September 2021
The fall 2021 semester has begun in full force. Although the summer is still a time of high research activity for faculty, research associates and research students, the influx of new and returning undergraduate and graduate students has reinvigorated campus. 

With double digit increases in new graduate students, the growth in graduate programs in all of the colleges has resulted in a total of more than 3,000 graduate students contributing to research and scholarly endeavors. Along with their mentors, these students and their colleagues are leading a myriad of important and transformative research projects, including those highlighted this month. 

We look forward to bringing you more news of Shocker research programs that contribute to and transform the health and vitality of individuals, industry, governmental interests, and fundamental research fields.
Latest Stories
WSU-NIAR WERX receives 777 aircraft for Kansas Modification Center passenger-to-freighter conversion
WERX at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) has received its first Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft.

As part of its rapidly growing Maintenance Repair and Overhaul program, WSU-NIAR WERX, in conjunction with the Kansas Modification Center, will convert the passenger aircraft into a freighter that will be transferred to an external client to meet the growing needs of the e-commerce and express cargo market.
NSF awards WSU researcher $200K to study fairness in facial recognition
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $200,000 grant to Dr. Ajita Rattani, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering’s School of Computing, that seeks to improve facial recognition technology, addressing civil liberties concerns that some demographic groups are more likely to be misidentified.

Facial recognition technology — known as biometrics — has become common tool used to authenticate a person’s identity and is used by smartphones and laptops to unlock devices and by law enforcement to identify suspected criminals or undocumented immigrants.
WSU researcher awarded $175,000 NSF grant to help improve data-driven decision-making
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $175,000 grant to Wichita State University’s Dr. Saideep Nannapaneni for research that has implications for increasing the speed and accuracy of data-driven decision-making.

In decision-making – whether in engineering design, health care management or financial investments – people make predictions about what will happen based on what has happened in the past, using the data available, but recognizing that data may be incomplete or some of it inaccurate.
Air Force to develop F-16 ‘digital twin’ with help from Wichita State NIAR
The U.S. Air Force is launching a new program with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to make a digital replica of the F-16 Fighting Falcon in an effort to improve the sustainment and modernization of F-16s operating around the world.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s F-16 Program Office is sponsoring the project through a new contract with Wichita State, which will involve the disassembly and scanning of two F-16s – located at 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base – to create a “digital twin.”
WSU researcher awarded $100K from NEH for accessibility app
The National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) has awarded a Wichita State University researcher $100,000 for his work on developing an app that allows visually impaired people to read comic books and graphic novels.

Dr. Darren DeFrain, associate professor of English and director of the Wichita State writing program, has been working with former Wichita State student Aaron Rodriguez (who is currently a graduate student at Florida State University) to create Vizling.
Research Advantage
Research Records
Total Awards for FY21: $180.5 million
$67.7M
from the U.S. Department of Defense
$10M
from the U.S. Department of Education
$12.4M
from the U.S. Department of Transportation
$112.5M | Federal
$50.1M | Industry
$16.2M | State of Kansas
$1.6M | Private, local, other
Our Research Innovation Team
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Learn more at wichita.edu/innovation
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