Research Centers and Laboratories

Laboratory for Atmospheric Research. The LAR has a long history of participation in national and international field programs related to air quality research. The lab has mounted major field programs for the investigation of windblown dust and the health impact of urban particulates in the Pacific Northwest. It has also received funding to develop prototype satellite sensors for measurements of urban and regional air pollutants from space-based platforms.  The researchers have also developed one of the first numerical air quality forecast systems in the nation. This system is operating on a daily basis to predict pollutant levels for the Puget Sound region.

MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems). Laboratory Researchers here received a more than $7 million contract in 2002 from the Army Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC) together with sponsorship by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to build the world's smallest engine and produce a portable micro-power generation system for military applications. The researchers believe that their engine has the potential to replace batteries in many portable electronics. The engine, dubbed the P3, for Palouse Piezoelectric Power, is radically different in design, fabrication and operation from any existing engine and is the result of a focused effort by the WSU team to entirely rethink the concept of an engine on the micro-scale. The researchers are continuing with testing the first prototypes.

Power Systems Engineering Research Center. This is part of a nationwide consortium of 11 universities and over 30 companies in the power industry, that are conducting research in power systems in the restructured electric power industry. The WSU site is the only one in the Northwest. Researchers here have been working to come up with improved planning and operational strategies for the electric power grid, and innovations in rapid information and computational analysis to achieve the same.

Virtual Reality and Computer Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory. Researchers are on the cutting-edge of virtual assembly, applying virtual reality to real industry needs. In particular, they developed a Virtual Assembly Design Environment, a virtual reality-based engineering application that companies can use for assembly simulations. The researchers' primary focus is on mid-size to large-scale mecahnical systems, such as those found in automotive, aerospace, earth-moving, and machine tool equipment and their components. They are working to monitor, evaluate, and in specific instances, drive the development of new commercial virtual assembly tools (hardware and software).

Washington StateTransportation Research Center (TRAC). This is a cooperative transportation research agency. Its members (Washington State University, the University of Washington, and the Washington State Department of Transportation) support TRAC to coordinate both state and commercial transportation research efforts and to develop research opportunities nationally and locally. Many of the research projects in the center are related to bridges, environmental engineering, freeway and arterial management, intelligent transportation systems, and pavements. 

The Center is one of about a dozen university-based asphalt technology labs around the country equipped to carry out bituminous and asphalt concrete testing in compliance with the newly adopted Superpave system. Superpave is a method to test performance of paving materials under specific environmental and engineering conditions. The new method of designing roads was pioneered in the late 1980s and early 1990s in order to tailor asphalt mixes for any road to its climate and traffic conditions. The lab features $500,000 in equipment that allows the professors to design asphalt mixes to meet Superpave specifications.

This research center fosters research that catalyzes culture changes in classrooms along the engineering education pipeline, developing interdisciplinary research teams involving industry and academia to bridge knowledge and geographic boundaries. The Center accesses funding, initiates research, and aids faculty development to improve engineering education.