VOLUME 12, NO. 3     MAY 1999

Project opportunities abound in Boston

PI's Boston Project Center accepted its first students in D-Term. Fourteen juniors in five teams completed Interactive Qualifying Projects at the new residential center. The broad spectrum of topics included educational funding and assessment, archaeological inventories, and the Big Dig tunnel project. James S. Demetry, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Fabio Carrera, adjunct instructor of interdisciplinary and global studies, are the center's directors. James P. Hanlan, associate professor of history, served as advisor to the inaugural teams.

"Our presence in Boston is an opportunity for our students to make meaningful contributions to the city and its environs," says Demetry. "Boston offers access to state government offices and elected officials and is home to many public- and private-sector agencies and industries that will provide us with a wealth of topics and enable members of project teams to learn about and contribute to the capital city as few students ever can."

Students completed the following IQPs in Boston:

In front of Trevi Icos Corp. slurry tanks are (from left) WPI students Joel Bilodeau, Nancy Caruso of NEWCAC, Michael Chowkwanyun, and Anthony Ferraro.

Timothy Briggs, Gregg Burnett and Danielle Froio assessed issues related to the "carrying capacity" of Walden Pond, America's first National Historic Landscape and the home of author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. Each year, nearly 650,000 visitors come to the reservation-the lion's share between May and September. The students investigated such issues as overcrowding, traffic and public safety, exhausted trail systems, and diminished water quality, and evaluated how to mitigate these concerns. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management's Forest and Parks Division sponsored the project.

Kevin Amorin and Dana Griffin worked with State Rep. Harold M. Lane Jr. to analyze available data on educational funding and assessment. Within the next year, legislators will have to rewrite the current formula to correct any flaws in the state education budget as part of the last installment of the Education Reform Act of 1993. The students compared per-pupil state spending overall and in key categories with other states, looked at spending within Massachusetts for professional development, textbooks and teacher salaries, and compared spending with performance on the new MCAS tests.

The North End Waterfront/Central Artery Committee sponsored a project in which Anthony Ferraro, Mankong (Michael) Chowkwanyun and Joel Bilodeau developed a night-work model and a decision matrix that concentrates on the phase of the Big Dig that involves disassembly of Route I-93.

Boston's Environment Department sponsored two projects:

Sean McMillen, Timothy Ganter and Pedro Choi used GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis to conduct an inventory of archaeological sites within the city. Their IQP will form the basis for a citywide map that identifies Boston landmarks, historic landmark districts or architectural conservation districts.

Brian Kennedy, Stephen Panetta and Bernard Tan used GIS to map historic sites in East Boston that will be used as a basis for future analysis of information on registered historic landmarks.