September 24, 2025

The K-State Research and Extension Soil Testing Lab analyzes soil, plant, forage, grain and water to define levels of a wide range of ions and organic materials that affect soil fertility, plant, forage and grain nutritional quality, and agricultural water quality. While the Soil Lab analyzes samples for farmers and householders, the majority of the approximately 70,000 samples analyzed each year are research samples.

The Soil Testing Lab is led by Dorivar Ruiz-Diaz. Other personnel include lab manager Brian Rutter, office specialist, Rose Jones, and assistant scientists Marta Arruda Coelho, Buddhika Galkaduwa, Lynn Hargrave and Kathy Lowe. You can find the Soil Testing Lab in 2308 Throckmorton Plant Science Center, email them, or discover more about specific tests and costs at the lab’s website.

The Office of International Programs is now accepting nominations for the International Collaboration Recognition Program, which honors K-State faculty and instructors for first-time collaborations with international partners on co-publishing or joint scholarly activities during the 2024 calendar year.

The nomination deadline is 5 p.m. September 30. Award recipients will receive $1,000 in recognition of their contributions.

“International collaboration in the form of co-publication or joint scholarly activity is a critical component of the international outlook of an institution, and the Office of International Programs wants to recognize the achievements of our faculty and instructors,” said Grant Chapman, associate provost for international programs. “We are excited by this opportunity to support those K-State faculty and instructors who are contributing to our international profile.”

The collaboration recognitions will be announced as part of International Education Week, celebrated Nov. 10-21. International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State. The celebration highlights the benefits of international education and exchange, preparing Americans for a global environment while attracting future leaders from abroad to study, learn and share experiences in the United States.

View submission guidelines, eligibility criteria and proposal instructions. For questions, contact Grant Chapman at grantchapman@k-state.edu.

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Leadership Studies, Room 126, Rannells Ranch is hosting a lunch to invite new research, teaching, and extension collaborations from across the university.

Attendees will be introduced to collaborative opportunities at Rannells Ranch, a working laboratory dedicated to advancing and promoting grassland ecosystem health, environmental sustainability, and pasture-based beef production.  The ranch is a hub for innovative research, hands-on teaching experiences, and extension programming focused on rangeland management and sustainable agriculture practices. 
 
The event is designed as an opportunity for interdisciplinary engagement at Rannells Ranch. Participants will expand their interdisciplinary networks and make meaningful connections between their expertise and ranch opportunities – including such activities as hosting classes or field days on-site and conducting grasslands-based research.
 
The program will feature faculty presentations on current activities at Rannells Ranch, followed by collaborative brainstorming sessions designed to generate new ideas for teaching, research, and extension projects that can be implemented at the ranch. 
 
A complimentary lunch will be provided. Please RSVP online. 

For questions about Rannells Ranch, contact Logan Thompson at thom94@k-state.edu. 

The Office of the Vice President for Research is postponing the September 11 Posters, Pinot and Partnerships event.

The first session will now take place from 4-6 p.m. October 9, 2025, on the 5th floor of Hale Library. The focus of this event is enabling technologies and global food security & biosecurity, two core areas of Next Gen K-State's Opportunity Agenda. 

We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to seeing you in October!

Register to attend or display your research poster for the event.

Please note the recommended poster size is 36x48 inches. We cannot guarantee optimal poster display outside of these dimensions.

Learn more about the event series.

Graduate students from all disciplines are invited to present at Research and the State, on Tuesday, October 28, from 10am-3:30pm in Regnier Atrium, in Regnier Hall. Share how your research impacts Kansans, build your CV, sharpen your communication skills, and participate for a chance to represent K-State in March at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka, where presenters will share the importance of their work with state legislators and why it matters to Kansans. 

Faculty and mentors, encourage your graduate students to participate in this valuable professional development opportunity. Participation guidelines, registration instructions, tips for a successful presentation, and previous award winners can be found on the Research and the State website.   

