K-State News Insider

People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious — but when faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to a recent Kansas State University undergraduate research project.

The project, led by Scott Fluke, a May 2010 K-State bachelor’s graduate in psychology, Olathe, focuses on personality traits that lead to superstition. Fluke received a $500 Doreen Shanteau Undergraduate Research Fellowship in 2009 to work with the team of Russell Webster, graduate student in psychology, Shorewood, Ill., and Donald Saucier, K-State associate professor of psychology.

For the project, “Re-Examining the Form and Function of Superstition,” the team defined superstition as the belief in a casual relationship between an action, object, or ritual and an unrelated outcome. Such superstitious behavior can include actions like wearing a lucky jersey or using good luck charms.

After performing two studies, the researchers developed three reasons for superstitious behavior: individuals use superstitions to gain control over uncertainty; to decrease feelings of helplessness; and because it is easier to rely on superstition instead of coping strategies.

“People sometimes fall back on their superstitions as a handicap,” Saucier said. “It’s a parachute they think will help them out.”

In the first study, the researchers conducted questionnaires with 200 undergraduates, asking about how pessimistic they were, whether they believed in chance or fate, if they liked to be in control and other questions. One of the major discoveries was that people who believe that chance and fate control their lives are more likely to be superstitious.

In the second study the researchers wanted to know how participants reacted to death, and asked them to write about how they felt about their own death. The team was surprised to find that participants’ levels of superstition went down when they thought about their own death, which the researchers attributed to death being a situation of extreme uncertainty.

“We theorized that when people thought about death, they would behave more superstitiously in an effort to gain a sense of control over it,” Fluke said. “What we didn’t expect was that thinking about death would make people feel helpless — like they cannot control it — and that this would actually reduce their superstitious belief.”

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A monthlong diet of entirely snack cakes and fatty foods may sound like a fantasy, but for one Kansas State University professor it’s serious business. In 30 days Mark Haub is attempting to prove some common beliefs about nutrition are untrue.

Haub, professor of human nutrition, teaches an obesity-related, energy balance course that sparked his diet idea.

“The overarching principle is to bring to light some of the issues with obesity, our understanding of health, health outcomes and societal issues on what is good,” he said.

Haub wants to show that foods known to ruin diets may not have that effect, and he wants to point out that there is no strong definition of what healthy weight loss is. He will be recording his results on Facebook throughout the course of his experiment.

His special four-week diet started Aug. 25. It includes products like peanut butter-chocolate bars, chocolate cake rolls, breakfast pizza, donuts and sugared cereal. Within the first four days of the diet, Haub had lost seven pounds by eating foods high in saturated fats and sugar while maintaining his calorie goal of 1,800 kilocalories a day.

“It’s portion controlled. I’m eating foods that are deemed by many to be unhealthy; we will see if they are,” he said.

“I’m not doing ‘Super Size Me,’ where I’m eating until I’m stuffed or overeating until I regurgitate, as Morgan Spurlock did with his documentary,” Haub said. “The purpose is to illustrate metabolic, mental and sociological issues surrounding weight. The principle is simple: eat fewer kilocalories than I expend.”

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Selamectin, a widely used product that kills parasites in dogs and cats, is an effective treatment for fleas in pet rabbits, according to a Kansas State University research team.

James Carpenter, professor of zoological medicine, collaborated with Michael Dryden, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, and Butch KuKanich, an associate professor of anatomy and physiology. The team recently found that not only is topical selamectin safe to use on rabbits, but rabbits also need a higher dose of the drug than dogs and cats to effectively get rid of fleas.

Carpenter wanted to look at pet rabbits because more veterinary clinics are seeing exotic animals, especially small animals such as rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs. He said exotic animal medicine is rapidly becoming an integral part of most companion animal practices, and more households report owning rabbits than any other exotic animal.

“Selamectin is widely used with dogs and cats, but there has never been a combined pharmacokinetic and efficacy study conducted on an exotic animal,” Carpenter said.

The researchers had three goals: to determine the safety and efficacy of selamectin topically on rabbits with a known quantity of fleas; to discover how quickly selamectin is absorbed and how long it works in the animal; and to see what dose and treatment intervals of selamectin would be effective to get rid of fleas.

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Facebook can be more than a way to connect with friends — it also can be a valuable research and learning tool, according to one Kansas State University professor.

Mick Charney, associate professor of architecture, has been advocating Facebook as a way to collaborate in the classroom. As the recently appointed coordinator of K-State’s Faculty Exchange for Teaching Excellence, Charney has created a Facebook page for the exchange, called FETE for short.

“Facebook has the ability to engage people as a group, and if you dismiss its trivializing tendencies, then it really does have very edifying practical purposes,” he said. “So why not create a network here on campus with a Facebook page for the faculty exchange?”

