitting an abstract or applying today! Space is extremely limited. 

Human Networks and Data Science Program Office Hour

8:30-10 a.m.

Thursday, April 13

Zoom

Please join the Human Networks and Data Science Program to discuss questions about the program with the program director.

Join the Zoom meeting using this link.

1-2 p.m.

Tuesday, April 18

The Division of Mathematical Sciences, or DMS, is hosting virtual office hours to share information about NSF’s current operations and provide guidance to the mathematical sciences community. All members of the mathematics research community interested in the work of DMS are welcome to attend.

Events are planned at monthly intervals and the topics vary for each event. The event will be in the form of a webinar, starting with a brief presentation of a few selected topics of current interest, followed by questions. DMS program directors will be available to answer questions from the community. 

Participants should register in advance.

2-3 p.m.

Tuesday, April 18

Please join the Division of Biological Infrastructure the monthly Virtual Office Hour. Program Officers will introduce programs in DBI's BIO Centers, Facilities, and Additional Research Infrastructure Cluster, including Biology Integration Institutes, Mid-scale Research Infrastructure, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, and the National Ecological Observatory Network. It is an opportunity to raise questions and communicate directly with program officers in your field.

Please register in advance for the webinar.

Noon-1 p.m.

Thursday, April 20

Join NSF on Thursday, April 20 for the IOS Virtual Office Hour. Both Program Officers and members from the Division of Grants and Agreements will present strategies for writing a great (and compliant!) budget and answer questions audience members have. To participate, please register, using the link below. Upcoming IOS Virtual Office Hours are announced ahead of time on IOS in Focus; sign up to follow the blog, from the same page, so you don’t miss anything.

Register to attend.

You're invited to participate in a workshop aiming to strengthen partnerships among academic, private, and government organizations.

Supported by NSF's Directorate of Biological Sciences, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, and the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, or TIP, this workshop will build new connections among key biological sciences communities to successfully conduct use-inspired research.

The workshop will consist of a series of events facilitated by KnowInnovation:

• Two free virtual Pre-Workshop MicroLabs (for an unlimited number of participants) 
• 1-3 p.m., Friday, April 14
• 1-3 p.m., Friday, May 12
• In-person workshop held June 12-14, 2023 in Boise, Idaho (for 120 selected participants representing diverse groups and organizations; applications will open April 14, 2023).

Participants of the workshop will co-create the structures and processes that guide how diverse organizations support and value use-inspired science and will guide NSF to create use-inspired tracks within the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Office of Integrative Activities. Participants will build connections to new funding and partnership opportunities within and associated with NSF's new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. Participants will gain insight from government and private organizations who want their science needs to be more broadly understood and incorporated into research priorities.

Learn More

2-3 p.m.

Wednesdays through April 26

Heard about the new Growing Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity, or GRANTED, and you want to learn more? Thinking about applying to our most recent Dear Colleague Letter? Then NSF invites you to GRANTED office hours, held every Wednesday from 2-3 p.m. to meet with the GRANTED team of Program Directors.

• All meetings during office hours are 1-on-1. Guests are seen in the order they join. You may have to wait if others join before you.
• If you need captions or other accommodations, please contact Dina Stroud in advance.

Learn more.

NSF Program Directors will be available at virtual office hours to answer your questions about NSF's Revolutionizing Engineering Departments program solicitation 23-553. The RED program supports radical changes to the training of undergraduate engineering students to help them establish identities as professional engineers with the technical and professional skills needed to solve the complex problems facing society.

RED solicitation 23-553 is limited to the RED Two-Year track. RED two-year projects will develop radically new approaches among multiple two-year institutions to expand the path to engineering and engineering technology four-year programs from two-year institutions with programs such as pre-engineering, engineering and engineering technology.

At RED office hours, come prepared with your questions or simply join in to listen. Responses will be provided to questions typed into the Zoom chat window or you may use your microphone to ask a question. Office hours will not be recorded. Feel free to join/leave at any point during the meeting. To join, simply follow the event registration link below. 

• Tuesday, April 25 at 2 p.m.

April 18, May 16 and June 20

1-2pm

Zoom

ExpandAI Office hours are provided for your convenience. NSF Program Directors representing different categories of of MSIs will be available on the days and times listed to answer your questions about the program. Feel free to join/leave at any point during the meeting. To join, simply follow the event link below. You do not need to turn on your microphone or share your camera to join. Responses will be provided to questions typed into the Zoom chat window. Office hours will not be recorded but will be held regularly as advertised. Come prepared with your questions or simply join in to listen.

Join the Zoom meeting using this link.

1-2 p.m.

Friday, April 28

Sociology program directors will answer questions concerning the NSF Sociology Program.

To join, use the Sociology office hour Zoom link. 

• All meetings during office hours are 1-on-1. Guests are seen in the order they join. You may have to wait if others join before you.
• If you need captions or other accommodations, please contact Joe Whitmeyer or Melanie Hughes in advance. 

For more information about the program, visit the Sociology Program page.

Amid technology worries, farm sector still eyes its potential Victoria Advocate

K-State selects immunology professor for research fellowship WIBW

With the Ogallala Aquifer drying up, Kansas considers limits to crop irrigation AOL

K-State chemical engineer Won Min Park receives NSF CAREER award JC Post

Multi-institutional team of weed scientists helping build genomic resources for agriculture industry, scientific community SeedQuest

New discoveries at this K-State Center KSNT

Ideological Signaling Has No Role in Research

Positionality statements, in which scholars declare identity categories to which they belong and indicate how such categories might bias their research, have become commonplace in the social sciences in recent years. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Biden’s science adviser on the US push to compete with China

US President Joe Biden’s latest budget request outlined his vision for a US economy that is fuelled by science, innovation and a bullish brand of industrial policy. Although it is likely to hit a wall in Congress — now divided between a Republican-led House of Representatives and a Democrat-led Senate — the request follows a trio of historic funding bills that are already enabling investments in everything from climate and public health technologies to domestic semiconductor manufacturing, as well as activities intended to promote scientific and economic competitiveness with China. Nature

This Mummified Ice Age Squirrel Was Found Frozen in Canada

Miners working in Northern Canada in 2018 discovered a small, tannish-brown lump that appeared to be made of fossilized fur.

Now, after studying the mysterious blob, paleontologists say it’s a perfectly preserved Arctic ground squirrel that lived roughly 30,000 years ago during the Ice Age. The creature, which was curled up into a tight ball, likely died while hibernating, per CBC News’ Dave White and Elyn Jones. Smithsonian Magazine

Smoke particles from wildfires can erode the ozone layer

A wildfire can pump smoke up into the stratosphere, where the particles drift for over a year. A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study has found that while suspended these particles can trigger chemical reactions that erode the protective ozone layer shielding the Earth from the sun's damaging ultraviolet radiation. NSF

Discovery could lead to new fungicides that protect rice crops

A fungus that plagues rice crops worldwide gains entry to plant cells in a way that makes it vulnerable to simple chemical blockers, a discovery that could lead to new fungicides to reduce substantial annual losses of rice and other valuable cereals. NSF

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