A massive thank you to Miguel and the dedicated team at the UW Aeronautical Laboratory for treating us to an incredible tour of the historic Kirsten Wind Tunnel!
With it’s two 500hp motors, the tunnel is able to produce winds of up to 200 mph at the 8x12x10 ft test section. From scale-model aircraft to UAVs to high performance athletes, this subsonic wind tunnel has been a mainstay for aerodynamic testing in the region for almost a century.
🌍  BARC was honored to host distinguished colleagues from across Africa through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP): Strengthening University Partnerships, Africa Regional Project.
BARC Lab Associate Director Shannon Dong and BARC Director Xu Chen shared the history and growth of our partnership model, highlighted ongoing research activities, and discussed our workforce development initiatives that connect academia, industry, and global communities.
Visitors also toured the BARC Lab to see firsthand how a sustainable, public-private research partnership can advance innovation and education.
We were inspired by the expertise and leadership of our guests:
Fouad Riad Amazigh Dib – University of Tlemcen
Lucie Aba Toumnou – University of Bangui
Aoua Sougo Coulibaly – University Peloforo Gon Coulibaly
Edmee Clémence Mansilla – IPNETP
Joseph Kaleba Walingene – National Pedagogical University
Birama Apho Ly – CARESS, Malian Peacekeeping School
Loubna Assabbab – ESCA School of Management
Romanus Shivute Shivoro – University of Namibia
Olasunmbo Ayanfeoluwa Olusanya – University of Lagos
We thank our three interpreters and the State Department team for making this dialogue possible.
🤝  Exchanges like this remind us that global collaboration is essential to advance knowledge, strengthen universities, and prepare the next generation of innovators
BARC successfully hosted the 2025 Boeing-UW Annual Research Review on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at the Boeing Field in Seattle. The event brought together faculty, student researchers, and industry leaders to showcase collaborative advancements in aerospace engineering, manufacturing, and systems optimization.
The review was attended by UW and Boeing leadership with Jihui Yang, Vice Dean of the UW College of Engineering, and Steve Chisholm, Boeing Vice President of Mechanical and Structural Engineering present; highlighting the ongoing impact and strategic importance of the UW-Boeing partnership.
Research Presentation Highlights
Visiting Professor Program
We also introduced the 2025’s Boeing Visiting Professor Program (VPP) awardees from UW: Luna Huang, Chiwoo Park, and Ji-Eun Kim.
We are excited to announce the recipients of the newly established BARC Awards. These awards recognize the outstanding contributions of our faculty, industry partners, and student researchers who drive forward the mission of BARC. Congratulations to the following awardees for their dedication to research excellence, mentorship, and impactful collaboration.
This award recognizes Boeing Principal Investigators who demonstrate exceptional commitment to student development and project success.
2025 Recipients:
This award celebrates projects that exemplify high intellectual merit and significantly advance technology adoption within Boeing.
2025 Winning Projects & Teams:
1. Large Adaptive Tooling
2. Surface Treatment of Carbon Fiber-PEKK Composites (TP Adhesion)
This award highlights the hard work and growth of our junior researchers who have made significant contributions to their respective teams.
2025 Recipients:
Thanks to all those involved for making this year’s research showcase a great success! Boeing and the University of Washington have a rich history of collaborative research. We are always grateful to be able to hear from and showcase our talented researchers and the incredible advancements made over the past year.
On May 15th, the Boeing Advanced Research Collaboration at UW (BARC) had the honor of hosting its Annual Research Symposium and project review in collaboration with Boeing and the University of Washington!
We were thrilled to welcome Boeing leadership, including Todd Citron, CTO; Greg Hyslop, Chief Engineer Emeritus; Steve Chisholm, VP and Chief Engineer; and Vishwajeet Uddanwadiker, Chief AI Officer.
From the University of Washington, we were joined by Nancy Allbritton, Dean of the College of Engineering; Alberto Aliseda, Chair of Mechanical Engineering; and Di Xiao, Chair of Materials Science and Engineering.
A special thank you to Samuel Pedigo, Kyle Erlach, Kate Kodama, Leo Xie, Scott Gunther, and Michelle Carey for their exceptional efforts in curating and hosting this memorable occasion.
Our research symposium highlighted the incredible work done by students, faculty, and Boeing professionals, showcasing the dedication and innovation that has been driving our efforts throughout the year.
Please send feedback and questions to Xu Chen and Shuonan Dong. We are excited for the future of the BARC in partnership with Boeing and the University of Washington!
Boeing is hosting an interdisciplinary innovation challenge scheduled for May across the University of Washington Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma campuses. This presents an excellent opportunity for talented students to collaborate and craft innovative solutions for a real-world aerospace challenge. Join us in shaping the future of aviation!
