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Cameron Holston

June 8, 2022 - Cameron Holston works with a variety of aircraft at the Aircraft Structural Test and Evaluation Center, part of the National Institute for Aviation Research. The experience prepares him for a career in the field of aerospace.

Tornado damage in Chapman, Kansas

May 26, 2022 — An interdisciplinary team from Wichita State University will participate in a $24 million state initiative to help rural and urban communities prepare for and recover from natural disasters.

A DHL plane gets loaded with cargo.

May 25, 2022 — The WERX program at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) and Erickson Precision Ventures have reached an agreement to work cooperatively on modification, maintenance and engineering for various Boeing and Airbus aircraft.  

Southwest Airlines plane in the air

May 11, 2022 — Domestic travelers returned to planes en masse in 2021, but airlines struggled to deliver them, and their bags, to their destinations on time, according to the annual Airline Quality Rating released today by Wichita State University.

A rendering of Fly Your Own Wheels Suites

April 7, 2022 — A team from Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research has received international recognition for a design that would allow WC19 certified manual and power wheelchairs to be used as a seat on board commercial airlines.

Vivian and Jian stand in front of the crystal X-ray diffractometer to visualize the atoms.

April 1, 2022 — What do you picture when you think of lasers? Laser pointers? Perhaps laser eye surgery or barcode scanners? Turns out there’s more to lasers than most people realize, and a Wichita State University chemistry team recently discovered a new series of laser material with potential commercial use.

Engineering student working on machinery

March 29, 2022 — In the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings of universities offering a Ph.D. in engineering, the College of Engineering at Wichita State University once again was ranked in the top 100 engineering graduate programs in the country and the only institution in Kansas to make it in the top 100.

Matchmaking graphic

March 28, 2022 — The Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization at Wichita State University has launched a program designed to connect experienced entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs with cutting-edge technologies and the opportunity to commercialize them.

Forward Together graphic

March 10, 2022 — Wichita State University President Rick Muma has launched a new podcast, called “Forward Together,” where the president speaks with guests from throughout Shocker Nation to highlight the people and priorities that guide WSU. The podcast drops monthly, with the March edition releasing March 9. Some of the guests so far include Hollywood director Dean Hargrove, WSU basketball coach Isaac Brown and WSU research vice president Coleen Pugh.

B1B in a Wichita State parking lot

On March 9, 2022, the B-1 System Program Office (SPO), Tinker AFB, OK awarded a six-year, $100 million follow-on contract to Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to continue the B-1’s Digital Engineering (DE) transformation. The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) helped form the strategic partnership and created a flexible contract structure, which allows NIAR and the B-1 SPO to adapt requirements real-time to meet critical warfighter needs.

A heat map from the study shows where the participants’ eyes tend to look with the red indicating more gazing in that area and the blue indicating less gazing.

March 8, 2022 — Ever wonder what other people are looking at during Zoom or WebEx meetings? Dr. Akmal Mirsadikov, who specializes in deception detection and eye tracking at Wichita State University’s W. Frank Barton School of Business, recently ran an exploratory study about how people interact on Zoom.

Volunteers collect litter at a Wichita park.

Feb. 22, 2022 — The Wichita Litter Study was borne from community concern about the number of single-use plastic bags floating throughout the city. The study focused on 12 small sites within Wichita municipal parks — two parks within each city council district; and the data, while concerning, was not altogether a surprise for the research team.

Darren DeFrain holding up phone with Vizling app

Jan. 20, 2022 — The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded a grant of $243,922 to a Wichita State University researcher for his work on an app that will allow people who are visually impaired to read comic books, graphic novels and other digitized graphic materials on their devices.

A Blackhawk helicopter arrives at Wichita State University.

Dec. 7, 2021 — Since its inception, the National Institute for Aviation Research’s digital twin program has been rife with opportunities to progress research, digital transformation, engineering technology and sustainability efforts. It’s also been an important career steppingstone and training ground for more than 250 Wichita State University students, who have gained valuable applied learning experiences while working on the project.

WSU students at Lockheed Martin

Nov. 10, 2021 -- Building on a 20-year history of collaboration, Lockheed Martin recently named Wichita State University and WSU Tech as a tier one collegiate partner institution, emphasizing collaboration with the institution as an Aeronautics Sector Emerging School to bolster the pipeline for future Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical (STEM) careers.