Category: Applied Learning

Wichita State has been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to create the Wichita HIREs program: Humanities Internships Reward Employers, an initiative designed to expand applied learning opportunities for students pursuing humanities degrees. This transformative grant includes a $1 million matching funds requirement to build a long-term endowment to sustain the program beyond the five-year grant period.

Beginning in the 2026 spring semester, Wichita HIREs will leverage WSU’s established leadership in applied learning to create increased opportunities for humanities students. While Wichita State students collectively work in more than 12,000 paid positions per academic year, humanities majors account for only 0.5% of those opportunities. This program will directly address this gap by creating paid internships for approximately 300 humanities students over the life of the grant.

“We are proud to receive this grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand paid applied learning in ways that advance WSU’s mission and directly benefit our community,” said Wichita State President Richard Muma. “This program will showcase to employers across Kansas the tremendous value humanities students can offer.”

In May 2019, Gonzalo Neira Maquilon graduated from Wichita State with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and another in anthropology. Driven to serve his community, he earned certificates in community psychology and human factors while attaining his bachelor’s degrees at Wichita State. Later that year, he began his master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology and graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Since graduating from Meredith College in 2021, Maquilon has poured his heart into human resources through various post-graduate roles. In his current role as a human resources specialist for the City of Wichita, he reflects on human resources’ influence on his work and his own “… impact on the life of others at work.”

Meet Vivian Salazar, a mechanical engineering student who turned her passion for problem-solving into a meaningful internship at Amazon Robotics. In this student spotlight, Vivian discusses her work with Amazon’s fulfillment systems, her role at The Smart Factory by Deloitte and how hands-on experiences like GoBabyGo shaped her engineering career.

Explore how Wichita State’s applied learning approach helps students bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world innovation in manufacturing, robotics and sustainability.

Dr. Kathryn “Kat” Fishwick has spent the past five years at Wichita State researching teen dating violence education programming, a primary prevention technique used to combat the public health crisis of intimate partner violence. Fishwick earned her doctoral degree in community psychology in May 2025.

During her time at WSU, Fishwick applied her knowledge and expertise while working for the Health, Outreach, Prevention and Education (HOPE) Services department. HOPE Services advocates for prevention of suicide, sexual violence and substance misuse, along with mental health and wellness promotion through outreach and education. Fishwick’s years at Shocker Nation encompassed research dedication, community outreach and professional development.

As a prevention and outreach staff member at HOPE Services, since its inception, Fishwick’s background in sexual violence prevention laid out the foundation of the department’s outreach and prevention efforts.

In August 2025, Santiago Carbajal began his sophomore year as a software engineering student contractor at NetApp through Ennovar. Working with NetApp’s Performance and Benchmarking Team, Carbajal actively shapes his future through hands-on experience in this applied learning experience. Carbajal advances in his own future and in future technology by coding, testing and learning new technologies like machine learning and AI development at NetApp.

As a computer engineering freshman, Carbajal first explored career possibilities in aerospace engineering.

At the National Institute for Aviation Research, from December 2024 to August 2025, Carbajal worked as a quality assurance and engineering student assistant at NIAR’s Research Advanced Machining and Prototyping Laboratory. At NIAR, he perfected his eye for detail.

In May 2025, Michael Rivas graduated from Wichita State with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Before graduating, he shared his educational journey and its challenges with Wichita Public Schools (USD 259) high school students.

Working with Wichita State Undergraduate Admissions’ lead admissions representative, Baylee Almos, Rivas became a college access coach his senior year. He became integral in enhancing college accessibility and providing post-secondary planning to high school upperclassmen. Rivas connected with students about his honest experience as a first-generation, transfer and nontraditional student.

Nidhi Shenoy is a graduate student pursuing her master’s degree in quantitative analysis and economics at Wichita State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and economics from Mount Carmel College in May 2024. Since then, Shenoy has embraced every opportunity to bridge data analysis with storytelling.  

In the summer of 2025, Shenoy became an essential part of internal communication at The Smart Factory by Deloitte. As an internal marketing intern, she played a key role in streamlining communication for thousands of employees. Drawing on her background in journalism and economics, Shenoy analyzed data and produced content for the experience team. 

In May 2025, Rory Mata graduated from Wichita State with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and another in chemistry. She also earned a Spanish for the Professions undergraduate certificate. Mata fully explored professional pathways in both fields during her internships. She explored a career as a chemistry researcher at NASA in Kansas and as a Spanish translator at the Exploration Place, through an internship funded by Wichita State’s Applied Learning Fund. 

Golam Morshed Khan, a recent graduate, received his master’s degree in management science in supply chain management in May 2025. Before attending Wichita State, he earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in Bangladesh. While completing his master’s, he worked at Wichita State’s Student Outreach and Support as a front desk student assistant, where he developed soft and technical skills. 

As part of Wichita State’s CARE Team, Student Outreach and Support’s mission is to support Shockers by providing resources and care. As a student assistant, Khan was the first connection between Shockers in need and the CARE Team, honing his soft skills in every interaction. With a mix of responsibilities, he was discreet when handling students’ private information. 

After earning her bachelor’s degree in physical education, PreK–12, in fall 2023, Trajata Colbert returned to Wichita State in spring 2025 to complete her student teaching and earn her teaching license. During this final step in her preparation, she gained hands-on experience through an applied learning placement that took her to multiple schools. These rotations provided a variety of professional experiences and meaningful connections with students — solidifying her path as a fully licensed teacher after spring 2025.