Spring Semester 2013
News and Events
Center for Sustainable Energy
Kansas State University
www.cse.ksu.edu • energy@ksu.edu
Newsletter Topics
Outstanding article citation for K-State
agricultural economics team
Professor and grad student
publish award-winning paper
K-State agricultural economics associate professor and co-PI for the
Center for Sustainable Energy, Jeff
Peterson, earned an award for outstanding article among those published in 2012 in the Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, the
official journal of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, his
co-author was former graduate student Ya Ding.
___________________
Featured IGERT trainees:
John Stanford and
Kyle Probst
___________________
IGERT program adds
three new trainees for spring
2013 term
Funding opportunities
Find funding opportunities at this web link:
http://cse.ksu.edu/
funding
————————————Note: The Center for
Sustainable Energy has
a new web domain:
http://cse.ksu.edu
The article, "Comparing the CostEffectiveness of Water Conservation
Policies in a Depleting Aquifer: A
Dynamic Analysis of the Kansas High
Plains," was published in the May
2012 journal issue. The award was
announced during the association's
business meeting and awards program Feb. 4 in Orlando, Fla.
Ding earned her Ph.D. in 2005 from
the agricultural economics department at K-State. Peterson, served as
her adviser during this time. Currently, Ding is an associate professor
in the School of Management and
Economics at the University of Electronic Science and Technology in
Chengdu, China. The paper is a continuation of the research she began
for her dissertation while at Kansas
State.
The study compares the costeffectiveness of two types of policies
to conserve groundwater in the Kansas portion of the Ogallala Aquifer.
Both policies are commonly discussed and have been implemented
to varying degrees. One policy is a
technology
cost-share
program,
where the
government
pays a portion of an
irrigator's
investment in
a more efficient irrigation system.
The second
policy is a
Jeff Peterson
water-right
buyout program in
which the government pays a farmer
to cease irrigating a specific tract of
land.
From the public's point of view, taxpayer funds are best used in the
program that conserves the most
water per dollar expended. This calculation is complicated by the fact
that water savings depend on the
usable lifetime of the aquifer as well
as on farmers' behavioral responses
to a technology upgrade. For example, after a new technology is installed, the water saved may be less
than expected because farmers may
switch to a more water-intensive
crop or expand the area irrigated.
(Continued on page 3)
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Featured IGERT Trainees
I-STAR, an integrated interdisciplinary graduate program for achieving advances in the development of next-generation biorefineries, selects associates and trainees to work within interdisciplinary teams toward solutions of integrated problems in three major bioenergy-related
areas: technology, agriculture and socio-economic issues. I-STAR participants are paired with
faculty members and undergraduate researchers to form core research teams addressing scientific barriers facing sustainable biorefineries.
John Stanford
Chemical Engineering
In 2010 I completed my bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering
and music performance, with a minor in mathematics, at the University of Iowa. My engineering studies focused on biological signal/data
collection and analysis and medical device/implant design. My main
project was the design and construction of a device used for the rapid
detection of hemozoin, a by-product of malarial infection, in a blood
sample. My musical studies were classical double-bass performance.
The past year I have worked for a company that manufactures
chemicals for medical uses. My growing interest in chemistry over the
past several years is what led me to the chemical engineering graduate program at K-State.
My IGERT mentor is Dr. Mary Rezac from the department of chemical engineering.
The National Science
Foundation is funding
the K-State Integrative
Graduate Education
and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.
For more information,
visit:
http://igert.ksu.edu
Co-directors
Ron Madl
785-532-7022
rmadl@k-state.edu
Mary Rezac
785-532-5584
rezac@k-state.edu
Educational Programs
785-532-2029
rutlin@k-state.edu
Center Office
785-532-4995
energy@k-state.edu
Kyle Probst
Grain Science and Industry
I earned my B.S. and M.S. from Purdue University in food science in
2008 and agricultural systems management in 2010, respectively. At
Purdue, my research focused on developing a novel granulation process
to enhance the handling and transportation of distillers’ grains from corn
ethanol production. I also had the opportunity to work on developing a
sustainable, reduced-waste food process for the tortilla manufacturing
industry.
