Graduate faculty play a critical role in the success of our graduate students. To recognize graduate faculty who excel in mentoring graduate students, the Graduate School established the Graduate Faculty Mentor Award in the 2023-2024 academic year. Dr. Charles Rice, university distinguished professor of agronomy, was one of the inaugural award recipients.
Rice has been a faculty member at K-State since 1988 after earning a bachelor’s degree at Northern Illinois and then a master’s and Ph.D. both from the University of Kentucky. In his professional career, he has made significant contributions both through his research and his mentoring of graduate students.
As a soil microbiologist, the goal of Rice’s research is to improve and protect the environment. His work focuses on soil quality/microbiology, climate change, and the relationship between the two. Rice’s research has been supported by over $15 million in grants and has resulted in over 100 publications. He was also a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for work with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Throughout his 34 years at K-State, Rice has taught hundreds of students and has advised more than 30 graduate students. As one who has multiple degrees himself, he strongly encourages others to advance their education.
“A graduate education refines your skill sets, gives you a lot more flexibility, whether you are working in industry or academia,” said Rice about the value of a graduate education. “Things are changing all the time and having one set career doesn’t happen anymore.”
Rice has helped his graduate students succeed in all walks of professional life after earning their degrees. He estimates about 40 percent of his students have moved on to private sector jobs, some have gone on to government research agencies and then others to academia.
“You have to have a passion for the science. It’s hard work and you need to love what you are working on,” Rice said. “The thing I like about being a professor is the research aspect and gaining the understanding and knowledge and then applying it. But then there is also the cultivating of graduate students, watching how they develop professionally and personally in their approach to school and career. They come out of undergraduate school mostly with classwork, maybe they’ve worked in a lab. You have to develop, oversee and mentor their skills and their development so that they become productive and independent.”
Rice was selected for the Graduate Faculty Mentor Award based on nominations from his graduate students and the students’ participation in annual research forum events hosted by the Graduate School and Graduate Student Council.
In the 2023-2024 academic year, five of Rice’s graduate students participated in one or more of the three annual research forum events, and two of the students earned awards for their research presentations. Endy Lopes Kailer, PhD student, earned a second-place award in the Three Minute Thesis competition, and Irosha Wanithunga, PhD student, received a first-place award at the K-State Graduate Research, Arts, and Discovery Forum.
Other recipients of the inaugural Graduate Faculty Mentor Award were Dr. Loretta Johnson, professor of biology, and Dr. Kaliramesh Siliveru, assistant professor of grain science and industry. Read more about the award recipients.