Deadline to register - October 6 

Help Shape Future Scholars: Volunteer to Judge 

Faculty, postdocs, staff, alumni, and community members are invited to volunteer as judges. Your participation helps graduate students refine their ability to explain complex research in accessible ways. Interested in judging? Complete the judge volunteer form. Please encourage your colleagues to join you in supporting this important event! 

Kansas State University invites nominations for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program, a prestigious national fellowship that provides up to $200,000 to support high-impact research in the humanities and social sciences. The program seeks bold, solutions-oriented scholarship that addresses the causes and consequences of political polarization and explores pathways to strengthen social cohesion in the United States. K-State may nominate one tenured and one untenured scholar, with internal applications due by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 10, 2025. Finalists will be selected by a committee of University Distinguished Professors and forwarded to the President for official nomination. Interested applicants must submit a project prospectus, CV, budget estimate, and a letter of support from their Dean and Department Head. For full eligibility criteria, nomination procedures, and application guidelines, visit K-State's Carnegie Fellows Program page.

Applications are open for the Fall 2025 ADVANCE Postdoctoral Researcher Travel Funds. The purpose of this award is to enhance the postdoctoral researcher experience and enrich the lives of people in STEM disciplines by providing funds for travel to a professional conference. Up to $500 will be provided by the KAWSE Office toward the expenses associated with presentation at a professional conference. Applications are due October 10th at 5 pm.

Interested? Fill out the postdoctoral travel fund application (available on our website) and send it to kawse@ksu.edu.

The KAWSE office is excited to relaunch our pre-college programs this fall. K-State faculty, staff, and students in STEM fields are invited to design and facilitate hands-on activities for our upcoming GROW (6-8th grade) and EXCITE (9-12th grade) workshops. Facilitating an activity is a great recruitment opportunity for your college, department, and field. Faculty members have used their experiences facilitating with KAWSE to demonstrate the broader impacts of their research. Additionally, KAWSE is happy to provide documentation and/or letters of support for those who collaborate with us. Please fill out your activity proposal by October 20th.

We are accepting student registrations for our GROW Saturday workshop and EXCITE Shadow Days. If you know any young learners who might be interested in STEM, please encourage them to sign up and join us on campus for these engaging, hands-on experiences.

NSF webinars & office hours:

Just a reminder that proper acknowledgment of your NIFA funding in published manuscripts, posters, presentations, press releases, and other communications is a required element and can be found in NIFA’s Terms and Conditions. Additionally, new awards should not be announced in any manner by a grantee until they are officially and publicly announced by USDA NIFA through NIFA Update. Find more information about appropriate language to use in acknowledging NIFA here.

Be sure you and your organization are using the current USDA NIFA official identifier. You can download the NIFA logo in color, black, and white versions in EPS and PNG file formats here.

September 26, 2025

Join Germano Iannacchione, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research (NSF DMR), and NSF DMR program directors for our monthly virtual office hour and Q&A session. September's open hour will focus on the Topical Materials Research Programs and Condensed Matter and Materials Theory solicitations and division updates.

Register for the zoom session here.

On September 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Critical Materials Collaborative (CMC) will convene stakeholders and researchers for a webinar spotlighting critical minerals and materials initiatives undertaken by the U.S. National Laboratories that are advancing and derisking technologies. The webinar aims to bridge the gap between industry and the labs by detailing how the private sector can tap into lab resources and capabilities.

Featuring speakers from DOE leadership and DOE offices funding critical minerals and materials programs through the labs, as well as keynote presentations from experts at the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI Hub) and the Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Research Facility (METALLIC), the webinar will conclude with a panel discussion on mechanisms for engaging with the labs. Attendees will also have an opportunity to provide feedback on preferred lab engagement methods, standout capabilities/expertise, and existing barriers.

Register now

September 30, 2025

ROSES-2025 A.10 INNOVATE solicits proposals to rapidly advance the use of satellite observations of Earth to efficiently support the U.S. economy, national security, and other applications relevant to NASA's Earth Science to Action Strategy. This opportunity is open to all non-governmental U.S. entities but new to NASA are specifically encouraged to apply to co-design and co-develop solutions in partnership with end users facing complex challenges that can be addressed by NASA Earth science assets. The awarded projects are expected to offer products/tools/capabilities with near-immediate impacts on business or decision-making workflows with a clear plan for long-term sustainment through identified partnerships and/or commercialization opportunities.

