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NAIR WERX

Nov. 4, 2021 - A $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce will help Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) purchase tools and supplies to support Flight Test Research Center and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility at NIAR WERX.

Masks

Nov. 1, 2021 - Helped by six grants from Kansas Leadership Center, Wichita State University’s HEALTH Student Association is working to end the pandemic and support students with information and resources to keep them healthy. HEALTH distributed more than 6,000 free and reusable masks, some with “Shockers United” branding, some plain black and sequined masks for the inauguration of president Rick Muma. It assembled gift boxes for quarantining students with information on COVID-19 vaccines and testing and gifts such as Wichita State water bottles, stickers and lanyards.

Wichita State students pose with Alyssa in her Elsa costume made as part of the Walkin' & Rollin' program.

Oct. 29, 2021 – Most children love trying on costumes this time of year, but for children with special needs, finding the right costume can be a challenge.

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.

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.

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.

John Wise

July 9, 2021 - John Wise, Wichita State University assistant director of track and field, documents his love of history, travel and frozen soft drinks in “Travel With a Wiseguy” on YouTube. He posts a video weekly, many from trips around Kansas to visit small towns, ghost towns and places such as Old Oxford Mill and Little Jerusalem.

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.

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.

Cybersecurity applied learning

June 22, 2021 - Joe Jabara doesn’t call his class Hacking 101, but his students do learn how to develop effective attacks on computer systems. The course is actually called Applied Computing Intermediate Design Project, and this past spring its students carried out phishing attempts against a targeted group of Wichita State University faculty, staff and students.