Nine Wichita State University graduate students celebrated their Valentine’s Day in Topeka, Kan. in the tenth annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit last week in the Capitol building Rotunda.

How does graduate student Jo Jardina feel about the event falling on the romantic holiday?

“I love research,” she said, “so it’s a great way to spend Valentine’s Day for me.”

The Feb. 14 event brings the four Kansas Research Universities—University of Kansas Medical Center, Wichita State, Kansas and Kansas State Universities—together to present research to Governor Sam Brownback, state legislators, Kansas Board of Regents and many others. The Kansas Bioscience Organization, Kansas Bio, provides funding for the event.

“It’s a good thing to put in their resume,” Dean of Graduate School Abu Masud said. “It helps them build confidence in the quality of their work.”

Students present their research on a handful of “hot topics,” with this year’s list including quality and cost of education, Flint Hills tourism, bioscience, school finance issues and several others. The presentations are categorized into oral and poster presentations.

Jardina, a graduate student from the Department of Psychology, presented her poster on how e-Textbooks may be used as educational tools. In one study—with the help of adviser Barbara Chaparro—she found that students were able to improve their comprehension when using two different iPad applications in a simulated study session.

“A lot of schools are trying to implement the e-Textbooks, but not many studies have been done. I know a lot of students liked that they had a lot of their books in one place,” Jardina said.

Two students from each university are chosen as winners for either the Non-Biological Award or the Biological Award. 

While Jardina won the Non-Biological Award, Laina Burdiek from the Department of Communication and Sciences and Disorders won the Biological Award for her research on wideband tympanometry and energy reflectance in human ears. Winners also received a $500 dollar prize.

On May 7, the winners will travel to Kansas City to present their research to an audience of about 4,000 people and will be filmed for the Kansas Bio website.

 “I really don’t ever get nervous with posters,” she said. “Nobody was really asking tough enough questions I guess.”