Kansas State University

"What attracts students to the feed industry?" 

Steven Kilger, the managing editor for Feed & Grain and host of the Feed & Grain Podcast, talks with students Carter Minson and Garrett Freson from Kansas State University's Grain Science program.

Topics include:

• What drew them to study for a career in the feed manufacturing industry
• How is their education going
• The hands-on experiences they've had making feed
• What are their hopes for their future careers in feed

Graduate Student Rania Marie Buenavista wins Best Poster/Paper at the ICFoST Conference

Congratulations Rania! Her poster was selected the best out of 317 posters presented at ICFOST in India. She would like to thank Dr. Subramanyam Bhadriraju, Dr. Mark Casada, and Dr. Xinyi E. This was the 29th ICFoST conference. The conference's mission statement reads, "The Sustainable Development Goal: Ending Hunger and Achieve Food Security and Improved Nutrition underlines the food security and nutritional security as two important complementing elements of our sustainable future." Congrats again to Rania.  

Jared Lou Rivera Named the Collegs of Agriculture's December Graduate Student of the Month

The Graduate Student of the Month program aims to recognize the contributions of the many stellar graduate students within the college. Each department will be able to recognize up to 10 students each year. The students selected will receive a personalized letter of congratulations from the Associate Dean and be invited to a luncheon or similar event with the Dean and Associate Dean at the end of the semester. Congrats Jared for being named the December Graduate Student of the Month!

Zhenjiao Du Named the College of Agriculture's November Graduate Student of the Month

The Graduate Student of the Month program aims to recognize the contributions of the many stellar graduate students within the college. Each department will be able to recognize up to 10 students each year. The students selected will receive a personalized letter of congratulations from the Associate Dean and be invited to a luncheon or similar event with the Dean and Associate Dean at the end of the semester. Congrats to Zhenjiao

Click Here to see Zhenjiao's Student Spotlight!

Dr. Chad Paulk earns the American Society of Animal Science’s 2023 Outstanding Young Researcher Award

The award will be celebrated during the 2023 ASAS Midwest Section Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, March 12-15, 2023. 

October 29, 2022 U.S. Farm Report 

In October, the U.S. Farm Report continued their College Roadshow with a stop in Manhattan, Kansas. Featured in the report is Kansas State Univeristy Associate Professor Dr. Greg Aldrich, discussing research being done in the Grain Science Department to support and advance the pet food industry. 

Milling Science Club products now availbile at the Call Hall Dairy Bar!

Kansas State University's Seek Research Magazine Article: Pawsitive results

This article shows how K-State’s pet food program offers research expertise and facilities to explore solutions for pet nutritional challenges and pet food processing. Link Below!

https://www.k-state.edu/seek/fall-2022/programs-focus-on-pet-nutrition-and-health/

Siemer Milling on “How America Works”

We are excited to announce that Siemer Milling will be featured in an upcoming episode of Mike Rowe's "How America Works"!  In this 10-minute long tv episode, you will get a glimpse into what wheat milling looks like and the important role that Siemer Milling and our employees play in the milling industry!

Episode link for Siemer Milling:

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6316642798112

Episode already done on Lifeline Foods, examining the corn milling process: 

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6305854754112

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellow Positions

We are pleased to announce that we have two MS and two Ph.D. Fellow positions sponsored by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) Grants Program. We are establishing a joint program between the Department of Grain Science and Industry and the Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health at Kansas State University to train the Fellows at the interface of cereal science and human nutrition. The joint training program will transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries in grain science and human nutrition and provide multidisciplinary graduate training so that Fellows will become emerging experts in cereal chemistry and nutrition.

The unique training program consists of:

1. A multi-disciplinary academic and research experience

2. Leadership training and development

3. Hands-on participation in conducting research with experienced scientists in teams from several disciplines

4. Summer internship at cereal or food companies

5. Participation in the scholarly publication process

6. Opportunities to present research findings to diverse audiences, write research proposals, and teach courses

7. Providing assistance with excellent job opportunities.

By the completion of this training, Fellows will be well prepared to deal with complex food science, cereal chemistry and nutrition related issues, and take leadership roles in research and policy at public and private institutions. The Fellow positions are available immediately.

To apply for the National Needs Fellowship, applicants must:

1. Be citizens or nationals of the United States of America as determined in accordance with Federal law.

2. Not have completed more than one semester or equivalent hours of full-time study in the same academic program at the same degree level.

If you are interested in the USDA Fellowship Position, you must first let Dr. Yong-Cheng Shi know, as well as stating that you are applying for the fellowship in the assistantship section of their graduate program applications. 

Kansas Corn

In addition to the academy program, Kansas Corn also sponsors the Kansas Corn Next Gen Scholarship and the National Corn Growers Association Scholarship. Kansas Corn has combined the application process this year, which means students only need to fill out one application to be eligible for both scholarships. Each scholarship is $1,000 and requirements can be found on the Kansas Corn website at https:// kscorn.com/scholarships/. Deadline for scholarships this year is January 31, 2023.

