Three Wichita State researchers have been awarded the John A. See Innovation Award.

The award is given each year as a way to recognize novel ideas that have the potential to meet a market need and attract further funding once they have advanced through the early prototyping phase. Examples of supported costs are prototype development, design, product testing and market analysis.

• Ramazan Asmatulu, professor in mechanical engineering, and Nils Hakansson, associate professor in biomedical engineering, were awarded for their project, titled “Highly conductive and durable biosensors for wearable health monitoring systems.” Their goal is to design and test a highly conductive and flexible microelectronic system that could be integrated with everyday apparel to gain more long-term normative health data to be able to detect and treat body abnormalities at the earliest stages.
• Li Yao, associate professor in biological sciences. His winning research project is titled, “The protein composite nanoscaffolds for neural repair.” Peripheral nerve injuries often result in serious disabilities and associated secondary complications. Methods of nerve repair have been investigated for many years and have shown limited success. Yao proposes to fabricate a polymer and protein composite nanofiber scaffold that is embedded with growth factors and DNA encoding that could encourage nerve growth.

The John A. See Awards began in 2014 after See donated $1 million to provide prizes to WSU faculty and students conducting outstanding research or producing other significant work.

See was director of flight test and prototype development at Boeing until his retirement in 1985. Although not a Wichita State alumnus, he has been a generous WSU supporter who values the importance of higher education and believes in the university’s commitment to growth and pioneering work.

Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling almost 22,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

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