The FETE Facebook page is meant to serve as a space for collaborative exchange: photo albums contain brochures for FETE; discussion boards provide a way to swap ideas for classroom guest speakers, conference topics and workshop opportunities; and the events page lists upcoming retreats and conferences for faculty. There is even a place for faculty to discuss what books they have been reading.

“With Facebook, the faculty exchange really does become an ongoing exchange,” Charney said. “The exchanges aren’t limited to regular meetings or teaching retreats or swap sessions, but it can become an ongoing process 24 hours a day.”

The FETE page is for faculty and staff, as well as upper-level graduate students and teaching assistants. Faculty can access the FETE Facebook page by searching for it in the Facebook toolbar, and then “liking” the FETE page.

Charney was inspired to create the FETE Facebook page after using Facebook for a collaborative project in one of his architectural history course, “Looking for Mr. Wright,” which he taught in the spring 2010 semester.

Charney used Facebook for a classwide project in which he created a page, or avatar, for famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

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Kansas State University received a record amount of research funding during the 2009-2010 fiscal year, according to recent reports.

The university received $147,695,867 from 953 awards issued between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010. Those numbers are a strong increase from the previous record of $133.6 million during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, and a jump from the $118 million awarded in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. During the past two fiscal years, K-State has seen a nearly $30 million increase in research awards despite the economic recession.

“This has been an exciting and busy year for research at K-State,” said Ron Trewyn, vice president for research. “K-State is headed in the right direction to being a top 50 public research institution under the leadership of President Kirk Schulz.”

Earlier this year, Schulz proposed a goal that K-State will be recognized nationally as a top 50 public research university by 2025.

In the 2009-2010 fiscal year K-State also received $4,492,590 from funding with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Most of the stimulus funding went to academic units across the science and engineering disciplines, “green” infrastructure/facility projects and community service initiatives.

“All in all, one cannot credit stimulus funding as the reason for the substantial increase in funding,” said Paul Lowe, assistant vice president for research. “Rather, I believe we have to credit the faculty across all colleges for their answering of ‘the call’ in increasing the number of proposals and the amount of funding requested. The K-State faculty definitely stepped up to the challenge and increased their competitiveness in this very tough economic environment.”

K-State also was issued eight patents during the 2009-2010 fiscal year — the highest number received since the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

Six faculty members also received the Faculty Early Career Development Program, or CAREER, award from the National Science Foundation, netting more than $3 million in funding during the 2009-2010 fiscal year. This marked the first time that K-State has had that many winners in one year. The CAREER award is one of the nation’s most prestigious honors directed toward young faculty in recognition of their high potential to become future leaders in their research areas.

Three Kansas State University electrical and computer engineering professors will use a National Science Foundation grant for a project to help military veterans enter the work force at an accelerated pace.

Professors David Soldan, Don Gruenbacher and Noel Schulz will use the $146,000 grant for “From Defense to Degree: Accelerating Engineering Degree Opportunities for Military Veterans.” The project offers veterans accelerated undergraduate and graduate programs in electrical engineering, helping them obtain jobs more quickly, especially in energy systems.

The professors developed the idea in conjunction with the Post 9-11 GI Bill, which provides recent military veterans with up to 36 months of educational benefits, including financial support and housing allowances.

K-State’s close relationship with Fort Riley and other military institutions, as well as its long-standing reputation as a military-inclusive university, make it an ideal place to develop such a program, Soldan said.

“These military veterans are unbelievably motivated and capable and possess relevant operation experience, making them a great fit for advanced education and occupational opportunity in this technical field,” said Soldan, the project’s principal investigator. “I think the ability to transition them from military service into the global work force in an efficient way is not only possible — it is something that we have a responsibility to do.”

Soldan personally understands the benefits of the GI Bill — he served in the U.S. Air Force from 1971-1975, and the bill helped him earn his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering at K-State.

The military project focuses on two areas: to help military veterans earn undergraduate degrees and to help those veterans with bachelor’s degrees in related fields earn master’s degrees. Veterans will be able to earn the degrees on an accelerated basis, depending on their technical work in the military. The project focuses on electrical engineering, and within that, energy systems, because many veterans have specialized experience in those areas. Soldan said military veterans entering the engineering work force will help address shortages that are forecasted because of retiring engineers.

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Western culture’s grappling with homosexuality and alternate genders isn’t strictly limited to the United States, but is also prevalent in many Native American and native Alaskan groups — or native nations. That issue is the focus of work by one Kansas State University researcher.

Lisa Tatonetti, associate professor of English and American ethnic studies, received a fellowship to “Native Cultures of Western Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast,” a National Endowment for the Humanities’ summer institute. She used the opportunity to meet with various native groups to learn about their policies and cultures, including those on alternative sexualities and genders.

