Majors and programs
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RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
You can get involved in K-State research even if you’re not preparing for a career as a scientist or research specialist. K-State students study college burnout, inspect training levels for in-home family therapists, and gauge the long-term effects of the baby boomer evolution, among many other research projects.
Your chance to take on research projects can start as soon as you’re in school. At K-State, you don't have to wait until your postgraduate studies to leap into creating solutions that improve individual lives and enhance the operations of businesses and organizations around the world.
If you’re scientifically inclined, you can meet your desire for discovery and hard-core research as you explore ways to bring more domestic nuclear reactors online or analyze the containment of food-borne illnesses. And if that’s your thing, part-time lab jobs are available in biology, psychology, veterinary medicine, and other departments.
But research doesn’t have to be hard sciences. You might recruit new businesses for small-town areas, develop recreation programs for inner-city teens, or produce original creative work like a novel or musical composition.
Read profiles of K-State student researchers
Top-rate research
Check these examples of research projects done by K-State students for inspiration. Then follow their example or head in your own direction.
Consumer handling of uncooked chicken
Everyone knows the basics of a healthy diet. But carefully following instructions to prevent foodborne illness is equally important to your health. In a study by a student working at K-State’s Food Science Institute, fewer than 10 percent of consumers correctly followed label instructions. These findings can encourage better label instructions that compel consumers to practice safe food handling.
Effect of Greek affiliation on college burnout
Results of a campus stress survey conducted by K-State students shows that fraternity and sorority members have higher levels of role conflict stress and financial stress than non-Greeks, but burnout and overall stress had no significant difference in either group. The findings of this study can be expanded to address factors that lead to burnout among all students.
Wastewater treatment solutions
A study by a biological and agricultural engineering major showed that pre-treating livestock lagoon wastewater with acid reduced the amount of chlorine needed to subsequently lower the bacterial levels for crop production. This method of irrigation reduces negative environmental effects and produces significant cost savings.
Award-winning comedic play
Theater student Nathan Jackson’s original play about the African-American experience was produced, directed, and performed entirely by students and showcased at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. The play won the Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award presented to the best student-written, full-length comedy.
Alternatives to building nuclear storage facilities
Nuclear power plant construction and production is projected to increase dramatically by 2050, and a study by a K-State mechanical and nuclear engineering student shows the waste can be reprocessed rather than stored at controversial repository facilities.
Anthropological analysis
A K-Stater pieced together hundreds of pottery fragments unearthed on a site in northeast Kansas, and the specific ceramic decorations helped describe the culture and interactions of the people who lived there from 900 to 1,400 A.D. Sarah Trabert won the undergrad paper competition at the Plains Anthropological Society for this study, published in the Plains Anthropologist.
Rockin’ DC with solar power
Solar power that generates enough energy for everything from appliances to lights and water heater? A look ahead to 2020? No. It’s K-State’s award-winning solar house designed by students in the architecture program. Solar panels were placed on the angled south side of the home to allow skylights on the roof. The design incorporated elements of the Kansas landscape and won a student design competition in Washington, D.C.
Hometown history lessons
A group of history majors in an advanced seminar class conducted research on a familiar subject: K-State, and how students and faculty shaped the university we know today. Students focused on Aggieville, the GI Bill at K-State, and prominent alumni, and their presentations were filmed for local broadcast. Hale Library archives provided the foundation for their research, and conversations with longtime residents—even some relatives—supplied anecdotal evidence to punctuate the fact-based info.
Who takes out payday and title loans?
A K-State life sciences major wanted to find out how people yield to commercials touting risky title or payday loans. Tiffany Harris surveyed people in Geary and Riley counties to gauge their grasp of finances, and her findings indicate that borrowers felt backed in a corner by money worries yet didn’t trust normal financial institutions. Others weren’t aware of the outrageously high interest rates on such loans. Harris earned the Coffman Award of Excellence for her work.
You actually do have to be a nuclear scientist
Ten K-State undergrads have either become licensed nuclear reactor operators or have licenses pending. The license allows them to operate K-State’s nuclear reactor and puts them in position for prestigious fellowships and additional research. Those licensed help other students get certified, and K-State has a reactor operations laboratory class that boosts training levels.
Special programs
Campus Internship in Science and Engineering
Spend 8-10 hours a week working with a K-State faculty member on research in your major, and you’ll be paid for your efforts—up to $2,500—in addition to any other scholarships you’ve received.
Get more information on the CSI Program
Learn more about undergrad research in different academic departments
Cancer Research awards
The Johnson Cancer Center provides 50 annual awards for undergrads, and you choose faculty mentors that match your research interests. The award is $1,000.
Get more info on Cancer Center grants
Developing Scholars Program
This undergrad research program pairs under-represented students with faculty mentors.
Learn more about the Developing Scholars Program at K-State
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Scholars receive a $3,500 award and $500 for research-related travel. During the school year, you’re expected to log about 450 research hours. Each scholar works with a faculty mentor.
Presidential Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Student in Research
The $2,500 award recognizes outstanding individual contributions to the discovery and creation of new knowledge at K-State.
Resources and facilities
You’ll enjoy the resources of a major research university funded with more than $220 million in research grants. K-State is in the top 4 percent of research universities in the nation, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
You’ll be amazed by the range of K-State research, covering everything from alternative energy research to human behavior characteristics. Research centers are devoted to science education, hazardous substances, experimental agriculture, and more than 30 other subjects. No matter which college you end up in, you can get involved in research at K-State.
Architecture, planning, and design
- Design upscale gift shops for the Aggieville shopping district, plan K-State’s Martin Luther King Jr. garden, or repurpose historic theaters into small-town community centers.
- Construct sustainable living pods that serve as building blocks in restructuring the tornado-ravaged town of Greensburg.
Arts and sciences
- Assist in efforts to eliminate threats to human, animal, and plant health at the campus biocontainment facility, a secure location for infectious disease research programs at the Biosecurity Research Institute.
- Work at the J.R. Macdonald Lab, the only university-based particle accelerator dedicated to atomic physics research. It ranks among the nation’s elite programs in atomic physics.
- Position yourself as a key contributor at the Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research, which studies cancer origins and works to improve diagnosis and treatment.
- Help scientists from around the globe as you study everything from ecological changes to weather patterns on the Konza Prairie, North America's largest tallgrass prairie preserve.
Engineering
- Pitch in with the Geographic Information Systems Spatial Analysis lab’s efforts to map aquatic biodiversity. You’ll help integrate species data with GIS stream coverage to identify conservation priority areas.
- Get your training done on the front lines at the nuclear reactor facility on campus—TRIGA Mark II research reactor—supporting education, research, training, and regional industries.
Agriculture
- Develop strategies to protect consumer purchases at farmer’s markets.
- Promote healthy hygiene habits for petting zoo customers.
- Help to review the food inspection disclosure systems and ways to educate consumers on ways to avoid foodborne illnesses like salmonella.
Business administration
- Study management information systems and work on software development projects that supplement current medical technology that projects and halts preventable mistakes by hospitals.
Human ecology
- Ponder preservation solutions for small-town USA. One K-State initiative is to save local grocery stores as way to restore small town vitality.
- Study solutions for successful aging and the impact of maintaining good health with contrasts of active elderly to those in more frail condition.
Veterinary medicine
- Work with a research team to develop vaccinations that effectively reduce viral diseases among swine herds.
- Make a difference in treating lung cancer with non-invasive stem cells that deliver the anti-cancer drug interferon beta to intended tumors.
Check here for a comprehensive directory of K-State research centers