Please join us to this community brief to learn more about the proposal requirements and the review process and submit your questions. 

https://meet.google.com/bee-mnqx-wkd

This four-week virtual course is designed to help faculty shift their mindset around research funding and explore sustainable, alternative strategies beyond large federal grants. Through guided content, live coaching, and a supportive peer community, participants learn how to identify diverse funding sources, reframe their research for new audiences, and build actionable plans that align with their institutional goals and academic mission.

Whether you’re facing budget cuts, working in a discipline with limited grant options, or seeking a more practical funding approach, this course will help you move from uncertainty to clarity and momentum.

The first course starts October 6, 2025. Register now for $495. Please note, K-State will not cover attendance costs.

If you would like to serve as a reviewer and panelist for proposals submitted to track 2 of the U.S. National Science Foundation Verticals-enabling Intelligent Network Systems (NSF VINES) program, please complete the reviewer interest survey. Responses are due no later than Oct. 8, 2025. Please share this form with interested colleagues.  

The NSF VINES program supports research and innovation to enhance wireless communications and intelligent network systems for faster, more reliable user-to-cloud connections, while promoting U.S. leadership in telecommunications and emerging potential NextG vertical industries. For more information about NSF VINES, please review the program solicitation. 

Complete the reviewer survey

October 14, 2025

Join us for an overview of the Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation (CSSI) program. CSSI supports flexible, community-driven cyberinfrastructure (CI) to advance science and engineering.

We’ll discuss the three classes of awards:

- Elements – small groups developing robust CI services.
- Framework Implementations – interdisciplinary teams building sustainable community frameworks.
- Transition to Sustainability – projects executing sustainability plans for existing CI with proven impact.

This session will also provide guidance on proposal preparation and tips for engaging with NSF program officers.

Please register in advance for the webinar.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is pleased to announce that the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2025 solicitation 2 cycle. The SCGSR program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students for conducting part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory in collaboration with a DOE national laboratory scientist. The goal of the program is to prepare graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the mission of DOE’s Office of Science. The research opportunity will advance the graduate students’ overall graduate theses while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the host DOE national laboratories. In addition, SCGSR awardees may have the opportunity for short international research visits to select prestigious centers to broaden their horizons.

A SCGSR application assistance workshop will be held on October 9, 2025, (register on Zoom). At the workshop, staff members will guide attendees through the application process, answer general questions, provide guidance on proposal writing, and lead discussions with scientists and former awardees. Additionally, the program manager will host virtual office hours every Friday starting on September 26, 2025 via this Zoom link.

Students will perform graduate theses research at U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories. Applications are due on Wednesday, November 5, 2025.

NIH will begin accepting applications for the Extramural Loan Repayment Program (LRP) on September 1, 2025. Awardees can receive up to $100,000 in qualified educational debt repayment with a two-year award.

To learn more about eligibility requirements, application dates, and the benefits of receiving an LRP award, be sure to visit the LRP website, check out our overview video, and attend one of our upcoming events:

October 7, 2025 – LRP Technical Assistance Webinar

November 6, 2025 – LRP Ask Me Anything Session

Please note that the deadline to apply is November 20, 2025.

The postponed May 2025 EPSCoR PI Meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, November 3, 2025, as a virtual PI Meeting. 

This meeting will include presentations from NSF EPSCoR staff and NSF senior leadership, offer important program updates, and provide opportunities for PI and community interactions. There is no cost to attend the PI meeting, but registration is required for this virtual event. The meeting agenda will be posted on the EPSCoR website prior to the meeting and emailed to registrants. We welcome current and former NSF EPSCoR Principal Investigators, along with evaluators, institutional representatives, and other valued members of the EPSCoR community, to join us for this event

Click here to register for the 2025 NSF EPSCoR PI Meeting.