MNE Graduate Student Awarded Kansas BIO Scholarship

Satish Motipalli, graduate student in mechanical and nuclear engineering, has earned a $500 scholarship for a research poster he presented at the recent 2006 Graduate Student Capitol Research Summit.

The scholarship was awarded by Kansas BIO, the state's biotechnology industry organization. They recognize excellence in communicating about science and research to the general public.

Motipalli presented "An innovative Web application for designing and automatic numerical control code generation."

Two students from each of the state's three research universities -- K-State, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University -- were honored with the $500 Kansas BIO scholarships, which were given in both the science and social science research areas.

In all, 24 graduate student researchers presented research at the summit, including nine students from K-State.

Each spring, the graduate student councils at K-State, KU and WSU organize the research summit, an effort to increase public awareness about the impact of research on the state. The councils represent the more than 13,000 graduate students enrolled in Kansas. This year's summit was March 8 at the Kansas Capitol in Topeka.

"We are very pleased that Kansas BIO was able to provide scholarships to six graduate students," said Bala Thiagarajan, graduate student in biology, Manhattan, and president of the K-State Graduate Student Council.

Most graduate student research relates directly to major issues of the state, like its industries, future business development, education, health care and agriculture, Thiagarajan said.

"The research translates in very direct ways toward improving the quality of life in the state," she said. "Providing continued funding for graduate education and research is an important component of the state's future development."

K-State Media Relations 3/17/06