5.21.25

Scholarship support opens doors for engineering student

By Lily Parker

Hannah Kraus ’25 had always known that an education would open doors for herself and her family. And, she knew that in order to receive that education, she alone would be responsible for the complete cost of her schooling.

That is, until the generosity of two donors intervened.

Kraus was a five-year recipient of the Robert and Sharon Bailey Endowed Presidential Scholarship, and during her time at Wichita State, she came to know her donors personally.

“We’ve talked about a few things over the years, like Bob’s career and Sharon’s Spanish lessons, but I always make sure to end our correspondence with a heartfelt and genuine thank-you,” she says. “I know how lucky I am to have their contribution to my education, and it’s important to me that they know it, too.”

Kraus recently walked the stage at Wichita State’s 127th commencement ceremony, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in creative writing, wrapping up her undergraduate studies with a most impressive finale. For the College of Engineering’s annual open house event, she and her peers were tasked with designing a system to transport and offload metallic tubing within NIAR ARC’s facilities. Their RAM Outfeed capstone research project took home three industry awards: Boeing’s Best in Show Award, Ametek’s Engineering Excellence Award and the Brilliance Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Ever well-rounded, Kraus made good use of her creative writing minor by landing a spot in Mikrokosmos, WSU’s literary magazine, for her horror comedy short story, “The Customer is Always Rite.”

Her passion for equitable opportunities for girls and women in STEM fields led her to volunteer at Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, an annual event aimed at providing middle- and high-school girls with exposure to the engineering discipline. She also took the opportunity to study abroad in England, allowing her to travel outside of the U.S. for the first time.

The ability to seize these opportunities she credits to the generosity of the Baileys. “I genuinely can’t imagine taking advantage of a fraction of those same opportunities without access to financial support,” Kraus says. After interning at NIAR for several years, she has accepted a position to complete military contract work for the institution.

The Baileys feel “blessed to be a part of her journey.”

“Hannah is a delight,” they say. “Full of life and a positive attitude, it has been wonderful to see her work through her education and take those first career steps.”

Bob, a 1971 electrical engineering alumnus, attended Wichita State on a Boeing scholarship. “I was very fortunate to be able to concentrate on classes because of the financial support from that scholarship,” he said. “Without it, I would have been juggling work and school through all my years at WSU.”

The Baileys hope that future recipients can enjoy and benefit from their time as students as much as Kraus has the past five years. “It is richly rewarding to recreate the support you had, or wish you had, when you attended university,” they say. “We are delighted to pay that financial support forward to students embarking on that same journey.”

As for Kraus, they believe the doors to her promising future have only just begun to swing open.