Her findings will contribute to her upcoming book, “Queering American Indian Literature: The Rise of Contemporary Two-Spirit Texts and Criticism.” It will be the first literary exploration into recorded Two-Spirit literature, mapping its inception in the early 1970s to its rise in present day and its criticism.

“Two-Spirit is a term coined in the ’90s that refers to people of native cultures who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual or queer,” said Tatonetti, who is a foremost scholar in this field. “There’s been this explosion of Two-Spirit literature since the ’70s.”

A native nation refers to a collective body of Native American people who are citizens in an indigenous nation existing within the U.S. or Canada, Tatonetti said. In Alaska alone, more than 300 native cultures exist.

“Traditionally in native cultures, many native nations have alternate genders and different sexuality spaces,” she said.

But when Spanish and French missionaries and settlers first encountered these beliefs and practices in native cultures, they deemed them barbaric, often resulting in the practitioners’ deaths because they did not adhere to beliefs of Judeo-Christian origin. Consequently, this forced the Two-Spirit movement underground, Tatonetti said.

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Alumni, friends and corporate partners of Kansas State University contributed $90.9 million to K-State through the KSU Foundation during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010. This is the fourth-highest total in the 65-year history of the foundation.

“K-State’s alumni and friends are unmatched in their dedication and generosity,” said Lee Harris, Leawood, Kan., chairman of the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees. “We want the 43,327 alumni and friends who contributed this year to know that their generosity is deeply appreciated. We would especially like to thank the 5,529 people who made gifts to K-State for the first time in this past fiscal year.”

Of the $90.9 million total received during the fiscal year, $61.9 million was received in cash, real estate or appreciated securities, and $29 million was committed through pledges and deferred gifts, which will come to the university at a later date.

“There is no question that this level of support by the K-State family will assist Kansas State University in our quest to be recognized among the top 50 public research universities,” said Kirk Schulz, president of Kansas State University.

“Just one-quarter of the university’s operating budget now comes from the state,” Schulz said. “The remainder of the operating budget comes from three sources: tuition, grants and contracts, and private philanthropic support given through the KSU Foundation. The collaborative efforts of the donors, the university staff and the foundation staff make a big difference in support for students, faculty, facilities and technology. Charitable gifts provide a margin of excellence at K-State.”

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The final frontier may be no further than Manhattan, Kan., as a team of Kansas State University researchers launches a project funded by a $1.2 million grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The team — composed of Thomas Barstow, professor of kinesiology; Steven Warren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Russell Taylor, an engineer in the Electronics Design Laboratory; and Carl Ade, a doctoral student in anatomy and physiology, Salina — will research what physical characteristics are necessary for an astronaut to perform lunar tasks. The team also will study ways to assess whether a person has enough physical capacity to perform the tasks.

“Space travel is inherently dangerous,” Barstow said. “The absence of gravity, which we call microgravity or zero gravity, causes our bodies to deteriorate in a variety of ways.”

A microgravity environment causes the weakening of muscles and the immune system, and it deteriorates the cardiovascular system’s ability to regulate blood pressure. Barstow said this can affect an astronaut’s ability to perform necessary tasks, such as climbing ladders, walking or opening doors. For the safety of the astronauts, NASA wants to make sure they are physically fit enough to perform those tasks during future missions to the moon and even Mars.

“What seems like simple tasks as part of their life on the moon or other destinations could be life threatening if the astronauts aren’t strong enough to do those tasks,” Barstow said.

The goal of the research, Barstow said, is to develop a simple test or a series of tests that astronauts can use in space to identify their physical conditioning and to determine if they have the capacity to perform lunar tasks.

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Kansas State University is among the most military-friendly schools in the nation, according to G.I. Jobs magazine.

The magazine has included K-State on its 2011 list of schools that cater to the military. It’s the second year in a row K-State has received the honor, which is given to only 15 percent of all colleges, universities and trade schools in the nation.

G.I. Jobs magazine shows people affiliated with the military how to continue their education and transition into the civilian work force. According to the magazine, military-friendly schools are ones with a strong interest in recruiting and retaining military students. K-State had more than 1,100 military-related students in the spring 2010 semester.

As part of the honor, the university will be included in G.I. Jobs magazine’s 2011 Guide to Military Friend Schools, to be released in September, and in an online listing at http://MilitaryFriendlySchools.com.

“This honor speaks highly of K-State’s long tradition of serving the educational needs of our veterans, active-duty military personnel and their family members,” said Pat Bosco, vice president for student life and dean of students. “Whether they’re taking classes on campus, through our many distance education programs or through our longstanding programs at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, K-State is committed to providing the services and support they need to succeed.”

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