Wichita State Poised For Massive Growth

[WstateU]

WSU - Shocker students earn coveted NSF graduate research awards



I'm not going to pretend to understand most of the significance behind any of these, but seeing students win national awards to help further research is always a nice feather in the cap.

Impressive!

[SubGod22]

WBJ - WSU's Shocker New Venture Competition spotlights young minds

Every so often an idea comes along that wows just about everyone.

That's the idea that judges at the Shocker New Venture Competition are looking for during Friday's all-day startup competition for Wichita State University students.

The Center for Entrepreneurship at WSU boiled the competition down to 55 students who will compete for the top prize — a $25,000 investment in their project, which WSU says is the largest for any collegiate competition of its type in the state.

The second-place winner will receive $7,000, with $4,000 going to the third-place finisher.

"It provides aspiring student entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to get some real world experience," said Nancy Kersenbrock, associate director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at WSU. "It allows them to pitch their ideas for startups, to really work on refining their business strategies and then just getting valuable insight into what it takes to actually launch a successful business."

The trade show runs from 1 to 2 p.m., followed by a keynote speaker and elevator speeches. The public is invited to the trade show, which takes place at Koch Arena on the WSU campus.

The Shocker New Venture competition started in 2007 with the goal to provide students an opportunity to launch their products.

Students have already completed the first round, in which they submitted a three-minute business model video.

Really good way to give students some valuable experience and information and for the top ideas, a little cash to help get things going.

[bleed yellow]

With it being graduation season, I wonder if WSU will move their graduation outside when the track stadium is completed ?

[WuShock16]

With it being graduation season, I wonder if WSU will move their graduation outside when the track stadium is completed ?

Doubtful. You are asking for trouble when you move an event like that outside in May in Kansas.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - New NIAR facility will test electric aircraft 'without wheels ever leaving the ground'

An under-construction hover ramp at Air Capital Flight Line to test the development of electric aircraft will be the first of its kind in the region.

Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research is expanding its research and development capabilities for the electric vertical take-off and landing industry, commonly called eVTOL. The new facility, targeted to be complete late this year, will include in-ground and out-of-ground test rigs to create a controlled environment for eVTOL companies to test the performance of new electric aircraft, said Kevin Wiedenmann, who is in charge of flight test operations and instrumentation at NIAR's WERX facility.

"What I've been seeing with the different customers that we've been working with, as eVTOL really starts to come to the front lines of aviation, if you will, they don't have a lot of this (infrastructure)," Wiedenmann said. "There are a lot of startups so there's not really a lot of funding.... So it's going to allow the customers to come to NIAR and expand on their testing."

Construction of the hover pit was supported by the Kansas Aviation Research and Testing Growth Initiative, called KART, a program funded by the state to strengthen aircraft technologies in Kansas.

Over the past two years, NIAR has received approximately $1 million from KART for the project, Wiedenmann said.

The eVOTL facility will be one of only a few nationwide; Lockheed has two facilities that support its F-35 testing, Wiedenmann said, and the Bell V-280 Valor testing takes place in Fort Worth.

[SubGod22]

WSU - Wichita State professor and student earn NASA grant to explore harmful cosmic radiation

As humanity begins to return to the moon and farther beyond, new technologies will need to be invented to assist in sustainable, long-term human-helmed missions. To help develop this technology, NASA has awarded a $133,342 grant to Wichita State University to research a more cost-effective detector for harmful radiation from space.

The grant is part of a nearly $1.5 million program that is funding 24 projects across 21 organizations and institutions. Awardees will also work with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama as part of the grant.

The one-year study from WSU, conducted by Dr. Nick Solomey, professor of physics, and graduate student Tyler Nolan, in the Master of Science in physics program, will explore the use of a new detector of harmful cosmic radiation, including an ionization detector of charged particles; a gamma detector for X-rays and gamma rays; and a neutron detector.

