Investing in Knowledge

Flanders embarks on scholarly research sabbatical

Sabbatical leave allows a faculty member to step away from their regular teaching and other campus duties to focus on their research. Dr. Bret Flanders undertook his year-long sabbatical during the 2023-24 academic year to engage in two collaborative research projects – one based here at K-State, and the other at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.

Flanders' work in California with collaborator LLNL staff physicist Christine Orme focused on a novel experiment to accelerate chemical reaction kinetics. This approach utilizes electrical noise fields to simulate high-temperature or high-pressure environments, theoretically achieving exponential reaction rate increases—a common requirement in both industrial and laboratory settings.

At K-State, Flanders worked with Michael Chao, associate professor of Meat Science. This research is aimed at articulating the effects of alternating voltages on meat freezing and thawing. The work addresses the tissue damage caused by these processes, which contributes to billion-dollar global food losses. Bret set up a high voltage experimental apparatus and developed high-throughput image processing techniques to count ice crystals in meat samples, an innovative method established as part of K-State’s Meat Sciences research.

Following his sabbatical, Flanders resumed teaching Thermostat in the fall of 2024. In the spring, he team-taught Physical Measurements & Instrumentation (PMI) with Professor Brett DePaola, who concluded his three-year phased retirement in May. Flanders also returned to his role as co-project director in the department’s highly successful Research Experiences for Undergraduate Program.