Currently, I am a Ph.D. student working in the BIVAP program within KState’s grain science and industry department. My research project will
investigate the production of single-cell oils from renewable materials that can be used as input for advanced biofuels. Additional research interests include sustainable, integrated processing for the food and biofuel industries, and bio-fermentation for value-added products and
co-product utilization.
My IGERT mentor is Dr. Praveen Vadlani from the department of grain science and industry.
The Kansas State University Center for Sustainable Energy, through research and educational efforts, seeks to
provide sustainable, renewable energy while maintaining the environment and providing an adequate food supply.
K-State offers significant educational and scientific resources related to the complete cycle of biofuels production.
Basic and applied research, education and outreach activities are components of the center. Center activities involve
more than 30 faculty from across campus, including representatives from the agriculture, arts and sciences, and
engineering colleges.
K-State Notice of Nondiscrimination. Kansas State University is committed to nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, ancestry, disability, military status,
veteran status, or other nonmerit reasons, in admissions, educational programs, or activities and employment, including employment of disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam Era, as required by applicable laws and regulations.
Responsibility for coordination of compliance efforts and receipt of inquiries concerning Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 has been delegated to the director of Affirmative Action, Kansas State University, 214 Anderson Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-0124, 785-532-6220 or TTY: 785-532-4807.
New IGERT trainees for spring
2013
Nana Baah Appiah-Nkansah
Department: Biological and Agricultural Engineering
My present research focuses on catalytic
Page 3
upgrading of bio-oil using polymeric membranes. Current industrial hydrogenation
processes can require extreme reaction conditions, which
present large cost and safety concerns. The use of polymeric
membranes could eliminate these issues. My research focuses on proving and optimizing this concept.
My IGERT mentor is Dr. Peter Pfromm from the department
of chemical engineering.
___________________________________________
Vanessa Walker
Department: Agronomy
I believe I am designed to make things happen. I received
my bachelor of science degree in agricultural engineering
from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,
Ghana, West Africa, in 2003. I designed and constructed a
hybrid crop dryer as my undergraduate capstone project.
The system utilizes solar energy and liquefied petroleum gas
to dry high-valued agriculture produce. I then joined Ghana’s
Ministry of Food and Agriculture where I served as an agricultural engineer. I provided technical advisory services to
farmers in the rural areas on the selection, use and operation of appropriate mechanization techniques; appropriate
soil and water conservation practices, etc.
In 2009, I earned a master of science degree in agrobioresources science and technology at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. In Japan, I successfully authored and published
a scientific paper titled “Problem Structural Analysis of the
Irrigation Systems in the Upper West Region of Ghana’’ in
the Journal of Developments in Sustainable Agriculture. This
research focused on the effective course of action for sustainable irrigation management through the introduction of
participatory irrigation management.
My IGERT mentor is Dr. Donghai Wang from the department
of biological and agricultural engineering.
In December 2010, I earned a B.S. in agriculture from Prairie
View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas. In January 2011,
I began working for the United States Department of Agriculture as a soil conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Upon working with many landowners and
farmers, my interest in conservation-minded production
grew, and I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in agronomy at KState.
I have worked and/or studied in different places including
Ghana, West Africa, North Dakota, Kansas and Texas. These
places allowed me the opportunity to see many different
types of people and different perspectives on farming practices. My research at K-State will allow me to study the effects of conservation farming.
My IGERT mentor is Dr. Charles Rice from the department of
agronomy.
___________________________________________
Michael Heidlage
Department: Chemical Engineering
Outstanding article citation
(continued from page 1)
The paper assesses the cost-effectiveness with a computational model that simulates the responses of farmers over
time, accounting for the incentives to plant different crops as
the aquifer gradually depletes and as technology is upgraded. The study finds that the more cost-effective of the
two policies depends on the initial saturated thickness of the
aquifer, which implies that more water can be saved at lower
overall taxpayer cost if the policies were targeted to different
locations.
The paper can be viewed at
I earned my B.S. in chemical engineering from the University
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/123781.
of Missouri – Columbia where my research focused on the
development and optimization of convection batteries. I am
currently pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from
K-State Division of Communications and Marketing
Kansas State University.