Topeka ? Armed with posters, computers and even a model of battlefields, graduate students from Kansas University and Kansas State University on Wednesday brought their research to the Capitol.

Angela Kempf, a KU graduate student in the anthropology department, had just finished talking with a legislator about her research on obesity in rural Kansas.

“I was glad to be here to talk with them,” Kempf said.

The study, a collaboration between the KU Medical Center and Kansas Health Institute, found that nearly 75 percent of patients at family practice clinics in rural Kansas were overweight or obese.

The research is being reviewed by a legislative committee looking at health concerns in rural Kansas.

In all, there were 15 students each from KU and Kansas State presenting their work during the “research summit,” which was sponsored by KU Graduate and Professional Assn. and the Kansas State Graduate Student Council.

Jeremy Byers, a history doctoral candidate at KU, had a model World War II battlefield of the eastern front between the Germans and Russians.

He said with a few minor changes, “it’s the U.S. going into Baghdad.”

The research, he said, shows how conventional warfare has evolved and how military strategists learn from past battles.

Erik Rytting, in his third year of a doctorate program in KU’s department of pharmaceutical chemistry, had a research project on how drugs cross the placenta during pregnancy.

The research is aimed at finding out why certain drugs will piggyback on nutrients flowing through the placenta, he said.

Diana Carlin, dean of the KU graduate school and international programs, said students needed to get out and explain their research to both academic and nonacademic audiences.

“Learning good presentation skills will make them more competitive in their first job search,” she said.