The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University is a unique state-of-the-art facility that provides research, design, testing, certification and educational services to the aviation industry, non-aviation clients, government agencies and educational entities. It is the largest academic aviation R&D institution in the United States. With more than 1350,000 square feet of laboratory space, NIAR is home to more than a dozen laboratories that specialize in advanced joining and processing; aerodynamics; aging aircraft; composites and advanced materials; crash dynamics; environmental testing; fatigue and fracture; full-scale structural testing; human factors; structures; virtual reality; CAD/CAM and computational mechanics.