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additive manufacturing image

Oct. 7, 2021 — The Federal Aviation Administration recently awarded $7.3 million to Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research for advanced materials research, providing significant funding for additive and other advanced manufacturing research programs, ranging from qualification and characterization to specialized programs that address specific technical challenges.

Prisca Barnes (right) reads to a student at Storytime Village.

Sept. 22, 2021 — What started as one woman’s passion project has flourished into a literacy empire that serves thousands of children in schools across the Wichita area — helped along the way by the people and services of Wichita State University.

Picture of WSU student Maria Jimenez.

Sept. 21, 2021 – A Wichita State University student has wielded her love of nature into an internship with one of the nation’s leading outdoors companies.

The Boeing 777 aircraft rests at NIAR facilities.

Sept. 8, 2021 — WERX at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) has received its first Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft. As part of its rapidly growing Maintenance Repair and Overhaul program, WSU-NIAR WERX, in conjunction with Kansas Modification Center, will convert the passenger aircraft into a freighter that will be transferred to an external client to meet the growing needs of the e-commerce and express cargo market.

3-D printed device

Aug. 12, 2021 — WSU’s Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization has aligned with Innosphere Ventures, a Colorado-based incubator and commercialization program that accelerates business success of science and technology-based start-up companies, to commercialize faculty inventors.

Dr. Jeoung Min Lee

Aug. 9, 2021 — Multidimensional support systems are the key to preventing bullying and cyberbullying and can help lessen the psychosocial side effects of being a victim of bullying, according to a study done by one Wichita State researcher.

Dr. Ajita Rattani, assistant professor in the College of Engineering's School of Computing, has been awarded $200,000 by the NSF to study fairness in facial recognition software.

Aug. 2, 2021 — The National Science Foundation has awarded a $200,000 grant to Dr. Ajita Rattani, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering’s School of Computing, that seeks to improve facial recognition technology, addressing civil liberties concerns that some demographic groups are more likely to be misidentified.

Lindsey Harvell-Bowman

July 23, 2021 - Lindsey Harvell-Bowman and Eric Wilson consider themselves aviation geeks. They tease each other about favorite airlines and digest every bit of airplane news and research. It is fitting their friendship began as graduate students at Wichita State University, in the Air Capital of the World. Their collaboration continues in Harvell-Bowman's “The Psychology and Communication Behind Flight Anxiety: Afraid to Fly,” a book that examines the intersection of journalism, communication, and psychology in affecting the flying public.

Dr. Saideep Nannapaneni

July 13, 2021 — The National Science Foundation has awarded a $175,000 grant to Wichita State University’s Dr. Saideep Nannapaneni for research that has implications for increasing the speed and accuracy of data-driven decision-making.

Robotics at NIAR

July 12, 2021 — Wichita State University’s partnership with the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute (ARM) has resulted in the Department of Engineering Technology being among the first programs in the nation to earn an ARM endorsement for their mechatronics track – a certification that will translate to stronger job prospects for graduates.

Dr. Anthony Muscat

July 9, 2021 -- Dr. Anthony Muscat has been named dean of Wichita State University’s College of Engineering, effective July 25. Muscat is a professor and chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona, where he has been since 1998.

Gianluca Gabriele

July 6, 2021 - Gianluca Gabriele, 17, is an incoming freshman who plans to major in biomedical engineering at Wichita State University. Rowing is his passion, and he will spend the summer under consideration for both the 2024 summer Paralympic and Olympic training teams for the United States. When he returns to Wichita State later this summer, he will join the Shockers crew team.

F16

June 30, 2021 -- The U.S. Air Force is launching a new program with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to make a digital replica of the F-16 Fighting Falcon in an effort to improve the sustainment and modernization of F-16s operating around the world.

NASA's Tim Fisher

June 23, 2021 - In 1977, a Wichitan watched Star Wars at the Mall theater on East Harry. He returned again and again that summer to watch the lightsaber battles, Jedi Knights and X-wing starfighters. “I’m an original Star Wars guy,” Tim Fisher said. “I was just mesmerized. It sparked that ‘What is possible? What can we do?’” Decades later, Fisher is one of the people helping answer those questions for the United States and the entire world in space. He is chief engineer for NASA’s Gateway program, part of the agency’s quest to return to the Moon and explore Mars.

Rafael Leite and Felipe Lima de Oliveira

June 22, 2021 — When the Make48 invention and maker challenge comes to Wichita State University on June 24, two of the eight Wichita teams are comprised entirely of Wichita State University students.