Category: Featured Stories

FAA deputy administrator Bradley Mims visited the WERX MRO at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) Tuesday alongside U.S. Senator Jerry Moran.

Mims, a 40-year aviation industry veteran, toured the NIAR WERX and met with students, administrators and program directors for Kansas Modification Center’s 777-300ERCF conversion and other conversion programs underway at WERX.

His first visit to Wichita in 25 years, one of Mims’ goals was to understand the technical education needs of the industry. He met with WSU senior vice president for Industry and Defense Programs and NIAR executive director John Tomblin and WSU Tech president Sheree Utash, who detailed how NIAR WERX and WSU Tech have collaborated to implement the Get to WERX program This program provides tuition reimbursement for students seeking a certificate in aviation maintenance technology, while simultaneously working in paid positions with NIAR WERX.

“I want to get a feel for what’s going on in the industry in terms of making sure the next generation – next two generations – of young people are getting a technical education to make sure this industry continues to prosper,” Mims said. “On something like this 777 here, moving forward, I want to make sure that our young people are educated and ready to meet the demands for the future – whatever vocation they choose.”

Mims and Moran also toured portions of the NIAR’s Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS), next door to NIAR WERX at WSU’s South Oliver site. NIAR and global science company, Solvay, recently announced a partnership in which scientists and engineers at Solvay will be embedded at NIAR ATLAS, lending their expertise in material science while taking advantage of the unique state-of-the-art material development equipment at NIAR ATLAS.

“Mims already understands the importance of strong partnerships between industry, technical education and higher education,” said Tomblin. “Programs like those we have implemented at WSU, NIAR and WSU Tech can and should be duplicated across the nation in order to ensure the strength and power of the aviation industry in U.S.”

MagicHand, an anthropomorphic robotic hand designed by a Wichita State University engineering team, is participating in the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program.

The MagicHand is designed to achieve various dexterous object manipulations, including object sorting, arranging and packaging. The MagicHand team began the seven-week path to commercialization in March.

The W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University has surpassed seven figures in annual scholarships for its students, with funds being distributed throughout the 2021-2022 season.

It’s the first time the Barton School has reached this major milestone, which was made possible by a collection of substantial funds given to the Barton School by generous donors and supporters.

This achievement is another example of how Wichita State prioritizes the goal of providing an accessible, affordable and impactful higher education for all students.

Wichita State University has joined the Age-Friendly University Global Network (AFU), a growing group of more than 90 higher-education institutions around the world that have committed to meeting the personal, educational and career needs of adults of all ages and to creating age-inclusive environments on their campuses.

WSU is the first institution in Kansas to become a member of AFU. Membership in AFU demonstrates WSU’s commitment to provide a full range of learning opportunities that include adults at all ages and stages in life, as well as to generate knowledge and innovations that address the second half of the lifespan through research.

Former scholarship recipients Eddie Sandoval and Kyle Offutt started Pinole Blue from a dorm room with a hand-spun corn grinder. Now, they are a nationally recognized all-natural food brand and were even featured on “Shark Tank.” Their focus on philanthropy, however, hasn’t changed since the beginning.

“We both know that if it wasn’t for people believing in us, we wouldn’t be here.”

From scholarships to start-up funding, Sandoval and Offutt attribute much of their success to the philanthropy of others. As such, philanthropy is the top priority of their own company.

Wichita State President Dr. Rick Muma and interim Vice President/Provost Dr. Shirley Lefever will be featured on KMUW’s at 7 a.m. Wednesday, March 30 for the station’s spring fundraiser.

During the show, Muma and Lefever plan to issue a matching-funds challenge, which will be funded by them personally.

Listeners can tune into KMUW at 89.1 on their radios or listen online at www.kmuw.org.

The executive vice president/provost search committee welcomes the WSU community to attend upcoming open forums for the three candidates as they visit campus.

The open forums will take place April 4 in 208 Hubbard Hall, April 5 in 208 Hubbard Hall, and April 7 in 230 Hubbard Hall. All forums will be from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. each day. A virtual option will be available to the WSU community via Zoom if you are unable to attend in person.

Names and CVs for each candidate will be announced on the day preceding their respective campus interview in WSU Today. Feedback from those in attendance (virtual and in-person) will be collected using a Qualtrics survey. Links for Zoom and Qualtrics will be included in each announcement in WSU Today.

Further expanding its reach of access and affordability, Wichita State University has added 11 cities to its Shocker City Partnership — meaning eligible students from those cities are offered in-state tuition rates to attend WSU.

Those new cities include:

• Chicago
• Colorado Springs and Pueblo, Colorado
• Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska
• Des Moines and Ames, Iowa
• Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas

Two Wichita State researchers and a student group have been awarded the John A. See Innovation Award.

The award is given each year as a way to recognize novel ideas that have the potential to meet a market need and attract further funding once they have advanced through the early prototyping phase. Examples of supported costs are prototype development, design, product testing, and market analysis.

Things are shaking in Wichita with the Kansas Modification Center’s 777-300ERCF conversion program at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The team at NIAR WERX completed ground vibration testing last month.

The ground vibration test, completed over the course of five days, helps characterize how the aircraft structure responds when subjected to stresses associated with landing and flight.