Currently, detectors for each of these types of radiation are their own bulky machinery that take up space and consume their own power. The researchers hope to develop a single detector that not only takes less power and occupies less space but is an even more accurate detector than what is currently used.

“Every time you put something into space, it’s $10,000 per pound in fuel,” Solomey said. “So if you’re putting three bulky things up, and you make it into one, that’s three times less mass and three times less fuel to go up.”

Research began with computer simulations, which showed promising results for the new detector. The next step of the research, including what the grant will fund, is controlled testing of the detector here on Earth to demonstrate the detector’s effectiveness.

If the experiments are successful, next steps can include another grant for a study of the detector on the International Space Station, next to the current separate detectors, to further test its capabilities and potential deployment on future moon/Mars missions, though Nolan looks forward to seeing whatever the results show.

“Regardless of what you do in science, whether it fails or succeeds, there’s always a lesson that you learn,” said Nolan.

This is one of three grants from NASA that Solomey is currently working on, one of which includes a $2 million grant for a neutrino detector for the sun, which used similar technology and served as a jumping off point for the latest research.

[SubGod22]

Something not about Coach B

WSU - Wichita State and the University of Kansas host Wichita Biomedical Campus groundbreaking ceremony

Hundreds of people gathered today (Wednesday, May 8) to celebrate the start of Phase One construction on the new Wichita Biomedical Campus, a $300 million, 471,000-square-foot joint health sciences center in the heart of downtown Wichita.

The Wichita Biomedical Campus is a joint project between Wichita State University and the University of Kansas. Once complete, the campus will combine WSU’s College of Health Professions programs, including its Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, WSU Tech’s health care program and the Wichita campuses of KU School of Medicine and KU School of Pharmacy — all into one location.

“The Wichita Biomedical Campus is a tangible expression of our dedication to advancing health care through collaboration and innovation,” said Wichita State President Rick Muma. “By bringing together researchers, health care professionals and industry leaders, we’re creating an environment where groundbreaking discoveries can thrive and where collaboration sparks innovation. This campus will be at the forefront of transforming health care, ultimately improving the lives of countless individuals.”

The first phase — expected to open in spring 2027 — will be 355,000 square feet located at the southeast corner of Broadway and William and will include shared spaces for advanced laboratories, technology and simulation rooms for hands-on training. Wichita State and WSU Tech will share the first four stories of the eight-story tower. The fifth story is a shared simulation floor. KU will use the top three stories for its classrooms, workspaces and offices.

Initially, about 3,000 students and 200 faculty and staff will be housed at the center, with opportunities for growth in existing and new programs. Future phases will be located at 214 S. Topeka (where the Wichita Transit Center, set to move to Delano, is currently located).

The pooling of these collective health science and biomedical resources and experiences will open the door for a myriad of collaboration, innovation and research — and it will be transformative for downtown Wichita. The goal is to eventually create an entire health care corridor where health care services, education, research and technology can be established near existing private hospitals and health care providers. That proximity will strengthen interprofessional health care learning, while creating opportunities for partnerships in new and emerging research fields.

“The collaboration within the Wichita Biomedical Campus will provide multiple advantages for KU students,” says Dr. Garold Minns, dean of KU School of Medicine-Wichita. “Adding to the already popular benefit of immersive community hands-on experiences, the opportunity to expand their inter-professional learning and training skills in a centralized location will enhance KU School of Medicine-Wichita’s draw for medical students. All of these facets and more will make for better future physicians and ultimately patient outcomes.”

$205 million has been raised for the campus so far — enough to start Phase One. Funding included $190 million by the Kansas Legislature, which included ARPA dollars, and $15 million from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, made available through the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas Executive Committee and State Finance Council. The Kansas Health Foundation also was instrumental in providing funding for the initial needs assessment that helped start the project.

WSU, WSU Tech and KU will continue to explore all avenues of funding, including federal, state, local and private funding for the final project.

