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Kentucky State University students took home six awards at the 41^st annual Association of 1890 Research Directors Research Symposium, which was held April 1-4 in Atlanta, Georgia.

More than 1,000 participants from the 1890 universities attended the meeting, and 450 student research papers and posters were presented in five categories: Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health; Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment; and Family, Youth, Community and Economic Development.

The symposium focused on, “1890 Research: Meeting 21^st Century Challenges Through Innovation,” and KSU had 19 graduate and 16 undergraduate students from the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems attend.

The winners in the oral and poster categories include:

• Fred Gonzales – First Place, graduate oral presentation in the Animal Health and Production and Animal Products category. His presentation was titled, “Effects of Probiotics Pedicoccus, Bacillus subtilis and Lactobacillus acidophilus on Enteric Bacteria Counts in Aquaponics Systems.”
• Bijesh Mishra – Third Place, graduate oral presentation in the Family, Youth, Community, and Economic Development category. His presentation was titled, “Exploring Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Kentucky.”
• Sathya Govindasamy – First Place, undergraduate oral presentation in the Plant Health and Production and Plant Products category. Her presentation was titled, “Captures of Spotted Wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, Using Two Commercially Available Lures in Organically Grown Blackberries.”
• Trevor Claiborn – Second Place, undergraduate oral presentation in the Family, Youth, Community, and Economic Development category. His presentation was titled, “Farmer Brown Tha’ MC: Hip-Hop-themed Educational Productions Based Around Agriculture and Natural Science.”
• George J. Pate – First Place, undergraduate oral presentation in the Animal Health and Production and Animal Products category. His presentation was titled, “Comparison of Lettuce Production Reared in an Indoor Aquaponics System Using Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) vs. Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).”
• Amit Yadav – Third Place, graduate poster presentation in the Animal Health and Production and Animal Products category. His poster was titled, “Using Early Nutritional Programming to Enhance the Utilization of Plant-Based Diets in Fish (Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides).”

The first ARD Research Symposium was held in 1976 to commemorate the United States’ Bicentennial and to showcase the varied accomplishments of research scientists and students at the 1890 Institutions. Similarly, the ARD Research Symposium in 2017 provided opportunities for scientists and students to present research papers and posters that share innovative and practical research findings in the food and agricultural sciences.