Residential Project Centers

In addition to IQP and MQP opportunities on campus, through the Global Perspective Program, WPI students have many opportunities to work for a seven-week term at one of WPI's residential project centers or exchange programs. Project work conducted at these centers provides teams of students with extraordinary opportunities to learn by solving problems provided by professional or government agencies. All these programs offer IQP's; MQP's and one-term Sufficiencies are available depending on faculty advisors.

Registration for IQP work in these programs and centers begins in the Fall with the Global Opportunities Fair. At the fair, all IQP program, center, and exchange directors will be available to talk with students about the opportunities. Students should register in the fall of the year preceding the year in which they would like to participate. For further information, ask at the Office of Global Programs in the Project Center.

Residential Programs

All centers/programs offer the student the opportunity to complete the project in seven weeks of full-time work. Advance preparation is required.

WPI students can conduct IQPs on national issues, often with Federal agencies, through the Washington Project Center. Topics involving health-related issues are often available at the San Francisco Project Center. Projects unique to a Hispanic Culture are found at the Puerto Rico Project Center.

Prof. S. Vernon-Gerstenfeld, Project Center 216

WPI's Washington Project Center operates in Term B each year. Students, usually juniors and seniors, work in three-member project teams with a variety of federal, private, and nonprofit groups. In the past, projects have been completed with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Office of Patents and Trademarks, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Agency for International Development, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services, among many others. Students work on their projects at the sponsoring agency for the entire seven-week term, while living in downtown Washington, D.C., within several blocks of the White House and many government agencies.

There are several qualities that every Washington Project Center applicant should have. Most importantly, students should have a curiosity about how government works and the importance of national action in the areas of the environment, education, health, and defense, for instance, and the importance of U.S. actions on global matters. Washington is one of the information capitols of the world; thus students have the opportunity to conduct interviews with policy makers of many different disciplines and to examine data not available elsewhere. Secondly, students should be willing to learn about tools of social science research, which may include conducting surveys by mail, by telephone interviewing, or by face-to-face interviewing. The analysis of data found in documents is also part of the research process in Washington.

Living in Washington provides students an endless access to the free national museums that are part of the Smithsonian complex. They include the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of American History, the Natural History Museum, the National Gallery, the museums of African and Oriental Art. In addition there are the Lincoln, Jefferson and Vietnam Memorials; the National Holocaust Museum; the National Archives; the Washington Monument; and of course, the Senate and House hearings, which are open to the public.

All Washington students are required to register for the preparation course ID 2050 in the A Term preceding going to Washington. Students should also be making satisfactory progress in their academic program at WPI.

Prof. J. Demetry, Atwater Kent 204

WPI's San Francisco Project Center operates in Term D each year. WPI project teams, with a resident WPI faculty member, work with San Francisco city and county agencies as well as other Bay Area agencies and organizations. Recent projects were concerned with problems in hospital administration, water pollution control, and toxic waste management at organizations such as San Francisco General Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center, the S.F. Departments of Public Works and Public Health, and the Sierra Club.

Students will work in teams of three on projects at the sponsoring organization for the entire seven-week term. Student housing and project assignments are arranged in advance. Selection of students for this program takes place in Term B for the following academic year.

Prof. Susan Vernon-Gerstenfeld, Project Center 216

The Puerto Rico Project Center operates in D-term in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the capital of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. As in other off-campus centers, students work in teams of three, full-time, in the offices of the government of the Commonwealth, as well as in industry. Students perform their work under the guidance of a WPI faculty person who accompanies the students to San Juan. In addition, the sponsoring agency or company provides a liaison person to work with the students.

Projects span a wide variety of topics and include all of the usual governmental concerns including transportation, health, housing, the environment, social welfare, infrastructure, and land use for a few examples. The fact that these concerns apply to a culture different from that of mainland U.S. makes them particularly interesting.

Students interested in this center will have the opportunity to learn some Spanish if they wish, or to apply that which they already know. They will also have the opportunity to be immersed in a Latin culture while having access to what a large metropolitan area usually has to offer. There will be abundant opportunities to see other parts of the island and to visit sites such as the Arecibo (outerspace) Observatory, El Junque national rain forest, the phosphorescent bay at La Parquera, the art museum at Ponce, El Moro fortress in San Juan, and the white sand beach at Loquillo. Housing and transportation are arranged before the students arrive on site.

