WSU News - All Stories

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.

Oct, 1, 2021 - The 777 conversion program will provide unique applied learning opportunities for WSU engineering and WSU Tech students. NIAR’s ability to provide applied learning experience for students will expand with a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for the purchase and installation of equipment for the institute’s Flight Test Research Center and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility on South Oliver near Spirit AeroSystems.

Sept. 30, 2021 -- Enrollment for fall 2021 at Wichita State University and WSU Tech is showing strong growth despite a decline in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of thousands of local jobs.

Sept. 27, 2021 — Wichita State University has been chosen to host the 2023 Science Olympiad National Tournament, bringing national STEM notoriety to the university and up to 7,000 visitors and tourists to Wichita.

Sept. 24, 2021 — Wichita State University’s Hughes Metropolitan Complex has switched to drive-thru testing – a move that will allow the Wichita community to spend less time in line and get test results faster. The Metroplex Testing Site (5015 East 29th St. North) is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Results of the PCR test are available within 24-36 hours after testing. No appointment is needed.

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.

Aug. 19, 2021 — As the fall 2021 semester begins, the 21 students in the inaugural class of Adelante Scholars have begun their careers as Wichita State University students.

Aug. 18, 2021 — The Department of Defense (DoD) has designated South Kansas as a Defense Manufacturing Community (DCM), making the region eligible for $5 million through the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program. The initiative is led by Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR).

Aug. 13, 2021 — For the eighth consecutive year, Wichita State University will receive a $125,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration for specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance for research- and development-focused small businesses under the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program.

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.

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.

June 21, 2021 — A widely acclaimed program for aircraft inspection, maintenance and airworthiness research is landing at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) after a 30-year history at Sandia National Laboratories.

March 26, 2021 — Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) announces the addition of two new technologies to its Automated Technologies Laboratory for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS): a fully integrated thermoplastic welding system and a prepreg tape slitting and tow-rewinding machine.

Feb. 3, 2021 — Dr. Rémi A. Chou, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the most prestigious award granted by the NSF to early career researchers. Chou's grant – worth $519,000 over five years – will support his work in bringing more robust security to wirelessly transmitted data.

Jan. 19, 2021 — A Kansas couple has pledged an estate gift of $3.5 million to the WSU Foundation to endow a general scholarship fund for Wichita State University students who demonstrate financial need.