Among the largest awards this year are collaborations that will involve faculty at other Kansas universities, and will help support programs with statewide impact. Through such efforts, the research and technology infrastructure of Kansas expands, and new industries will be created here. A quality research program can also lead to products and ideas with commercial use. Nantek represents K-State's first startup company to further develop and commercialize university technology. Developed through K-State research, these materials can be used to safely detoxify extremely hazardous substances, such as nerve gases, insecticides and PCBs, and solve major environmental and safety problems in both civilian and military applications.
Water safety is another research focus.
Residents of Scott County in western Kansas have a limited water supply. They are heavily dependent on ground water in an area where agriculture is the chief industry. Some of that water used for personal consumption and for crops is contaminated by agrochemicals used on crops. The Kansas Agromedicine Outreach Program provided a trio of K-State researchers and scientists from the University of Kansas Medical Center to examine the health statistics of Scott County residents. Water purification and water recycling experiments by BioServe Space Technologies researchers at K-State were aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, launched in July from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.