WSU News - All Stories

June 12, 2025 — Wichita State’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) has received a patent for VISION, an AI-powered composite inspection robot designed to detect and repair damage on aircraft parts autonomously. Developed at NIAR’s Automation Research Center and recently installed at a U.S. Army facility, the system uses machine learning to analyze inspection images and speed up aircraft maintenance.

June 9, 2025 — Shocker Composites, founded by Wichita State alum Vamsidhar Patlolla, transforms carbon fiber waste into high-performance, sustainable materials using a recycling method he developed during his graduate research. With support from Wichita State’s NIAR and Innovation Campus, the company is scaling up its impact and demonstrating how university-backed startups can drive real-world innovation and sustainability.

June 9, 2025 — The Shocker Store is being recognized as a Mental Health Advocate for its support of the Suspenders4Hope program by offering the Suspenders4Hope T-shirts for sale, with proceeds directly benefiting HOPE Services, and by serving as a hub for resources for Shockers on campus.

May 29, 2025 - Ridge Estes, from Bucklin, used his study time and his athletic time wisely during his Wichita State University career. He majored in exercise science with minors in health science and entrepreneurship and graduated earlier this month with a 3.473 grade-point average.

May 27, 2025 – WSU professor Michael Birzer blends law enforcement experience with research and mentorship, empowering students through hands-on learning and community-focused scholarship.

May 27, 2025 — High schoolers don’t often get to see what real science is being done every day by researchers. Worst case scenario is that they are dealing with abstract numbers that don’t have any real-world parallels. But with the help of Dr. Thomas Luhring, assistant professor of biological sciences at Wichita State University, students will not only get to work with active data acquired by a real scientist, but the data also will have implications in their neighborhoods.

May 8, 2025 — Yumi Kikuchi first came to Wichita State University as part of an exchange program and decided she wanted to pursue her graduate studies at the College of Innovation and Design. Her advice to other students? “Take chances. Life is an experiment, and college is the perfect time to explore, get involved and discover what truly excites you.”

April 30, 2025 — Bryonna Hawk is passionate about helping others through speech-language pathology and will continue her studies in Wichita State's graduate program. She credits her success to strong time-management strategies and hands-on experiences at the Evelyn Hendren Cassat Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic.

April 28, 2025 — Wichita State University has appointed Dr. Sarah Beth Estes as the new dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Estes brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to student and faculty success.

April 28, 2025 — When the email notification popped up, Dr. Mary Liz Jameson, professor of biological sciences, thought there must have been a mistake. It must have been for someone else at the university or perhaps another Mary Liz at a different university. Once the shock wore away, Jameson realized it was true: She had been elected to the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Fellows, class of 2024, for her integrated work on entomology.

April 24, 2025 — Students from Wichita State University’s Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences got the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise in their fields at the annual Kansas Academy of Science (KAS) and Central States Entomological Society meeting (CSES) meetings April 4-5 at Friends University.

April 14, 2025 — The CARE Team and Student Outreach and Support (SOS) are being recognized as a Suspenders4Hope Mental Health Advocate for their proactive support for the campus community. Their work ensures students, staff and faculty alike all have the tools necessary to work and learn at their full potential. Hear from Katie Davidson, director of SOS, on how the teams are supporting mental health.

April 10, 2025 — Sejun Moon, a junior in computer science, is researching multi-agent reinforcement learning to improve robot teamwork in Mars exploration. His work focuses on creating a hierarchical system that enhances coordination and scalability, with potential applications in disaster response, such as tornado recovery.

April 10, 2025 — Wichita State students spent summer 2024 excavating the Boxed Springs archaeological site in East Texas, uncovering 6,000 years of Caddo history through hands-on research, artifact analysis and academic publishing.

April 9, 2025 — Daniel Reichart, a senior in aerospace engineering and physics at Wichita State, is researching how to improve particle identification in space using the SNAPPY CubeSat detector. His work simulates how electrons, protons and alpha particles can be distinguished, contributing to a better understanding of solar wind hazards.