Ten graduate students represented K-State at the Kansas Capitol on Tuesday, where they presented their research to state representatives and the public at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit. 

The students were selected based on their research presentations in the fall at the Research in the State forum. 

The Capitol Graduate Research Summit is an annual showcase of various research projects conducted by graduate students from universities around Kansas. The universities include Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, the University of Kansas Medical Center and Wichita State University.

Phillip Payne, interim graduate dean and professor of music education, said the summit highlights research that addresses important issues in Kansas, which legislators can support in a number of ways.

“The Capitol Graduate Research Summit is an exceptional opportunity for our graduate students to showcase their research in a manner that connects their work to communities across the state of Kansas and the impact it has on various industries and entities,” Payne said. 

Attendees had a variety of research topics to share, including cancer-curing development, psychological advances and Alzheimer’s research. 

For two K-State graduate students, their work was recognized statewide. 

“I was one of the top two presenters at the summit, so I won, which is really awesome,” Mia Reyes, graduate student in communications and agriculture education, said. “I was gifted an award and a scholarship but beyond that on a larger scale, my project is a two-part study, so what I presented was the qualitative study that I got to go talk to operators face-to-face, and the second part of my study which is quantitative which is a survey that will be distributed throughout all of Kansas for agricultural tourism operators to give me their opinions.”

The other graduate student, Nayara Mota Miranda Soares is a doctoral student in the pet food program in the Department of Grain and Food Science. Soares placed among the other attendees. 

Reyes expressed her surprise at her placement at the summit and reflected on the attendees. 

“I wasn’t expecting to win when I got there,” Reyes said. “I saw my counterparts, and they did such great research … To be the only social science poster there and to be one of the only agricultural projects, I got intimidated. But everyone was just excited to be there and present their research, and I got to talk to so many graduate students, and not once did I feel personally intimidated. They were all so friendly and eager to learn.”

Looking forward, Reyes hopes to leave a lasting effect on K-State after her time at the summit.

“I think one of the most important things about the Capitol [Graduate] Research Summit is that the main emphasis is how you can distribute research in a way that the everyday person can understand it,” Reyes. “I think the predecessor, which is researching the state and what both of these events do, is that sometimes we can get into our vacuum as scientists or researchers, and we think that everyone can understand our work as clearly as we do.  But I think participating in research in the summit and then participating in the [Capitol] Graduate Research Summit takes you out of your comfort zone and challenges you to look at your research differently.”