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Department of Communications and Agricultural Education

Category: October

Interdisciplinary team awarded $2.9 million NSF Research Traineeship grant to strengthen rural communities

By Linda Gilmore, Editor, Publishing Unit

 

Gaea Hock is part of an interdisciplinary team awarded a National Science Foundation grant to train graduate students to help communities address complex issues of water management and rural vitality. Melanie Derby, K-State assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering and Hal and Mary Siegele Professor of Engineering, leads the team. Derby will help meet these challenges by training students to work at the nexus of several disciplines.

 

“The whole goal of interdisciplinary research is that someone else’s perspective makes both your work stronger,” Derby said. “We do fundamental engineering work, but we want it to go to the field. We need to know how to make that happen. One of our goals is to help western Kansas and other semiarid communities be resilient in the future. We need all the components — engineering, agricultural economics, sociology, and more — to solve these important challenges.”

 

Derby and her colleagues will mentor graduate students as they conduct fundamental research in three areas of the crucial food-energy-water system: conservation of and producer relationships with the Ogallala Aquifer, soil-water-microbial systems, and technologies to transform animal waste into energy and water. They also will work to understand engineering, economic, and sociocultural barriers to implementing emerging innovations.

 

Building communication skills and a common vocabulary across disciplines is a crucial aspect of the training. Students will engage with policymakers and attend state legislative sessions in Topeka, plus they will spend time at the Southwest Research-Extension Center in Garden City to research smart water technologies and meet with farmers and others whose livelihoods depend on conserving the aquifer and other resources.

 

In addition to Derby and Matt Sanderson (co-principal investigator and the Randall C. Hill Distinguished Professor of Sociology), the team includes co-investigators Jonathan Aguilar and Stacy Hutchinson, biological and agricultural engineering; Prathap Parameswaran, civil engineering; and David Steward, civil and environmental engineering department, North Dakota State University; educational lead Gaea Hock ’03, ’06, communications and agricultural education; and advisors Nathan Hendricks, agricultural economics, and Ryan Hansen, chemical engineering. The program will train 50 master’s and doctoral students, including 25 funded trainees from the colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, and Engineering.

Kansas State Welcomes World Food Prize Guests

By Kelsey Tully, agricultural education and communications master’s student

A group of international students and researchers from Cambodia and Senegal arrived in Manhattan, Kansas, on October 11 to begin their U.S. agricultural experience. Kansas State University’s Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) hosted the group before the World Food Prize events in Des Moines, Iowa.

While the international guests were in the Little Apple, the SIIL team provided a glimpse of Kansas agriculture in a variety of settings. Dan Devlin, director of the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment (KCARE), set up farm tours for the SIIL group to see U.S. agriculture up close and in action.

Their first stop was River Creek Farms, which started in 1890. Brothers, Joe and Bob Mertz, discussed how they operate and manage the family farm using a crop and livestock integrated production system and the challenges that face U.S agriculture. This conversation posed an exciting opportunity for a bidirectional learning opportunity, where both native Kansans and international participants shared stories about different production practices used globally, including antibiotic use in livestock, livestock genetics, the use of GMOs, and the cost of farm products.

After a traditional U.S. lunch at Manhattan’s local Tallgrass Tap House, Devlin took the group to see the research side of Kansas agriculture – K-State’s agronomy department research plots. Elliot Carver, an agronomy doctoral student, led the tour. The plots are used to test multiple dimension of cover crop practices, and participants were able to discuss how Carver is applying his research to everyday farming questions and concerns.

Campus SIIL faculty and their colleagues from Cambodia and Senegal participated in a panel discussion on youth engagement and capacity building at the World Food Prize in Iowa on October 18.

 

Kelsey Tully is the social-media assistant for K-State’s Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab.

Ag Ed Club Travels to Nebraska

By Allison Dix, agricultural education junior

 

Eric Koehlmoos, K-State Agricultural Education Club president, planned a fun and educational trip to visit high schools in Nebraska on October 12. Twenty club members toured Bryan High School, the only high school in the Omaha public school district with an agriculture and FFA program.

 

 

The group also stopped by Waverly High School and learned about their tradition-rich program. Finally, the club toured Norris High School and saw its 110-acre land lab, as well as its 50-acre range lab.

Agricultural Education Faculty and Students Attend Conferences

By Linda Gilmore, Editor, Publishing Unit

Gaea Hock attended the Western Region American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) Conference in Boise, Idaho, Sept. 17–19. She presented a poster “Show and Tell: Using Videos to Provide Assignment Feedback” with co-authors from Texas Tech and Texas A&M universities. It was voted “Most Innovative Poster.”

Gaea, along with Jon Ulmer, Brandie Disberger ’01, ’03, and students Caitlin Dreher and Zachary Callaghan (juniors in agricultural education) also attended the North Central Region AAAE Conference in Fargo, North Dakota, Oct. 4–6. Callaghan and Hock presented their paper: “Benefits, Barriers, and Impact of the Kansas FFA Affiliate Fee Program.

Faculty and students also presented five posters:

Hock, G. “Making the Most Out of a Study Abroad Pre-Departure Class.”

Disberger, B., Hock, G., Ulmer, J. “Enhancing the Pre-Service CASE Training Experience with Visiting Professionals.”

Callaghan, Z., Hock, G., & Disberger, B. “TASKed with Recruiting Agriculture Teachers.”

Dreher, C. & Hock, G. “The Awareness and Implementation of the SAE for All Framework in Kansas.”

Hock, G., Callaghan, Z., Bohnenblust, K. “Assessing the Longitudinal Impact of a Specialized Youth Training Program.”

Student Spotlight: Darcie Gallagher

By Deanna Reid, agricultural education and communications master’s student

Darcie Gallagher, a Missouri native, is pursuing a master’s in agricultural education and communications and conducting research on the involvement of talented and gifted students in agricultural education. Before coming to K-State, Gallagher earned an associate degree of applied science in agriculture business and management technology from Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Nebraska, and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture sciences from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri.

 

In August, Gallagher was hired as a precision agriculture instructor at Highland Community College in Wamego. She is working to expand the program and teach new technologies and farming methods.

 

When asked why she chose to attend K-State, Gallagher said, “I loved the atmosphere of the communications and agricultural education department and the opportunities that I knew I would experience throughout my time at KSU! I have never been happier in my choice of a master’s program and what the future holds.”

 

When she is not in the classroom, Gallagher enjoys running, gardening, and working on her family’s farm.