Category: Featured Stories

What does a 1970s Houston choir teacher have to do with the $300 million health science center proposed for downtown Wichita?

Quite a bit, as it turns out.

Wichita State University President Rick Muma was in eighth grade, sitting in choir class in the Houston public schools, when his teacher announced he would be leaving to become a physician assistant — a relatively new career at that time.

Muma went on to become a PA himself. He eventually earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston — located at the Texas Medical Center, which serves as a kind of a model for the proposed center he’s championing here.

Andrew Stockmann grew up with parents who loved sports and history. They created the environment for him to combine those influences into a podcast that focuses on athletic halls of fame and museums.

“A lot of our vacations growing up were around baseball,” he said. “I get a lot of my fandom from my dad (Joe). My mom (Julie) studied history in school. I want to say both of them are a little jealous of some of the stuff I’m doing, because we all have the same interests.”

Stockmann, a 2020 Wichita State University graduate and sport management major, is in his second year hosting “Hallowed Ground: The Sports Museum Podcast.”

The FirePoint Innovations Center at Wichita State wrapped up the second year of its Future Innovators Program, an engineering internship opportunity that provides some of America’s brightest engineers from historically under-represented communities the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects and programs that directly support the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Center and the Department of Defense.

The program is a partnership between FirePoint, AvMC, Tuskegee University and Prairie View A&M University, connecting students from historically Black colleges and universities to internship opportunities with NIAR, Spirit AeroSystems and Textron Aviation in the Wichita Area.

Savannah Paschal started to understand the power individuals possess to help their community while a student at Campus High School. Whether organizing a cookie fundraiser to benefit a homeless shelter or serving as president of the art club, Paschal found rewards in getting involved.

“I was super invested,” Paschal said. “One simple lesson is to tackle problems that you can see.”

At Wichita State University, Paschal continued to expand the desire to serve the community through work with Alce su voz (Spanish for “speak out.”). The coalition’s purpose is to improve health equity for Spanish speakers and speakers of indigenous languages in Kansas.

As Wichita State University celebrates record enrollment the university is bolstering its student success initiatives to increase graduation rates. As part of those efforts, the National Science Foundation has awarded WSU researchers $750,000 to increase persistence rates among low-income engineering students, particularly those who are interested in advanced manufacturing careers. 

The project — titled “Improved Persistence to Degree Completion through Enhanced Engineering Identity” — was borne from statistics that show that low-income students have lower degree-completion rates than their typical-income peers in engineering. It has also been shown that engineering students who identify with the profession have a greater likelihood of graduating.

The Wichita Aero Club (WAC) announced Dr. John Tomblin as the recipient of the 2023 WAC Trophy during a special ceremony Oct. 11. Tomblin is senior vice president, Industry and Defense Programs; executive director, National Institute for Aviation Research; and Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering for Wichita State University.

WAC will celebrate Tomblin at its annual trophy gala in January 2023.

“The Wichita Aero Club continues to build upon the tradition we began in 2010 by selecting a deserving candidate with solid ties to the Wichita and Kansas aviation community,” said Ashley Bowen Cook, WAC board chair, trophy committee chair, and Greteman Group vice president. “Dr. Tomblin not only has exemplary achievements in this past year but has consistently raised the bar for our aerospace community for many years in his role at WSU and NIAR. We are excited to celebrate his many contributions.”

A weekend of ample research and little sleep at Wichita State’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) resulted in the selection of three NASA Space Apps Hackathon winners. 

One-man team Just Jacob, led by Jacob Workentine, a Wichita State senior in communication, took first place for his submission to the On the Way to the Sun challenge. 

Workentine developed an illustrated children’s book and accompanying video inspired by PBS’s Reading Rainbow program. The book and video focused on the story of the Parker Solar Probe’s record-breaking mission from Earth through the Sun’s upper atmosphere to sample particles and magnetic fields. 

Jacob Workentine, a senior majoring in communication-electronic media, recently took home a first-place victory at the Wichita division of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge.

Space Apps is an annual, international hackathon for developers and creatives of all backgrounds. The goal of the event is to bring together individuals from various backgrounds to help solve problems in space and back home on Earth.

“I felt very lucky,” Workentine said when he was told he won first place. “Like, I stumbled upon this and got caught up with dumb luck, but I’m very happy and very excited.”

The challenge Workentine took on was “On the Way to the Sun.” His objective was to tell a creative story about the Parker Solar Probe’s mission to the Sun in a way that would be engaging to young audiences. The NASA challenge took place over two days, with roughly 36 hours available for participants to work on projects.

He took inspiration from the PBS children’s show, “Reading Rainbow” to create an illustrated video that humanized Parker as it sailed across the cosmos to touch the Sun’s surface.

“You never know where your next opportunity will be,” Workentine said. “Even if you don’t think you’re qualified, just give it your best shot. I was thinking to myself the whole time ‘even if I lose, I get six free meals and something to add to my portfolio,’ so just keeping an optimistic mindset when you’re trying to be creative and create projects is really important.”

After completing the project, Workentine was required to give a presentation to a panel of three industry professional judges from Flint Hill Resources, Solvay and Dassault Systèmes. They weren’t the only ones he impressed.

“Jacob won it by being the best at pitching his idea and being the best at starting from zero and ending up with a product which the judges loved and wanted to hear more about,” Dr. Andrew Hippisley, dean of  Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said. “So, am I surprised? In some ways not because this is what the Fairmount College does for its students.”

Participants at the event were encouraged to work in teams, but Workentine took the challenge on his own to clinch the first-place finish.

“The regret in some ways is that Jacob could have been in some other team and helped them win,” Hippisley said. “We have great engineers, we have great scientists, but we also have Jacobs as well who can enhance and enrich the experience for all and help a team go from second place to first place.”

Alongside a chance to pitch his idea to Dassault Systèmes in Boston, Workentine won a $500 gift certificate and a pair of Apple AirPods.

You can view Workentine’s final video project and his entire project submission online. Workentine will graduate in May 2023.

Middle school girls from the surrounding area will get the chance to explore STEM careers at the 10th annual Expanding Your Horizons workshop Saturday, Oct. 22, at Wichita State University ’s Hubbard Hall.

This one-day event introduces middle school girls to a variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas.

Last week, the WSU Foundation welcomed faculty, staff and donors to the grand opening celebration of Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, the first new academic building on WSU’s campus in more than 25 years.

The $60 million, 125,000-square-foot building on the Innovation Campus would not be possible without the efforts and sacrifices of every college and unit at Wichita State, in addition to the commitment of the Woolsey family and the generosity of the 215 donors who supported the project.

If you missed the grand opening, you can see all the action and learn more here.