Wildcat Nonresident Award

A new scholarship will be available to eligible out-of-state students beginning with the summer 2023 semester. The Wildcat Nonresident Award is a scholarship pathway available for all states and abroad. Domestic or international degreeseeking Manhattan or Salina campus students who enroll in at least 12 credit hours for the fall and spring semesters, may be eligible. No ACT/SAT is needed to apply. For more information, please scan the QR code.

Grain Science Facility Updates

K-State’s College of Agriculture (CoA) has completed its 2030 Facilities Master Plan, which established a strategic vision for prioritized investment in its main campus, Agronomy North Farm, and North Campus teaching, research, and extension facilities. For the main campus, the plan recommended the creation of a new Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation (GCGFI) as the highest priority project. This new facility will support the efforts to strengthen existing programs and support innovative initiatives underway that harness K-State’s unique strengths in grain science and animal science while supporting transdisciplinary research and innovation in food safety and food security. The GCGFI will create a new “front door” for the college and support new ways of working collaboratively across the institution leading to these anticipated outcomes:

• Revolutionize and nurture interdisciplinary research across departments and colleges
• Recruit and retain worldclass faculty and outstanding students
• Modernize hands-on learning experiences
• Create high-tech space for collaborative partnerships with industry
• Develop future agriculture leaders
• Advance K-State Research and Extension programs

The plan identified the replacement of teaching and research facilities for the Department of Grain Science and Industry (GSI) as an opportunity to create an interdisciplinary teaching and research center within the Call/Weber complex to accelerate grain, food, animal science, and agriculture systems innovation. The new structure will provide a combination of specialized teaching and research labs for grain science, bakery science, milling science, feed science, and food science, along with flexible research labs for interdisciplinary investigation, and collaborative meeting spaces for students and research teams. The new facility will allow GSI to vacate Shellenberger Hall and the Feed Technology building to address pressing deferred maintenance liabilities and consolidate its existing spaces currently in five structures across campus. The old buildings have both been recommended for demolition as the cost to renovate them would be too high. New Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation The new Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation (GCGFI) will be a focal point for innovation and discovery for K-State and its public and private partners. The vision for the new center is to provide stateof-the-art teaching and research facilities for GSI to increase collaboration between other departments within the college, advance education and research programs, and bolster outreach that impacts Kansas Industry and the global grain and plant-based food, feed, fiber fuel, and bioproduct supply chains.

Food Security Initiative

Through to the initiative and coordination efforts of Tucker Graff, a masters student under the advisement of Sajid Alavi, Ph.D., the department donated 2,000 lbs. of packaged polished rice to K-State’s food pantry, "Cats’ Cupboard." The unused rice came from a shelf-life project that Alavi’s extrusion lab recently had concluded for the USDA. Shelly Williams, Morrison Family Director of the Cats’ Cupboard stated that rice is consistently one of the most popular items at the food pantry, and they were delighted to accept such a donation. “It was a pleasure to work with the Department of Grain Science to reduce food waste and promote food security for our K-State Family.”

Graduate Student of the Month – October 2022

The College of Agriculture launched a new Graduate Student of the Month recognition program this October to recognize the contributions of the many stellar graduate students within the college. Each department will be able to recognize up to 10 students each year. The students selected will receive a personalized letter of congratulations from the Associate Dean and be invited to a luncheon or similar event with the Dean and Associate Dean at the end of the semester. Congratulations to the department’s first graduate student of the month, Tucker Graff.

Click Here to see Tucker's Student Spotlight

Cereal Chemistry Editor’s Pick

Jared Rivera’s recently published article “Significance of wheat milling operations on the distribution of Escherichia coli bacterium into milling fractions” was selected for the Editor’s Pick section of the September/ October 2022 edition of Cereal Chemistry. Jared is a doctoral student under the advisement of Kaliramesh Siliveru, Ph.D. College of Agriculture

Graduate Student Scholarship Recipient

Jared Rivera was selected as the Dan and Kathy Richardson Scholarship winner by the College of Agriculture this October. The award is specific for students who are involved in research programs focused on food safety or food security that are collaborating with other programs, inside or outside the College of Agriculture.

Research and the State Presenters

Congratulations to Tucker Graff and Mayra PerezFajardo for placing in the top 10 at the universitywide Research and The State poster forum on October 27. Tucker and Mayra, along with the other winners, will represent K-State and present their research at the 20th Annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit (CGRS) in Topeka in March of 2023. The CGRS provides participants from the regent schools with an opportunity to present their research posters and discuss the important implications their research has for issues in the state of Kansas with state legislators, the governor, and the Board of Regents. Academic and industry representatives serve as judges to select the top presenters from each institution to receive scholarship awards. Tucker will present his topic, ‘Grain Sorghum as a Sustainable Ingredient in Aquatic Feed – Grinding and Processing Energy Studies,' and Mayra will present her topic, ‘Impact of Cricket Protein Powder Addition on Wheat Dough Properties and Bread Quality.' Tucker is a masters student under the advisement of Sajid Alavi and Mayra is a doctoral student under the advisement of Hulya Dogan. In all, graduate students from the Grain Science and Industry department represented more than 20% of all the research presentations at the Research and The State. 

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