On Tuesday, March 27, the 15th Annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit will take place. This event will highlight research conducted by graduate researchers across the state, including five from Emporia State University.The Capitol Graduate Research Summit began to make state government and education officials aware of the quality and robustness of graduate research taking place at state-funded higher education institutions across Kansas. Research topics range from economic forecasts to forensic science entomology indicators, but all research topics have one thing in common: they will impact Kansas directly.
“Capital Graduate Research Summit allows our students the opportunity to compete against other students from Kansas Board of Regents institutions and to demonstrate to Kansas legislators the impact of higher education to the lives of Kansas citizens and to the economy of Kansas,” said Dr. Jerald Spotswood, Dean of the Graduate School and Distance Education at Emporia State University.
Research from Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, University of Kansas, University of Kansas Medical School, Pittsburg State University, and Wichita State University will be presented at the summit.
Graduate researchers from Emporia State that will be presenting are:
- Joshua Key (Instructional Design and Technology, Dabae Lee, adviser): Learning Analytics and Dropout Detection: Developing and Early Warning System to Support Potential Dropouts.
- Brady Lund (School of Library and Information Management, Mirah J. Dow, adviser): Improving Information Access in Kansas’s Rural Opportunity Zones.
- Pardon Tinashe Masarirambi (Biological Sciences, Scott Crupper, adviser): An Investigation to Recover and Individualize Vertebrate DNA from the GI-Tract of Flesh Eating Beetles (Dermestes Maculatus): A Pilot Study.
- Tarek Mhiri (School of Business, Marc Fusaro, adviser): The Emporia State Economic Index.
- Cinthya Saldana (Biological Sciences, Scott Crupper, adviser): Y-Screening Assay to Streamline Sexual Assault Sample Processing at the Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory.
Poster presentations to legislatures, the Kansas Board of Regents, industry representatives, and the general public will begin at 10 am on the second-floor rotunda of the State Capitol Building in Topeka. Students will be will be judged on their work. Following presentations, select students will be awarded with scholarships provided by BioKansas and the graduate schools at each institution.
The event is open to the public and free to attend.