Support for the initiative was evident at the groundbreaking ceremony, where along with students, staff and faculty from each institution, the following individuals took part: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, Wichita Mayor Lily Wu, Sedgwick County Commissioner Ryan Baty and Greater Wichita Partnership President Jeff Fluhr.

“This project owes its success to the unwavering support from our community and state leaders, as well as our collaborating institutions,” Muma says. “This collaboration truly showcases the transformative power of partnerships and reflects our collective belief in the future prosperity of the city of Wichita.”

“This partnership to create the Wichita Biomedical Campus represents an innovative way to effectively advance our mission to educate the leaders of tomorrow and help build healthy and vibrant communities,” said Dr. Douglas A. Girod, chancellor of the University of Kansas. “This will be a game changer for the state in terms of synergies and efficient use of resources. We want to thank Wichita State University for partnering with us to advance health care in the state of Kansas.”

[Kung Wu]

“This will be a game changer for the state in terms of synergies and efficient use of resources. We want to thank Wichita State University for partnering with us to advance health care in the state of Kansas.”

The only appropriate response can be "No, we didn't partner with you. You partnered with US."

[ABC]

Doubtful. You are asking for trouble when you move an event like that outside in May in Kansas.

KU always has there's in the football stadium.

[WuShock16]

KU always has there's in the football stadium.

Because AFH isn’t air-conditioned…

…or at least didn’t in the very recent past. Their warmup exhibition games for 2015 University Games (summer event) had to take place in KC because of AFH not having air conditioning.

[bleed yellow]

Because AFH isn’t air-conditioned…

…or at least didn’t in the very recent past. Their warmup exhibition games for 2015 University Games (summer event) had to take place in KC because of AFH not having air conditioning.

Even after AFH gets an A/C after it’s latest round of renovations this summer, KU has said they still won’t hold graduation in there because it’s not a large enough space to accommodate their graduation

[SubGod22]

WSU - NIAR receives $10 million NASA funding for high-temp advanced materials

Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) will receive more than $10 million from NASA for research related to the development and implementation of advanced materials for hypersonic applications.

The funding will enable continued research aimed at developing and maturing high temperature advanced materials for use in hot structures and thermal protection systems for hypersonic vehicles.

Development of advanced materials and structures that meet these requirements is a key driver in advancing the hypersonic systems industry. There are currently several technological gaps for novel high-speed materials and structures, including the selection of materials that are capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and extended flight times, as well as the development of reliable design databases.

The ability to generate high fidelity data for these materials is a crucial step in the process of successfully inserting emerging materials into critical space applications. These materials must be proven to perform in extremely challenging environments, while demonstrating manufacturability, consistent production, and long-term sustainment.

This highly specialized research program will require procurement of equipment focused on automated fabrication, processing and densification, characterization, design and analysis, and testing refractory materials and structures. It will complement existing resources available through Wichita’s National Defense Prototype Center (NDPC), a collaboration between NIAR and Spirit AeroSystems.

The NDPC provides a secure space for high-temperature materials testing, development, prototyping and industrialization.

“Our collaboration with NASA Aeronautics will continue to advance through the Hypersonics Technology Project, focusing on sustaining hypersonic competency for national needs while advancing applied hypersonic research,” said John Tomblin, WSU senior vice president for Industry and Defense Programs and NIAR executive director. “We are fortunate to have the unwavering support of Senator Moran to expand this collaboration with NASA and key representatives in the industry.”

Senator Jerry Moran, a member of the Appropriations Committee, requested the program funding from NASA on behalf of Wichita State.

“The National Institute for Aviation Research plays an important role in the advancement of hypersonic capabilities,” said Moran, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science. “Over the past several years, I have been working to grow NASA’s footprint in Kansas, including hosting the NASA Administrator and several NASA leaders in Wichita. I worked to secure these resources from NASA to continue to build on this work and bring more exciting space and aerospace jobs and opportunities to our state.”

[pogo]

All the new funding by NASA and others is great but this news gives me pause in that we are dealing with cutting edge technology which I suppose would attract unwanted attention from those that do not wish us well. Just wondering if ShoxLax has noticed any increased security or protocols around our favorite University.

