Kansas Academy of Science organization to hold presentations, field trip this weekend

The annual Kansas Academy of Science meeting will be held this Friday and Saturday at Emporia State. Friday's events will include a field trip, dinner and a presentation open only to those registered. At 7:30 p.m., there will also be a presentation held in the Kanza Room that is free and open to the public.

Presentations will commence Saturday morning at 8 a.m. in the Science Hall and will continue through most of the afternoon. Posters will be available for viewing from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. and will be presented from 10-11 a.m.

“I think things are coming along very well,” said Eric Trump, professor of chemistry and KAS president.

The KAS is a statewide organization that was founded in 1868, making it the oldest statewide science organization west of the Mississippi River. According to Trump, the 140th annual conference will be held to promote continued scientific inquiry and to aid in the dissemination of science.

Throughout the conference, 74 oral and poster presentations will be conducted by students and experts. The discussions will cover various fields including biology, geology and the history of science. According to geology professor Jim Aber, at least half of the presentations will be given by students, most of which are from universities around the state.

Each year, organizers try to bring in a well-known expert to serve as the key note speaker. Jane Goodall, who is famously noted for her study of chimpanzee life, has served as the keynote speaker for the event in the past.

Stan Bull, a leading expert in solar energy research, will be the keynote speaker for this year's meeting. Bull is the associate director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and vice president of the Midwest Research Institute. In Friday's presentation, which is open to the public, Bull will focus on “Renewable Energy: Meeting our Energy Challenge.” His topic for Saturday's discussion will be “Renewable Energy: Potential and Challenges.”

As of Tuesday's deadline, 110 people had registered to attend the KAS conference. Trump said that he expects about 25 more registrations before the meeting and that these are fairly substantial numbers since the normal attendee rate falls near 100.

Registration is open to both members and nonmembers of KAS. Those interested in attending are required to fill out the form and pay the registration fee, which is cheaper for students and includes a catered meal.

Aber said that student turnout at the conference has always been satisfactory. To promote participation, prizes will be awarded for the best student papers. Aber is looking forward to the event and is excited to hear one of his own students give a presentation.

“The meeting is designed in part to give students more information about science,” Aber said.

Justin Luckner, a senior chemistry major, will be presenting his research project from 10-11 a.m. on Saturday. Luckner has been working on his project for several weeks and hopes to have everything prepared for the conference.

“For my research project, I was asked by an instrument manufacturer to identify unknown substances that had deposited on components of their instruments,” Luckner said. “The poster being presented will consist of the methods I used to identify the substances, some figures of the data collected, and an explanation of my findings.”