Information Sessions start on April 1 and last through April 3
April 1, 12:30 p.m. – UW Tacoma MLG 110 and virtual
April 2, 12 p.m. – UW Bothell ARC Overlook (SARC 201 & SARC 202) and virtual
April 3, 12 p.m. – UW Seattle MolES 115 and virtual
Team Registrations Due: May 1
Challenge Topic Release: May 6
Team Presentations: Week of May 13
Read more and register here.
A group of BARC students visited Boeing factories and had the opportunity to showcase their research projects to Boeing Executives and senior technical engineering experts (called Technical Fellows) at the Boeing Airplane Integration Center in Everett, Washington on October 3, 2023. The students presented their innovative solutions to various engineering challenges and discussed how their work could benefit Boeing. The event also allowed the students to interact with Boeing engineers and learn from their expertise and feedback. The event was attended by around 50 UW students and faculty, and many Boeing employees.
The event started with opening remarks by Steve Chisholm, the VP for Functional Chief Engineer for Mechanical and Structural at Boeing, who welcomed the students and shared with them the history of BARC. Michelle Caray, Boeing Executive Site Director at UW, and Tia Benson-Tolle, Director of Materials and Fabrication at Boeing Commercial Airplanes Production, also gave welcoming remarks and expressed their support for the collaboration between UW and Boeing. Seventeen student teams then took turns to present their research projects, covering topics such as safety, inspection, automation, materials, structures, simulation, and data analytics. The presentations were followed by Q&As where the students answered questions from Boeing engineers and executives and received constructive feedback and suggestions. The event concluded networking discussions where the students and Boeing employees exchanged contacts and discussed potential opportunities for future cooperation.
June 2, 2022
On June 2, 2022, graduate students in the Boeing Advanced Research Center (BARC) presented their research to Boeing Executives. In addition to highlighting their innovations they also discussed the impact on Boeing. Students also discussed the benefit of working with Boeing engineers on impactful problem on their graduate research and career.
Steve Chisholm, the VP for Functional Chief Engineer for Mechanical and Structural at Boeing gave the opening remarks and ten student teams presented their work, and got feedback from Boeing engineers. Around 50 UW students and faculty, and Boeing Employees attended the event.
In May 2022, a group of senior undergraduate students at the UW presented their final year Boeing-sponsored capstone projects at the Boeing Capstone Showcase, which was attended by Boeing executives and capstone mentors as well as UW faculty, students and project advisers. In these capstone projects, students gain valuable experience from working within real-world constraints, while sponsoring organizations reap the innovations and insights provided by the project deliverables. Read, for example, about a civil engineering project on a novel design for a wingtip end cap that was produced using 3D printing.
August 20, 2020
BARC research has won the Best of BTEC award for three consecutive years at the Boeing Technical Excellence Conference where hundreds of the Boeing company’s engineers gather each year to discuss innovations.
The 2019 Best of BTEC award went to the work on “Improved Tow-End Recognition for Fiber Placement Inspection using Machine Learning ” by Wei Guo, Ekta Samani, Ashis Banerjee, Sophie O’Neill, Lukas Wavrin, Stacy Harting, John Stewart and Agnes Blom-Schieber.
For additional information see Data Science for Manufacturing.
The 2020 Best of BTEC award in Manufacturing, Materials & Safety went to the work on “Mechanically actuated pneumatic avatar for out-of-tank teleoperated control” by Shuonan Dong, Jerry Chungbin, John Fuller, and Sam Pedigo with Ben Wong, Kyle Schultz, Lucky Singh, Derek Loy, Wade Marquette, Santosh Devasia, and Joe Garbini.
The 2021 Best of BTEC award in Manufacturing, Materials & Safety went to the work on “Cross Ply Machine” by Shuonan Dong, Nate Secinaro, Alan Locke, Sam Pedigo and Silas Studley, with Nini Hong, Devin Ide, Lucky Singh, Lukas Wavrin, Kevin Hsu, James Hutchinson, Connor Burch, and Santosh Devasia.
June 17, 2019
The Boeing Advanced Research Center (BARC) has received $1.2 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Energy Research, Development & Demonstration Program’s Clean Energy Fund. BARC is one of ten selected this year out of 52 total applicants.
BARC is a collaborative lab in the College of Engineering with Boeing-employed affiliate instructors working mainly with faculty and students in the departments of mechanical engineering, aeronautics and astronautics, and industrial and systems engineering.
The award – along with additional funding from Boeing and the UW – will help lay the groundwork for a new UW Advanced Composites Center, which will bring together composites manufacturing research projects and educational efforts.
This new center will allow BARC researchers to advance their work to make composites manufacturing economically viable by ensuring better quality, lower energy costs, and waste and scrap minimization. Specifically, the team’s project will demonstrate how to predictably design and produce complex thermoplastic composite parts using automated robotic systems.