About WPI

WPI was founded in 1865 by merging the vision of prosperous tinware manufacturer John Boynton and the dream of Ichabod Washburn, one of Worcester's most successful entrepreneurs (see WPI's Founders). The institution that resulted from that union was unlike any that had gone before. Students learned about the theory of science and engineering in the classroom and put that knowledge into practice in a real manufacturing plant. The balance between learning and application has been at the heart of WPI's approach to education ever since.

Today, WPI provides its 2,700 undergraduate and 1,000 full- and part-time graduate students with a thorough conceptual foundation in science, engineering, management, the humanities and arts, and the social sciences. And it continues to encourage its students to demonstrate their ability to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world problems, and to gain an appreciation for how the solutions to those problems might impact the world around them.

To learn more about WPI, explore these links:

• WPI Homepage
• Discover WPI!
• The WPI Plan