Graduate School programs prepare students to be immediately successful in their chosen
disciplines by providing professional training and the opportunity to use classroom
learning to solve real-world problems.
WSU offers the widest range of graduate degree choices in the area, including 12 doctoral
programs, more than 40 master’s degrees, one education specialist area and a growing
number of graduate certificate programs.
The Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka was initially developed and implemented
by graduate students at the doctorate and Ph.D level.
The main purpose of the summit is to provide an opportunity for selected graduate
students to expose the State government, education officials, and the general public
to the quality of graduate research performed in the State of Kansas.
Nine Wichita State graduate students joined with graduate students from all of the
Kansas Board of Regents universities and presented at the 17th annual Capitol Graduate
Research Summit in Topeka on Feb. 26.
The research topics included addressing and treating the opioid crisis, potentials
for soy use in plastic manufacturing and security for 3D printers.
Founded by graduate students 16 years ago, the annual summit brings attention to the
innovative research conducted by students at state universities and emphasizes the
public benefits of graduate students’ research.
“The posters presented by WSU students and those of the other institutions demonstrate
the rewards of supporting higher education,” said Coleen Pugh, dean of the Graduate
School and associate vice president of research. “In addition to presenting research
focused on areas of need in Kansas, these students represent our future workforce.
Similarly, our students learned the importance of communicating their work with the
community and policy makers. We appreciate the time that Gov. Kelly and her staff,
especially Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers, who spoke at the awards ceremony, as well as the
legislators for their support at this annual event.”
Other universities represented at the event were Emporia State University, Fort Hays
State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University
of Kansas and the University of Kansas Medical School.
WSU’s participants are listed below by name, degree program and titles of their research
projects. Faculty mentors are listed in parenthesis.
Andrea Coover (Alicia Huckstadt)
Doctoral student of Advanced Nursing Practice. “Assessing Knowledge and Attitudes
of a Rural Primary Care Practice Initiating Suboxone Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder.”
Coover's presentation is a BioKansas award winner.
Fenil Desai (Ramazan Asmatulu)
Doctoral student of Mechanical Engineering. “Sustainable Freshwater Harvesting From
Atmosphere Through Electrospun Superhydrophobic Polyacrylonitrile Nanocomposite Fibers.”
Desai's presentation is WSU's award winner.
Paige Feikert (Bin Li)
Masters student of Mechanical Engineering. “The Contributions of Soy Protein Quaternary
Structures in Viscoelastic Properties of Polyethylene Oxide/Soy Protein Composites.”
Feikert's presentation is a BioKansas award winner.
Ramkumar Harikrishnakumar (Krishna Krishnan and Saideep Nannapaneni)
Doctoral student of Industrial, Manufacturing & Systems Engineering. “Developing procurement
strategy by applying classification algorithms for effective supplier assessment.”
Ashwini Kanade (Douglas Parham)
Doctoral student of Communication Sciences and Disorders. “Relationship Between Spychosocial
Health and Self-Reported Oral Health Among Senior Center Participants in Wichita,
Kansas.”
Sahithi Katta (George R. Bousfield)
Masters student of Biological Sciences. “Urinary Follicle Stimulating Glycoform Analysis
by Automated Western Blot.”
Vatsal Maru (Krishna Krishnan)
Doctoral student of Industrial Engineering. “Internet of Things based Cyber Physical
Systems for Real-Time Operations.”
Dulcinea Rakestraw (Charles Burdsal)
Doctoral student of Community Psychology. “Planning for Implementation of Screening,
Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Substance Use Prevention
at a Wichita Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Clinic.”
Michael Rott (Sergio A. Salinas Monroy)
Masters student of Computer Science. “Intrusion Detection 3D-Printers: An Electrical
Power Analysis Approach.”
For more information about this annual research summit or to view the 2020 research
topics, visit the Capitol Graduate Research Summit website:https://wichita.edu/cgrs.
