Gonzalo Alcantar was one of three students in the KS-LSAMP program sponsored 
by the Kansas NSF EPSCOR RII Track-1 Award OIA-1656006: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant and Soil Systems across Kansas (MAPS). His mentor, Dr. Matt Kirk is an Associate Professor of Geology at Kansas State University (KSU) and MAPS Soils Team leader. The title of Gonzalo’s research project is Variation in contribution of groundwater discharge to streams across the Kansas precipitation gradient. He said that he picked this particular topic because “I am interested in everything that goes into agriculture/farming and aquaponics/vertical farming, hence the water research.”