Jay Golden: Wichita State is helping in the battle against coronavirus
Our campuses throughout the community may look empty, but Wichita State University and WSU Tech are educating students and supporting the region and state economy during these uncertain times. Our combined institutions are served by thousands of dedicated Wichitans and Kansans whose families have also been directly impacted by the current pandemic.
Our faculty and staff have made the quick pivot to provide instruction to your students online, our leading researchers continue their work focused on national security, our clinicians are serving those who have physical and mental health needs, and our residence hall staff are now sheltering those students who could not safely travel back to their homes.
Fortunately, Sedgwick County’s stay-at-home order allows us as educational institutions to continue these essential operations.
Wichita State scientists and those from our sister institution, Kansas State University, are researching antiviral drugs initially for norovirus and have isolated a compound that shows promise to inhibit feline infectious peritonitis virus — a coronavirus. The compound has just been licensed to a third-party and is in clinical development. While there are no guarantees of the efficacy for combating COVID-19, it represents the type of research underway in university labs across America to tackle this devastating pandemic.
Leveraging the expertise that exists on our campus in engineering and innovation, our researchers have designed 3-D scaffolding and frame for respirators. The frame will be reusable in conjunction with replaceable fabric filters we are developing. We have released all the intellectual property and are sharing the designs to universities across the country to use for their local needs. We are also working on additive manufacturing to apply to the manufacturing of respirators and ventilators.
Our social scientists are working to quickly quantify the financial impacts to our region and the different industrial sectors while also evaluating potential mitigation and remediation strategies. The expertise we have in regard to big data and analytics is being applied to examine trends that emerge from the current pandemic, including implications for certain demographics as well as logistics and supply chain.
This is the kind of work a national innovation university does day in and day out to create a better world.
To meet more immediate needs of the community, both WSU and WSU Tech have organized drives to collect medical personal protective equipment, known as PPE, from our labs and community industry partners such as Textron and even individual community members via GoCreate located on our innovation campus.
Thus far we have distributed thousands of respirators, including one for every Wichita firefighter and police officer, as well as to regional hospitals. This is in addition to face masks, CPR training barriers, gowns, lab coats, safety glasses, exam table paper and thousands of protective gloves. We take great pride in providing protective equipment for those who are protecting our families.
Our first responders are still in need. I encourage community businesses and organizations with spare PPE to go to www.Wichita.edu/PPE and learn how you donate and drop-off the items at WSU, which is serving as a PPE community consolidation center in partnership with the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and Sedgwick County.
Even as we are fighting this pandemic, we need to be thinking about what comes next for Wichita and south-central Kansas.
We are blessed with a tremendously talented workforce, world-leading engineering and assembly expertise and expansive manufacturing space.
Wichita State and WSU Tech are actively pursuing pathways to leverage the successes we have developed at National Institute of Aviation Research and National Center for Aviation Training. As we continue to strengthen the aviation industry, we are working with industry partners both based in Wichita and globally, to diversify into new and emerging industrial sectors to grow jobs and our economy.
This includes focusing on health care, digital transformation, computer-integrated SMART manufacturing, novel materials and sustainable technologies.
Working to sustain and grow the aviation and aerospace sectors is one of my top priorities in my first year as president, while we also focus on diversifying our economy for the benefit of our region and state. It will take strong and meaningful partnerships with the community to be successful. Wichita State University is dedicated to being that type of partner.
Though I know today may seem uncertain and at times scary, I have no doubt Wichita and Kansas will come out stronger. While Wichita State University and WSU Tech are focusing on the immediate needs of our community and nation, we continue to operate and work towards an even stronger region.