Annual Wright Brothers Day will celebrate campus and community innovators

Wright Brothers Day celebrates innovative research at Wright State and in the community and raises awareness among students about Wilbur and Orville Wright, who invented the airplane in their Dayton bicycle shop and conducted most of their early test flights on Huffman Prairie.

Wright State University will celebrate the innovative spirit of its namesakes and researchers working on campus with the 11th annual Wright Brothers Day.

Wright Brothers Day takes place Wednesday, Oct. 5, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Union Atrium. More details on the event are available at wright.edu/wrightbrothersday.

Organized by the American Marketing Association at Wright State, Wright Brothers Day celebrates the anniversary of Wilbur Wright’s 39-minute flight on Huffman Prairie on Oct. 5, 1905. The flight demonstrated that Wilbur and Orville Wright had advanced their design to the point of a practical airplane.

The event is designed to raise awareness among students about the accomplishments of the Wright brothers, who invented the airplane in their Dayton bicycle shop and conducted most of their early test flights on Huffman Prairie.

Wright Brothers Day also highlights the Wrights’ pioneering spirit by featuring innovative research and demonstrations from Wright State faculty, students and programs and local organizations.

Participating researchers and innovators include:

• WrinkleFrinkle, founded by 2022 Wright State entrepreneurship graduate Christine Moser, who creates handmade items and won the 2022 Wright Venture competition
• Patient simulator, by the Nursing Learning Resource Center
• Direct, real-time sequencing of mRNA by the Center for Genomics Research
• Wright LIFE (Lifelike Immersion for Equity), by Thomas Wischgoll, Ph.D., professor of computer science
• Solar-powered boat, designed and constructed by mechanical and materials engineering students
• Transonic dual-plane wing automation, by Zifeng Yang, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical and materials engineering
• Calamityville, a training, testing and research venue for military and civilian emergency first-responders
• Semiconductor training capabilities such as the cleanroom training experience and microfabrication lab, by Wright State’s Intel Initiative

The University Library’s Special Collections and Archives, which houses one of the most complete collections of Wright material in the world, will test participants’ knowledge of the Wright brothers with trivia questions.

Students can have fun trying out a parachute simulator and a Leap Motion demonstration provided by The GRILL (Gaming Research Integration and Learning Lab) at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Kendell Thompson, the superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, will deliver an opening address. The Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park comprises six sites celebrating the legacies of the Wright brothers and writer Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The American Marketing Association will host a Networking Station to help students connect with their classmates and discover opportunities to get involved on campus through Engage and other student organizations. The marketing club will also collect resumes from students and distribute them to the companies participating in Wright Brothers Day.

Students can answer trivia questions for a chance to win gift cards in a raffle.

“The club is really excited to bring this day back again this year for the students and faculty at Wright State,” said Lauren Miller, president of the American Marketing Association at Wright State.