WPI Mourns the Loss of Two Faculty Members

The WPI community reeled this summer from the loss of two longtime members of its faculty. Patrick P. Dunn, professor of history in the Humanities and Arts Department, died on July 15, after a long illness. Denise W. Nicoletti, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was killed in a car accident on July 22 while on her way to campus for the opening day of Camp REACH, a program for young girls that she co-founded.

Patrick Dunn earned his bachelor's degree at Marquette University and his master's and Ph.D. at Duke University. He came to WPI in 1974 and received the Trustees' Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1988. An authority on Russian history, he pioneered the use of psycho-history in his courses and research and helped launch a sister-city project between Worcester and Pushkin. His sense of social responsiblity led him to advise a series of projects on appropriate technology in developing countries.

Denise Nicoletti, an authority on ultrasonics, nondestructive testing, scaling and fractal properties, joined the faculty in 1991 after earning her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at Drexel University. She was the first tenured female faculty member in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. In 1997, she helped launch Camp Reach, which she directed for 11 years.

Two funds have been established in Nicoletti's memory:

Camp Reach Fund, WPI, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609.
Nicoletti Children Scholarship Fund, c/o Bill Cole, UBS Paine Webber, 10 Chestnut Street, Suite 600, Worcester, MA 01608.

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Last modified: Sep 02, 2004, 11:13 EDT