How does K-State research affect your daily life? What kind of improvements are researchers making on roads, bridges and other infrastructure? How is K-State research helping to feed the world? What is the university doing to improve communities across Kansas?

Learn the answers to these questions and more in the fall 2023 issue of Kansas State University's flagship research magazine, Seek. The award-winning magazine highlights university research, scholarly and creative activity, and discovery through a print publication as well as the website k-state.edu/seek.

For K-States’s Biosecurity Research Institute, 2023 has been another busy year with contributions by our staff and the many researchers, trainers and educators that call the BRI home.

Staff are currently preparing for annual preventative maintenance work that ensures a safe and secure environment to facilitate research with numerous pathogens, and are already starting to review applications for next year’s projects.

Since February the BRI has supported 19 projects with several animal species and pathogens. New for this year was research on the Mpox virus. With the responsibility of having K-State’s select agent program located at the BRI, the facility is always inspection-ready. Scheduled inspections that involve experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Department of Homeland Security are mandated every three years, but additional unannounced inspections can occur at any time and without warning and have occurred at least annually.

Another institutional-level inspection was by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care. After two days, reviewers commended, “The state-of-the-art BRI facility with committed and knowledgeable staff.” 

On the training side, 138 K-Staters have completed BRI training courses this year, including 17 new people. In addition, 47 people including training scientists, technical support, maintenance and operations staff from the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility have been trained.

Courses held at the BRI this year have included another USDA high containment course, that to date has included participants from 30 different countries and Jim Stack’s Plant Biosecurity course.

The BRI has had many visitors again this year, including an all-day visit by Washburn Rural High School and a group from Fort Leavenworth that added eight new countries to the BRI’s list of visitors. In early November, the BRI had the honor of hosting former Senator Pat Roberts.

The new Biologics Development Module has added an exciting new capacity for small scale-up development, production and testing of vaccine candidates and related reagents in the coming year. 

The Export Control community of U.S. universities has recently identified a concern that many researchers across America, including K-State, have been receiving emails purportedly inviting them to apply for a Foreign Talent Recruitment Program, or FTRP. K-State’s Export Control and Research Security communities have identified two concerns with those emails that you should know about.

The first concern is that these emails are probably phishing scams. In the process of requesting your academic qualifications, they also ask for personal data that can be used to harm you financially or in other ways.

The second concern is if they are legitimate, the stated country of origin, China, likely qualifies their FTRP as a malign program, as defined in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. Members of Malign FTRPs are prohibited by this law from receiving federal research awards.



If you receive an email of this nature, please do not respond. 

If you have any questions about FTRPs or malign FTRPs, you can find information on the University Research Compliance Office website. Also, please contact Jonathan Snowden, research security officer, at jonathansnowden@k-state.edu; 532-3261 or Lisa Brummett, export control officer, at lmbrumme@k-state.edu; 532-3224 if you are comfortable discussing the email or if you have any questions. 

3:30-5 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 16

Via Zoom

The Office of Research Development, or ORD, will host an informational discussion on opportunities to work with the Department of Defense for "scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding.”

This session is intended to broaden faculty understanding and awareness of traditional and non-traditional research funding opportunities within DoD potentials for basic and applied research that aligns your interest areas, expertise, and research focus with the needs of organizations within DOD. This session will be conducted in two parts, the first identifying strategies to pursue DoD funding that are distinct from those used for other Federal agencies, and the second providing a snapshot of DoD entities and their specific research funding programs.

Registration will close at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15.

Register to attend this session.

Last week, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a draft memorandum for federal agencies to implement President Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence. The memorandum, applicable to federal agencies, puts forward requirements and guidance for AI governance, innovation, and risk management. 

The UIDP community — of which K-State is a part — has significant expertise in this technology area and is invited to respond to the call for public comment by Dec. 5, 2023.

Submit comments.

The third Report to the Nation for NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative is now available. The INCLUDES Initiative is catalyzing collaborative, systemic efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, workforce on a broad, national scale. This special report highlights progress toward these goals.

Read the report.

The INCLUDES National Network continues to grow and strengthen toward its goal of a diverse, inclusive STEM enterprise. This report shares information on funded projects’ progress toward broadening participation outcomes; new projects that were recently funded; and new opportunities to join the INCLUDES National Network. Find more information about the INCLUDES Initiative and INCLUDES National Network.

