Fast Facts

Aerospace

• According to National Science Foundation data, in FY2006 Wichita State University ranked third among all U.S. universities in aeronautical R & D expenditures--behind Johns Hopkins and Georgia Institute of Technology and ahead of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  Source: National Institute for Aviation Research, WSU

Biotechnology

• Kansas ranks tenth in the country for overall biotechnology strength and fifth in funding for bioscience research.
  Source: Business Facilities Magazine 2008

• NASA funding to KU Medical Center in FY2006 was $258,827.
  Source: www.fedspending.org

Composites

• The advanced materials and polymers sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the global economy and one in which South Central Kansas already has established competitive advantages.
  Source: Advanced Materials and Polymers--An Emerging Cluster, Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition

• Kansas has one of seven composite manufacturing clusters in the world with 88 manufacturers of composites materials in south central and southeast Kansas.
  Source: The Wichita Eagle -- July 4, 2008

Information Technology

• The Information and Telecommunications Technology Center (ITTC) at KU consists of six labs specializing in research, development and commercialization in the areas of telecommunications, information systems, bioinformatics, and radar and remote sensing.
  Source: ITTC website

• Kansas State’s Department of Electric and Computer Engineering just finished a three-year project with NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and Peregrine Semiconductor on an ultra-high frequency micro- transceiver to reduce the size of radio equipment on Mars rovers such as Spirit and Opportunity. Radio equipment is currently the size and weight of a brick. This project reduced it down to the size of a hand-held calculator. Miniature scout vehicles would allow dozens to be launched at once instead of a single one.
  Source: www.eece.ksu.edu/research/mars

Nanotechnology

• Pittsburg State University’s Center for Nanocomposites and Multifunctional Materials (CNCMM) is a campus-wide interdisciplinary project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.In FY2006 KSU researchers received a four-year, National Science Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Award $1.2 million grant to conduct curiosity-based nanoscience and technology research.
  Source: KSU Research Foundation

• Remote Sensing: Kansas was one of the first to take the applied approach to satellite data by putting it into a usable form to help decision makers. Kansas’ remote sensing expertise is well-known worldwide with project locations that have included Mexico, El Salvador, China, Zambia and Kenya. Current projects include a study of smoke pollution caused by the Flint Hills burnings. Two well-known remote sensing centers in Kansas include KARS (Kansas Applied Remote Sensing ) and CReSIS (Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets) which focuses on Greenland and Antarctica.
  

Physics / Astronomy

• According the the University of Kansas Department of Research and Graduate Studies, KU's Department of Physics and Astronomy ranked 51st in the country in federally-funded science and engineering research expenditures among all national public research universities in FY2006. Past KU projects have included the ULTRA (Ultra-lightweight telescope for research in astronomy) telescope. With KU scientists as lead for a collaboration of four entities, this project entailed developing a viable alternative to glass mirror technology for telescopes using graphite fiber and the installing of a prototype at Mt. Laguna Observatory, California for testing and observation. Positive results would result in cheaper and lighter telescopes.
  Source: ULTRA website

• Kansas State University’s nuclear engineering program, which was the first program in the nation to gain accreditation in 1964, has the fifth highest-powered university reactor in the country.
  Source: KSU press release -- April 17, 2008

Space Applications

• Combined total NASA funding FY2003-2007 for WSU, KSU and KU: $25,607,491
  Sources: Respective university offices of sponsored programs.

UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)

• This new branch of aerospace melds together aerospace engineering and robotics. Applications range from firespotting to military applications as well as space applications such as aerial robots on Mars. There is a consortium of about twenty university and business members in Kansas.
  Source: Kansas UAV Consortium website