Research Centers
Our Research Mission:
"To foster a diverse and creative learning environment that will empower students and faculty with the necessary knowledge and facilities to be international leaders in creating new technologies and services that will improve tomorrow's economy and environment."
National & State Research Centers:
National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE)
Director: Chistine Hailey
Office: ENGR 413C
Email: ncete@usu.edu
NCETE is one of the 17 NSF-funded Centers for Learning and Teaching in the country, and the only center addressing engineering and technology education.The ultimate goal of NCETE is to infuse engineering design, problem solving and analytical skills into the K-12 schools through technology education in order to increase the quality, quantity, and diversity of engineering and technology educators, and to significantly strengthen the pathways to engineering and technology professions for students.
Utah Transportation Center
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Director: Kevin Womack
Office: EL 276
Email: kevin.womack@usu.edu
The Utah Transportation Center is one of 22 federally funded Tier II University Transportation Centers. The Center's theme is "Innovative Engineering Against Hazards". The goal of the Center is to advance the understanding of transportation systems and infrastructure through research and teaching activities using state of the art design tools, and best practices in planning, design, operations and management.
Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL)
Director: Mac McKee
Office: UWRL 103 or ENGR 232
Email: mmckee@cc.usu.edu
The UWRL is located on the Logan River and provides more than 100,000 square feet of space for research, testing, and training related to the areas of hydraulic engineering, water resources planning and management, and environmental and natural systems engineering.
State Centers of Excellence:
Center for Advanced Imagery LADAR
Director: Robert T. Pack
Office: EL 241
Email: rtpack@cc.usu.edu
Existing technology in the area of Lidar (similar to radar, but uses light in place of radio waves) requires a computer to spend hours transforming the raw data into three-dimensional images. Patented technology researched and developed by this center is now able to produce 3-D images immediately. The center's goal is to promote and market this new technology.
Center for Control of Flows in Manufacturing
Director: Barton Smith
Office: ENGR 419K
Email: bsmith@engineering.usu.edu
This Center of Excellence will focus on the application of flow control technologies, commonly studied for aerospace applications, as applied to manufacturing processes. Two technologies are currently being developed: Aerodynamic Vectoring Particle Separation (AVPS) and Coanda Assisted Spray Manipulation (CSM).
Center for Solar Biofuels Technology
Director: Byard Wood
Office: ENGR 419D
Email: byard@engineering.usu.edu
The goal of this center is to develop a solar powered photobioreactor using minimal land and water resources to efficiently grow high-oil-content microalgae as a feedstock for biofuels such as biodiesel.
College Laboratories, Research Centers and Institutes:
Anderson Center for Wireless Teaching and Research
Director: Jacob Gunther
Office: EL 172
Email: jake@ece.usu.edu
This center provides state-of-the art wireless communication teaching and research with emphasis on industry-relevant design projects.
Buried Structures Laboratory
Director: Steven Folkman
Office: EL 141B
Email: steven.folkman@usu.edu
The Buried Structures Laboratory was established in 1967. These facilities, faculty, and staff have allowed USU to become the leading laboratory in the world in conducting research into the performance of buried pipes. The laboratory has performed research on both flexible and rigid pipes. Almost all pipe materials, pipe sizes, and various soil types have been studied. The laboratory has a rich history of over 35 years of experience in research and testing from which to draw.
Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems (CSOIS)
Director: Yangquan Chen
Office: EL 152
Email: yqchen@ece.usu.edu
The focus of this center is on building unmanned robotic vehicles of all sizes and for all purposes. Applications include reconnaissance on the battlefield, detection of bombs under vehicles, running license plate security checks, locating hazardous materials, applying fertilizers and/or pesticides to large agricultural tracts, as well as exploring the surface of Mars.
Institute for Natural Systems Engineering
Casey Williams
Office: UWRL 230
Email: casey.s.williams@aggiemail.usu.edu
This center focuses on developing, testing, and applying assessment tools to quantify the impacts of human activities on quatic ecosystems. Research includes remote sensing, GIS bases analyses, multidimensional hydraulic modeling, fish habitat modeling, and field data collection methods that use hydroacoustic mapping and GPS.
International Irrigation Center (IIC)
Director: Gary Merkely
Office: ENGR 405E
Email: gary.merkely@usu.edu
The IIC works to improve the management of irrigated agriculture, especially in developing countries. In the past, the center has provided training for policy makers, planners, program administrators, engineers and educators in the most modern techniques to increase crop production.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Director: Stephen S. Reed
Office: ENGR 413F
Email: sreed@cc.usu.edu
This organization helps small/medium-sized manufacturers become more competitive. It offers on-site assistance for learning lean manufacturing techniques to quality certifications to environmental assessments.
Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium
Director: Doran Baker
Phone: 435-797-3666
Office: EL 302D
Email: dbaker@engineering.usu.edu
The Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium was founded on September 1, 1989. One of the consortium's objectives is to "...recruit, mentor, and fellowship outstanding students into space-related educational career paths." The website details many other objectives, http://spacegrant.usu.edu/about.php. Diversity, competitiveness, maintaining NASA, industry, and government ties are other important objectives and activities.
Utah Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP)
Director: Nick Jones
Office: EL 125A
Email: nick.jones@usu.edu
Provides technology transfer, training, and technical asistance to local, state, and federal transportation agencies. They specialize in projects such as road surface management, asset management, traffic operations, highway safety, innovative contracting, infratructure management, and other transportation challenges.
Utah On-Site Wastewater Training Center
Director: Judith L. Sims
Office: UWRL 243 or ENGR 402R
Email: jlsims@cc.usu.edu
This center provides education, training, and technology transfer to installers, inspectors, regulators, and homeowners within the Rocky Mountain Region on the proper design and use of wastewater treatment systems.
Center for Space Engineering
Director: Charles Swenson
Office: EL 241D
Email: charles.swenson@usu.edu
The Center for Space Engineering is a multi-disciplinary group of faculty who are principal investigators of programs with strong ties to the Space Dynamics Laboratory.
Utah State University Research Foundation:
Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL)
Director: Douglas K. Lemon
General Info: 435-797-4600
SDL has been recognized for expertise in developing infrared instruments, calibrating and modeling sensor systems, creating space-rated instruments and payloads, analyzing and compressing data, diagnosing plasma, and measuring the upper atmosphere.