The NSF-sponsored workshop on Sustainable Computing for Sustainability to be held in the Spring of 2024 has the dual goals of helping identify unaddressed sustainability challenges in the two areas below, as well as explore and offer guidance on how to build and sustain the interdisciplinary teams that those challenges typically require.



1. Computing for sustainability: How to harness computing to tackle sustainability problems such as climate change, or redesigning the power grid to better handle distributed renewable energy sources?
2. Sustainable computing: How do we ensure that computing does not itself contribute to creating sustainability problems and that it accounts for sustainability in its development and operation? 

To that end, the organizers are soliciting input from the research community to help guide the selection of themes the workshop should focus on. Inputs can be submitted using this form and you may submit multiple responses. Inputs will be accepted until November 20, 2023.

The Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention, or PIPP, Working Group at the National Science Foundation is seeking to identify possible panelists and their availability for the PIPP Phase II Centers competition. For that reason, we are conducting a short voluntary survey of those we believe may be valuable panelists and interested in participating. We would be grateful if you fill out the survey and consider being a panelist if you are not already taking part in the PIPP Phase II competition.

PIPP Phase II Panelist Survey

Panels will be held virtually on specific dates in February and March 2024. We expect each panel member to read and write reviews for approximately 6 full proposals. These reviews will be due about one week before the panel. Please hold the dates that you signed up for and assume you will be a panelist. You will be notified whether you have been selected for a panel no later than January 10th, 2024.   

In addition to finding panelists for PIPP Phase II, we would like to save your contact information and areas of expertise to help us find panelists and ad hoc reviewers in the future. For any questions or requests, please contact us at PIPP@nsf.gov.  

NASA's Science Mission Directorate is seeking subject matter experts to serve as external (email) and/or virtual panel reviewers of proposals to the "ROSES" research solicitation. 

All of the reviewer volunteer forms may be accessed on the main landing page or just follow the links below to the volunteer review forms. Once on a form, click the boxes to indicate the topics in which you consider yourself to be a subject matter expert. If your skills match our needs for that review and there are not too many organizational conflicts of interest, we will contact you to discuss scheduling.

Frontiers Informatics is seeking presenters at their next professional development opportunity from 4-6 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 14. This opportunity provides professional development, networking, and the chance to display the success of your projects to others in the research community. If you would like to give a presentation, please sign up here or if you would like to join this exciting opportunity to connect with each other and our Frontiers Informatics colleagues, please register for the zoom webinar.

All are invited to attend a professional development opportunity and it is not limited to informatics research. All are invited to join this listening session where we will give exciting presentations and discuss how Informatics has contributed to the success of research projects.

During this office hour, the focus will be on discussing Human-Robot Interaction in the Foundational Research in Robotics, or FRR, and Human-Centered Computing, or HCC, programs. Program directors from the Computer and Information Science and Engineering, or CISE, and Engineering, or ENG, Directorates at NSF will introduce the programs and how they work in the area of Human-Robot Interaction and take your questions as they relate to FRR and the HCC programs. For more background on these programs, please visit Foundational Research in Robotics at NSF and Human-Centered Computing program.

The IIS Office Hours are for researchers interested in learning about programs and policies in the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, or IIS, in CISE at NSF. Office Hours are designed to give current and potential investigators a window into IIS and other Directorate partners. Attendance at office hours is voluntary and designed to help investigators gain information that can help them strengthen their proposals. Sessions will be closed-captioned.

Please note that the office hours are designed to answer questions from a broad range of researchers and not inquiries about specific proposals. If you would like to talk about a specific proposal you are considering submitting or that was already reviewed, please email the relevant program. This will connect you with program officers with whom you can ask questions.

Register to attend.

11 a.m.-noon

Monday, Nov. 20

Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, or SERDP, Executive Director Dr. Kimberly Spangler, Deputy Director Dr. Andrea Leeson, and the SERDP Program Managers will conduct a webinar on Monday, November 20 offering valuable information for those interested in new SERDP funding opportunities. During the webinar, participants may ask questions about the funding process, the current SERDP solicitations, and the proposal submission process.

Registration for this webinar is required. If you have difficulty registering, please contact the SERDP Support Office at serdp-estcp.webinars@noblis.org or by telephone at 571-372-6565.