Students going to Puerto Rico are required to take ID 2050 in C-term prior to their leaving. In taking ID 2050, they also receive credit for a social science distribution requirement.

Projects in the London Project Center often involve issues of national interest sponsored by British government or industrial liaisons, or of historical or professional concerns sponsored by museums or professional societies. Topics in Venice generally investigate environmental and historical/cultural issues local to the historical treasure-house that is Venice.

In addition to these programs, which usually involve several student teams in a term, many opportunities exist elsewhere in Europe for project work as part of an individual student exchange; see Student Exchanges.

Prof. L. Fontanella, Salisbury Labs 17

WPI conducts a project center in London in Terms A and E. WPI students, with a resident WPI faculty member, work in project teams with British public and private agencies. Student housing and project assignments are arranged in advance through a London-based coordinator. Many opportunities are available during the term for visits to cultural institutions in London.

The WPI London Project Center has cooperated on IQPs with organizations such as the Institution for Electrical Engineers, the Genetic Interest Group, the London Transport Museum, the Tower of London, the Imperial War Museum, the Department of the Environment, and the Science Museum. Selection of students in the program normally takes place in Term B for the following summer and academic year. All London students are required to write a Project Proposal in the term preceding their work London.

The London Project Center is also available to summer school students.

THE EDINBURGH EXPERIENCE

The London Project Center regularly cosponsors performances at the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe with the Department of Humanities and Masque (the student drama club). Students arrive in Edinburgh for a week of performances, usually during the second week of August. Students can choose to travel in Great Britain or Europe prior to the Festival and will be assisted with travel arrangements by the staff. Once in Edinburgh, housing is provided at a reasonable rate with breakfast included. Students spend approximately two-and-a-half hours a day in performance. The rest of the time may be devoted to attending the several hundred performances at the Festival, or to sightseeing, hiking, and enjoying the surroundings in one of Europe's most spectacular capitals. Students who wish to expand their involvement can earn credit through summer school in a variety of ways. Usually, plays performed come from the annual New Voices Festival held at WPI in the previous April. The cost for air travel and Edinburgh accommodations varies with the exchange rate and airline competition. Professor Susan Vick, who coordinates the project, can provide additional information.

Prof. Richard Vaz, Atwater Kent 225

Venice has an outstanding historical, architectural, and artistic heritage and a symbiotic relationship with the sea and the lagoon. Yet today, it has serious environmental and economic problems. Venice truly needs the involvement of dedicated people with professional skills to help propel the city into the XXI century and innovative, service-oriented, nonpolluting technological and scientific programs and businesses.

The IQPs in Venice will provide a rare and unique opportunity for enterprising WPI students to see the implementation of their projects put to immediate use for the tangible benefit of an entire city. Projects, conducted for various Venetian organizations, include environmental, socio-economic, and artistic concerns important to the revitalization of this historic city.

Topics and housing are arranged through a local coordinator. A 1/3-unit PQP is required. Only summer projects in Venice are available.

Programs in Asia

Prof. J. F. Zeugner, Salisbury Labs 107

To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the college with its theme of "WPI in the World," WPI established its first Project Center for IQPs in Asia in 1989. Students will conduct IQPs in Bangkok, Thailand, in Term C annually. WPI students carrying out IQPs in Bangkok have incomparable opportunities to investigate, first-hand, the rapidly growing technologies and economies of Asia. While all projects are conducted in English, students have much opportunity to encounter Thai culture. Projects are usually sponsored by local universities, government agencies, or by U.S. Companies with Asian offices.

Opportunities also exist to participate in cooperative education programs in Japan for those students wishing to devote their humanities requirement to learning Japanese (see Prof. J. F. Zeugner, Salisbury Labs 107). IQP topics, housing, and travel arrangements for Bangkok are arranged in advance through a resident coordinator in Bangkok, in conjunction with Chulalongkorn University.

Programs in South America

Prof. J. E. Rollings, Goddard 216

The Ecuador Project Center joins WPI with a sister institution of higher technical education, Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and has two primary missions: 1) to aid WPI's globalization initiative targeting developing nations, and 2) to assist ESPOL's mission of establishing curriculum and services that will benefit Ecuadorian society. Although the primary focus of this Project Center (from WPI's perspective) deals with IQP activities, ESPOL has always shown a keen interest in MQP and graduate student projects. Projects in all areas are concerned with environmental issues and new business development (entrepreneurship).