11th Annual
Summer Workshop
June 5 – 7, 2013
Sponsored by:
Climate Change Research on the Prairie
Jill Huakos—Konza Biological Prairie
Get a tour of the headquarters area including the site where climate change
research takes place. Participate in a hand's-on activity determining the
vegetative differences on a prairie that is burned as compared to a prairie that
is not burned - learning the importance of burning to a prairie ecosystem. This
will be anchored by a hike on our Butterfly Hill trail (not normally open to the
public) that will allow the group to see Konza Prairie and get a feel for what
Kansas looked like prior to human settlement.
Crops Flowering and Reproduction
Kevin Donnelly, PhD and Anita Dille, PhD
Department of Agronomy – College of Agriculture
This is a hands on activity comparing different natural flowering and
reproduction methods among major crop plants. Students will study crops
such as corn, sunflower, alfalfa, and wheat and learn how flower structures
and pollination method impacts crop breeding techniques used in crop
environments.
Disaster Relief Supply Chains
Jessica Heier Stamm, PhD, Jessica Aschenbrenner
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing
Engineering – College of Engineering
After a disaster, like a hurricane or tornado, people need supplies quickly to
help them recover and rebuild. Delivering these supplies can be a challenge,
though, as you will discover in this activity. Experience first-hand how
humanitarian groups get food and medicine to those in need, and learn how
industrial engineers can make these disaster relief supply chains more
efficient.
The Hidden World of Viruses!
Anna Whitfield, PhD, Dorith Rotenberg, PhD, Karen Alivar, and
Derek Schneweis, Kyle Baker, Ismael Badillo-Vargas
Department of Plant Pathology – College of Agriculture
Discover the amazing biology of viruses. Viruses are the most abundant
pathogens on the earth but also one of the smallest. This discovery activity will
focus on the diversity of viruses, detection, and how viruses are transmitted.
The Making of GROW and EXCITE!
Kimberly Baccus and Tyler Traxson
Communications and Marketing Department
Take a look behind the scenes of the of the making of the promotional videos
for the GROW and EXCITE programs.
Soil Science! – Microbiology, Climate Change, and
the Environment
Chuck Rice, PhD, Stuart Watts, Leonardo Bastos, Andrew McGowan,
Vanessa Walker
Department of Agronomy – College of Agriculture
In this session, students will learn about soil microorganisms and their
importance in the environment. They will stimulate the role of soil microbes in
small groups through an activity that includes greenhouse gas emissions,
nutrient cycling and food production.
Supercomputing in Plain English: Working Together!
Daniel Andresen, PhD, Russ Feldhausen, and Nathan Bean
Department of Computing and Information Science – College of
Engineering
Discuss supercomputing and directions in computing, then work together to
build programs in the Scratch programming environment that split the work
into parts to achieve the goals much faster than working alone.
Sustainability
Keith Hohn, PhD and REU students
Chemical Engineering – College of Engineering
Learn about the research that the undergraduate students are conducting this
summer through a Research Undergraduate Experience (REU) under the
advisory of Dr. Keith Hohn.