Kansas State University is recognizing inventors and breeders whose research is producing new technologies, crop varieties and other innovations aimed at addressing global challenges and supporting economic growth.
As part of One K-State Research Week 2026, the university recognized 36 inventors and breeders who received patents and plant variety protection certificates in 2024 and 2025. The honorees are developing innovations in areas including new wheat varieties, graphene and carbon nanomaterials, agricultural engineering, entomology and animal health.
The Kansas State University Research Foundation, or KSURF, supports the university's efforts to move discoveries from research into commercial applications.
KSURF works with faculty, researchers, students and industry partners to protect, license and launch technologies developed at K-State. The foundation serves as the university's technology commercialization unit, evaluating new inventions, securing patents and connecting innovations with companies and entrepreneurs that can scale them for commercial use.
Its work spans agriculture and biosciences as well as engineering, computing and advanced manufacturing.
The university's 2026 Inventors and Breeders Ceremony highlighted researchers whose work is contributing to K-State's land-grant mission while creating opportunities for technologies developed in Kansas to reach broader markets.
Source: Kansas State University, "Turning K-State research into real-world solutions"