John Tomblin, executive director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State, is particularly excited about the university's rank improvement.

“Hopefully this ranking will help put the university in the forefront of people’s minds when they think of aerospace research,” he said.

Wichita State’s No. 4 rank is largely due to the research and testing programs at NIAR. This significant growth is due in part to the support of the local and national aviation industry, as well as numerous federal agencies.

Twenty years ago, Wichita State did not even appear on the list. Today, people are surprised to hear how high Wichita State is ranked, according to Tomblin.

And NIAR’s research and development expenditures continue to increase, with $23 million in 2005 and more than $30 million in 2006.

"The aviation industry recognizes the cutting-edge research that Wichita State is doing in aerospace. As future companies look for a site to locate with strong aerospace ties, we play a major role in providing a research and testing arm," Tomblin said. "These research efforts make us a world leader as well, and I think that shows not only with the research that we're doing with industry, but also with federal agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and the Department of Defense."