Category: Research

Did you know that WSU provides funding for faculty research and creative activity projects? The Faculty Support Committee encourages you to explore this year’s URCA, MURPA and ARCS opportunities. Funding ranges from $4,000 up to $7,500 for multi-disciplinary projects.

These opportunities are perfect for faculty looking to retool or reestablish productive research/creative projects or as seed money to develop pilot data where external funding is available. The first opportunity deadline for the 2025-26 academic year is in October, so check out the Internal Grants Opportunity webpage for more information.

McNair Scholars Program invites you to the 30th annual Research Symposium poster session from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, July 18 on the second floor of the Rhatigan Student Center. Join in celebrating the incredible work of the McNair Scholars, each of whom has dedicated over 200 hours to their original research projects.

Posters will be presented as part of the Bradley Cole Poster Competition, where your vote helps decide the winner. Explore thought-provoking topics, engage with brilliant student researchers and cast your vote for your favorite poster.

Join Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub (UReCA) from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Monday, July 7 in the Digital Scholars Commons of Ablah Library to meet other researchers on campus.

This event is open to all students, their faculty mentors and faculty who are interested in mentoring an undergraduate student this upcoming fall. Guests are encouraged to network, ask questions to faculty or other students and have fun. Snacks and games will be provided.

Charvi Sharma, a graduate student from Hyderabad, India, is pursuing her master’s in Exercise Science within the Department of Human Performance Studies and is set to graduate in fall 2025. With a background in physical therapy, she developed a strong interest in research during her studies in India.

At Wichita State, she’s contributed to several projects, including research on back muscle activity using electromyography and the usability of neurocognitive mobile apps in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. The Parkinson’s study earned first place at GRASP 2025 and was accepted at regional and national conferences.

Sharma also conducted research on blood flow restriction and passed the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) on her first attempt. She says mentorship and support from faculty played a key role in her success.

A team of faculty members from the College of Engineering, in collaboration with researchers from Iowa State University and Northwestern University, has been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The four-year project aims to develop sustainable, electrified processes for manufacturing key industrial chemicals, including ethylene and ammonia, using renewable electricity and waste materials.

WSU’s involvement is led by Dr. Shuang Gu, the co-principal investigator (co-PI) on the overall project and the PI for WSU’s portion of the work. The WSU team also includes Dr. Bayram Yildirim, who is a co-PI, and Dr. Eylem Asmatulu, who serving as a senior researcher. WSU has been awarded $900,000 of the total funding. Dr. Wenzhen Li of Iowa State University (ISU) is serving as the project’s PI. Dr. Mark Mba-Wright from ISU and Dr. Ted Sargent from Northwestern University are additional co-PIs on the project.

The project focuses on advancing electro-manufacturing technologies that reduce reliance on energy-intensive chemical processes. By targeting green ammonia production from waste nitrogen and green ethylene production from waste carbon dioxide, the research seeks to significantly cut industrial carbon emissions and energy use. In addition to groundbreaking scientific work, the project will also support education and workforce training in STEM fields, aiming to build a future-ready manufacturing workforce.

Proposals are open for the 54th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest (LASSO). Under the theme, “Borderless Language,” participants will explore multilingual and multicultural research that addresses crucial issues such as language and social justice, critical pedagogies, language in healthcare, language maintenance and revitalization, and sociolinguistics. The conference will be hosted at Wichita State University.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn and engage with leading research and be part of thought-provoking conversations that promote community engagement and work towards creating a more inclusive, equitable world through the power of language.

Proposals are due to the Office of Research for Summer Undergraduate and Graduate Research Assistantships (SUGRA) no later than 5 p.m. Friday, May 16 to the Office of Research.

The new SUGRA grant opportunity provides funding of up to $4,000 to support faculty-mentored student research, scholarly or creative projects during summer 2025. Proposers must work with a grant specialist in the Office of Research prior to submission and all complete applications require an endorsement from the chair and dean.

Incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed or considered. Contact proposals@wichita.edu no later than May 16 to get started or visit the website for additional information.

The 22nd annual Graduate Research and Scholarly Project (GRASP) Symposium was on April 11 in the Rhatigan Student Center.

Roughly 200 students, faculty, and staff attended the event. There were 36 poster presentations and eight oral presentations. Research posters represented departments and programs from across the university.

This year’s awardees were as follows:

Oral presentations:

Winner: Kiora Joseph, aerospace engineering major for her presentation entitled “Effect of Shape of Heated Region on the Physics of Mach 2 Flow Over a Hemisphere Cylinder”
People’s Choice Winner(s): Jamie Enslinger, Leon Phan, Karson Dugan, Brett Liebl, Damian Hartman and Jack Bloom, physical therapy majors, for their presentation entitled “Quadriceps Strength and Power Recovery Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with Quadriceps Tendon Bone Autograft: A 6- and 12-month Analysis”

Poster Presentations:

• First Place: Charvi Sharma, exercise science major, for her poster entitled “Three Neurocognitive Mobile Applications: Perception of Usability in Adults With and Without Parkinson’s Disease”
• Second Place: Toomaj Amiri, innovation design major for his poster entitled “Assessing Tongue Mobility and Strength Using PARROT: An Oral Device”
• Third Place:  Kaitlyn Reis and Kaitlyn Jacobs, anthropology majors, for their poster entitled “14CO3 Preliminary Analysis of Non-Diagnostic Lithics: Raw Material Procurement and Modification”
• People’s Choice Winner: Sai Leela Harika Thota, electrical engineering and computer science major for her poster entitled “Neuro-Symbolic Learning for Parkinson’s Disease Detection”

Join University Libraries May 5 at the Ablah Library Collaboration Hub to explore student research on the connections between the Bible and archaeology. Posters will be on display all day, and students will be available to discuss their work from 2 to 3:15 p.m.

For questions, reach out to Rannfrid Thelle at Rannfrid.Thelle@wichita.edu.

Join the First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) from 3 to 5 p.m. May 12 at Ablah Library’s Collaboration Hub for a captivating showcase of research projects. Explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics projects from first-year Shockers already putting their research skills to work.

This event is open to everyone, and food will be provided, so mark your calendars and don’t miss out. Learn more at wichita.edu/fyre.