Register to attend.

NSF STEM Ed IPRF: Webinars and Virtual Office Hours

Noon-1 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 21

The Directorate for STEM Education at the National Science Foundation is hosting a series of virtual office hours for the STEM Education Individual Postdoctoral Research Fellowships program to support PIs in preparing proposals for the upcoming deadline. These sessions are designed to complement the Program's recorded presentations.

The office hour sessions are an opportunity to communicate with NSF program directors via videoconference. Webinars will provide an overview of the program and the solicitation that supports awards for individual postdoctoral scholars. Office hours are designed as drop-in sessions for individuals who have questions about the program or the process of preparing proposals. You may also send questions to STEMEdPRF@nsf.gov.

Learn more and join.

November 28-30

Gaylord National Harbor in Washington D.C.

This is our 12th annual program, bringing together defense, private industry, federal agencies, and academic leadership to accelerate applications for state-of-the-art technology solutions. Our unique Innovation Partner packages for Defense TechConnect 2023 offers exceptional networking, showcase, pitch, and expo opportunities for your organization. By participating, you will have the chance to be front and center at one of the largest dedicated emerging tech and innovation matchmaking conferences of the year. Become a TechConnect Innovation Partner!

In addition to Defense TechConnect 2023, we are co-locating two conferences - SBIR/STTR Fall Innovation and Smart Cities 2023. This collaboration will provide a unique opportunity for networking and knowledge exchange.

Save the date and mark your calendars for this premier event! Already prepared to apply? Go ahead and submit your technology applications.

Save the Date! Join the National Science Foundation for the Fall 2023 NSF Virtual Grants Conference, to be held during the week of December 4-7, 2023.

Registration will be free of charge and opens on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. Be on the lookout for the Registration is Open email, which will provide the registration links and details for this event.

In the meantime, please feel free to check nsfpolicyoutreach.com for the most up-to-date information and view recordings of sessions from previous conferences. You may also view the Spring 2023 Virtual Grants Conference recordings on our YouTube page. For those who cannot attend the live conference, all recorded conference sessions will be available on-demand shortly after the event and posted on our website and our YouTube page.

If you have any logistical questions about this virtual conference, please contact us at: grants_conference@nsf.gov

Join this Partnerships for Innovation, or PFI, Q&A webinar to learn about the PFI program. During the webinar, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the PFI program and what to expect for the submission deadline.

Register to attend.

Saturday January 13, 2024

Sunday January 14, 2024

Hilton Garden Inn, Manhattan, Kansas

The K-INBRE annual symposium is back once again, and we are excited to bring together students, faculty and staff from our 10 universities in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Register to attend by December 1.

Submit abstracts by December 1.

Symposium Schedule

Please contact Heiata Chapman or Clare Frantz with any questions.

NSF and partners kick off the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot Program

On Nov. 7, representatives from federal agencies, academia and the private sector gathered at the U.S. National Science Foundation to kick off a collaborative process to design a pilot program for a National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR). NAIRR is a concept for a shared national research infrastructure that will connect U.S. researchers to responsible and trustworthy AI resources, as well as the needed computational, data, software, training and educational resources to fuel AI research and discovery. NSF

AI churns out lightning-fast forecasts as good as the weather agencies’

Meteorologists call it the “quiet revolution”: a gradual but steady improvement in weather forecasting. Today, the 6-day forecast is about as good as the 3-day forecast from 30 years ago. Rarely do severe storms or heat waves catch people unaware. This revolution has saved lives and money, but it also comes with a cost: billions of dollars’ worth of energy-hungry supercomputers that must run 24/7 just to produce a few forecasts a day. Science

Domestic Cats Could Breed Scottish Wildcats Out of Existence

Despite living alongside house cats for more than 2,000 years, Scottish wildcats ignored the felines as potential breeding partners for centuries. But in just the last 70 or so years, the two groups began interbreeding, suggests research from a pair of new papers in Current Biology. Smithsonian

A Single Infusion of a Gene-Editing Treatment Lowered High Cholesterol

In a small initial test in people, researchers have shown that a single infusion of a novel gene-editing treatment can reduce cholesterol, the fatty substance that clogs and hardens arteries over time. Wired

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