Research

Our engineering & physics program provides enhanced career and graduate-school preparation through faculty-student research and experiential learning that develop students' ingenuity and creativity. Competitive research grants from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and other funding agencies support student research projects year-round. Students also have opportunities to present their original research at local, regional and national conferences.

Whitworth Space Exploration (SpEx)

• High-Altitude Balloon Research Whitworth engineering & physics students are studying the effects of extreme conditions at more than 100,000 ft. above in the Earth's atmosphere using helium-filled balloons. Students send cameras, temperature sensors and other experimental instruments into the stratosphere, a region of the Earth's atmosphere also known as near space, where the launched materials experience conditions such as low pressure, low temperature, intense ultraviolet light and high radiation exposure.
• WhitSat Program
  Engineering & physics students, with the guidance of faculty, have embarked on a 6-8 year journey that will involve designing, building, testing, launching, and then monitoring a small satellite.

Summer Research

Each summer, students can pursue unique research opportunities on campus or nationwide that often provide a stipend as well as room and board. Off-campus locations have included the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Nebraska and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.