[SubGod22]

WSU - Wichita State team one of 10 remaining in NASA SUITS design challenge

Yumi Kikuchi attended an information session in Devlin Hall for the NASA SUITS design challenge last fall. She considered passing on the opportunity.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this sounds like a lot of work,’” she said. “I’m glad that didn’t discourage me.”

Kikuchi, a graduate student in Wichita State University’s Master of Innovation Design (MID) program, is now co-leader of the nine-student group. She considers the experience an essential part of her time in the MID program.

“It’s a great way for applied learning,” she said. “Everything I’m learning in the MID program I’m constantly applying into this challenge. It’s a very big technical challenge, but it’s also a people challenge, learning how to work together. It takes a team.”

Wichita State is one of 10 teams that advanced to the spring semester competition in the NASA SUITS (Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students) challenge. Teams are tasked to design and build an augmented reality heads-up display for astronauts on missions to Mars, as well as a web browser user interface for local mission control.

The competition, which is open to all United States universities, started in the fall with a mission description from NASA. The team travels to Test Week this week in Houston at the Johnson Space Center.

Their goal is to mitigate risk and reduce cognitive load for astronauts on future space missions to Mars. The heads-up display can help them navigate by dropping a pin or guide them through a complicated repair process. It also displays heart rate, oxygen levels and other biometric data.

“One of the biggest challenges is for us to figure out a way to display all the data in a way that is not overwhelming and for it to still makes sense,” Kikuchi said.

The display serves as a second set of eyes for tasks such as entering and leaving the home base by listing procedures to help astronauts work through the steps.

“It’s a huge laundry list of pressurizing stuff, making sure all the correct tanks are full,” said Nathan Lewis, a student in the Master of Innovation Design program. “It’s usually about an hour process. They’re having us simulate about a 15-minute condensed version of ingress and egress.”

The local mission control allows astronauts in the habitat to communicate with those on EVA missions on the Mars surface.

“We have applied four years and gotten accepted to the top 10 three times,” said Kristyn Waits, assistant director of the National Institute of Aviation Research's Open XR Lab. “It is a full-year commitment if you get accepted. The top teams are invited to continue to the second half, and now they’re building what they proposed.”

The list of finalists includes the University of California Berkeley, University of Colorado, Baylor University, University of Michigan, Rice University, Georgia Tech, Purdue University, University of Texas at Austin and others.

Waits and Maggie Schoonover, director of the Open XR Lab, are faculty mentors. Denae Sawyer (master of innovation design), Desmond Cockrell (graphic design), Savannah Denny (graphic design), Elaine Duff (master of geology and planetary sciences), Marianna Fronciana Farina (mechanical engineering), Elliott Chambon (aerospace engineering), Samantha Hein (game design), Lewis and Kikuchi comprise the team.

“We pride ourselves on having interdisciplinary teams, so most of these students have never met before,” Waits said. “We do an open call for students to build the team in fall. It is a lot of it is ideation, brainstorming and a lot of it is just getting to know your teammates.”

That collaboration is important to the team’s success as the students develop and test the software.

“You are building trust in the team,” Kikuchi said. “We can be candid and give critical feedback without another taking offense because we took to the time to build a psychologically safe environment.”

Both Lewis and Kikuchi see the SUITS competition as an important part of building a resume and work experience.

Lewis is interested in developing software and game design. The project’s use of Unreal Engine 3D creation tool is valuable. He grew up fascinated by Neil Armstrong and the July 1969 moon landing.

“It’s cool to have an opportunity to develop something for NASA,” he said. “I felt this real connection with Apollo 11. I became really enamored with first steps on the moon.”

Kikuchi sees a future in business using augmented reality.

“I want to work in technology that will help people overcome challenges,” she said.

[pogo]

Fencing up and dirt getting moved at what should be the NIAR new building just east of the new Business School It's always exciting to get new erection going. Go Shocks