Sunday, Mar 1

Ann Stapleton, National Science Foundation, EPSCoR Overview & Update

AGENDA

All presentations take place in the Bruckmiller Room on the second floor unless otherwise noted.

7:30 AM

Check in and registration

8:30 – 8:45 AM

Welcome and Opening Remarks
Kristin Bowman-James, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, University of Kansas and Kansas NSF EPSCoR Project Director
Belinda Sturm, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Kansas

8:45 – 9:00 AM

Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems Across Kansas (MAPS): An Overview

Sharon Billings, Dean’s Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas and Senior Scientist, Kansas Biological Survey

9:00 – 10:00 AM

Keynote Address - Introduced by Charles Rice

Unpacking Microbial Diversity

James Tiedje, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University and Director of MSU Center for Microbial Ecology

10:00 – 10:15 AM

Break

10:15– 10:40 AM

Lightning Round 1 – Presentations by students and postdoctoral researchers (moderated by Walter Dodds)

10:15

Matt Kolp, KU postdoctoral researcher (Plant) – Phenotypic variability in maize grown under drought conditions and in soils amended with microbes from different land-use and precipitation legacies

10:20

Josh Dimapilis, KSU graduate student (Aquatic) – Microbial N cycling populations across gradients of Kansas streams

10:25

Soumyadev Sarkar, KSU postdoctoral researcher (Soil) – Effects of moisture perturbations on the potential nitrogen cycle contributors in native prairie soil

10:30

Bre Waterman, KSU graduate student (Aquatic) – Investigating signals of groundwater discharge over 24 hours

10:35

Theo Michaels, KU graduate student (Plant) – On the edge of opportunity: the dynamics of microbial functions in novel resource environments

10:40 – 11:00 AM

Haskell Environmental Research Studies Program 

Jay T. Johnson and Cody Marshall - Mentoring the Next Generation of Scientists

11:00 – 11:36 AM

Faculty Presentations Round 1 - (moderated by Walter Dodds)

11:00

Cuncong Zhong, KU faculty (First Award) – Assembly Graph-Assisted Metagenome Analysis

11:12

Ali Eslami, WSU faculty (First Award) – A Probabilistic Graphical Model for System-Wide Analysis of Gene Regulatory Networks

11:24

Lydia Zeglin, KSU faculty (Aquatic) – Whole-microbial community assembly (16S + 18S) patterns across Kansas streams

11:36 AM – 1:00 PM

Networking Lunch in the Summerfield on the first floor

Networking Lunch for Management Team their invited guests in the Pub on the second floor

1:00 – 1:25 PM

Lightning Round 2 – Presentations by students and postdocs (moderated by James Bever)

1:00

Shiva Thapa, KSU graduate student (Soil) – Linking host ecotype and associated rhizobiome interactions to host functions and drought resistance in a dominant prairie grass Andropogon gerardii: a multi-omics approach

1:05

Anne Schechner, KSU graduate student (Aquatic) – How heterogeneous is Kansas River metabolism?

1:10

Ligia Souza, KU graduate student (Soil) – Using an enzymatic approach to understand changes at the soil microscale - Asking microbes how they perceive their environment

1:15

Abigail Urban, WSU graduate student (Plant) – Response of plant communities to land use across the precipitation gradient in Kansas

1:20

Laura Jimenez, KU graduate student (KEES) – Kansas Ecology for Elementary Students Program

1:25 – 2:25 PM

Faculty Presentations Round 2 – (moderated by James Bever)

1:25

Ben Sikes, KU faculty (Soil) – Soil microbiomes across Kansas gradients

1:37

Maggie Wagner, KU faculty (First Award) – Soil microbes drive hybrid vigor in maize

1:49

Folashade Agusto, KU faculty (Synthesis) – Plant Sustainability in fragmented landscape: A modeling approach

2:01

Dong Lin (presented by Nasrullah Shah), KSU faculty (First Award) – 3D printing of aerogels

2:13

Prathap Parameswaran, KSU faculty (First Award) – Long term microbial community dynamics from AnMBR treating domestic wastewater subject to seasonal temperature changes

2:25 – 2:45 PM

Break

2:45 – 3:15 PM

Panel 1 – RehabHABs: A Place-Based, Project-Based Data Science Learning Project toward Predicting Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), moderated by Amy Hammett 

Cora Bartlett
Ryan Fullerton
Jacob Hanna

Jason Lin

3:15 – 4:00 PM

Panel 2 – Undergraduate Student Perspectives, moderated by Charles Rice

Trevor Guinn, HERS

Kynser Wahwahsuck, HERS and Burgin Lab

Kyler Lang, Billings Lab

Tyler Newman, WSU REU

Steven Winkler, KU REU

4:00 – 5:30 PM

Poster Session and Reception in the All-American and McGee Rooms on the second floor