Voiland CollegeVoiland SchoolResearch

Research

Leader in Catalysis Research

In the past decade, the WSU Voiland School has become one of the nation’s top chemical engineering programs in catalysis with high-impact research in transformational energy technologies. Catalysts are critically important to more than 35% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and are a vital key to our economic, environmental, and public health.

Partnerships

Voiland School faculty and students collaborate extensively with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

$6.3 Million research expenditures FY25

Research Areas

Student in lab coat working with vials of chemicals and other equipment.

Biofilm Engineering

  • Electrochemically active biofilms
  • Biofilm engineering for health, environment and energy
Three researchers looking at a tablet device.

Biomechanics

  • Musculoskeletal mechanics
  • Mammalian cellular mechanics
A MoO2 catalyst suspended in a fluidic environment.

Catalysis & Kinetics

  • Biofuels
  • Fuel cells
  • Bioremediation
  • Catalyst characterization,
    testing, and design
  • Reaction kinetics
  • Systems modeling
Undergraduates in Bernie Van Wie's class use learning modules in the classroom

Engineering Education

  • Integrated multidisciplinary design education
  • Hands-on learning
  • Engineers in the K–12 classroom
  • K–12 teachers in the engineering laboratory
Students testing sensors on a rowing oar.

Sensors

  • Ion selective electrodes
  • Biomolecular and biomarker sensors
  • Chemical sensors

Surface Analysis Center

This analytical center is one of the world’s foremost collection of chemical reactive surface analysis under in situ and operando conditions.

See the equipment.

Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate research allows students to apply the theoretical concepts they have learned in the classroom to real-world problems.

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