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Meet the Staff

Director

Lorraine Higgins, Ph.D. Rhetoric

Office: CCAC, Project Center, 2nd Floor
Phone: +1-508-831-5503
E-mail: ldh@wpi.edu
Dr. Higgins is Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at WPI. In addition to promoting writing on campus through faculty development and consultation, Dr. Higgins teaches writing and rhetoric in the interdisciplinary Professional Writing Program in the Department of Humanities and Arts. Higgins earned her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University (1992) and has taught composition and rhetorical theory to undergraduate and graduate students there and at the University of Pittsburgh. As former Director of Pittsburgh's Community Literacy Center, Dr. Higgins started the ARGUE project to help diverse community groups deliberate about social problems through writing. Her work on argumentation, collaborative writing, and composition pedagogy has appeared in many professional journals and books.

Tutors

Raha Moussavi-Aghdam (Head Tutor,  09-10)

raha@wpi.edu

Hi! My name is Raha and I'm the Head Writing Tutor this year. I'm a junior double majoring in Chemistry and Professional Writing. This is my third year at the Writing Center. I have always loved to read and write and I'm familiar with the common stumbling blocks that can be encountered while writing. My hope is to help you overcome these problems. Writing is very difficult because no matter how much you know, there is always room for improvement.  There are many different things that we at the Writing Center can help you with -- from developing a topic or thesis for your paper to helping you add the final touches to a project.   We'll help you with any assignment, no matter how big or small.  Can't wait to meet you!

Suhail (Mohammed) Akhtar

suhail@wpi.edu

Hey there! This is Suhail, a senior at WPI. I major in Biology & Biotechnology and minor in Computer Science. I feel that learning to write can be a lifelong process. There is always room for improvement, always a sentence you can rewrite, always a paragraph you can revise for the better. Resources like the Writing Center's Peer Tutoring in Writing Program can help you in your ongoing journey with writing. This is why I enjoy tutoring, helping others while helping myself too, in the pursuit of the perfect written word. In addition to seeing me about general writing issues, feel free to bring me your biology lab reports. Being a Biotech major, I have quite a bit of experience with writing them.

Daniel (Rui) Dai

ruidai@wpi.edu

Hi! I'm Rui, majoring in MIS and minoring in CS. I like to help fellow students develop ideas for papers, conduct useful research, and reorganize their written drafts to make them more effective. Helping international students write is also interesting for me. I'm from China and am a second-language learner myself.  I enjoy the discussion and brainstorming we do here at the Writing Center, and I am always ready to offer assistance to other writers.

Joe Cotnoir

jcotnoir@wpi.edu

Hey, I'm Joe, and I'm returning to the Writing Center for my second year as tutor.  I'm a Senior in IMGD-Art.  I've done an on-campus IQP and an inquiry seminar, and I have tutored everything from MQPs to monologue readings.  I'm extremely flexible and happy to work with all students, although I'm not terribly skilled with lab reports.  I love reading creative pieces, especially fiction.

Lauren Gergel

laureng@wpi.edu

Emily Herries

esh112288@wpi.edu

Hello! My name is Emily, and I'm a junior Industrial Engineering major. Although many people don't believe writing is important at a tech school, WPI actually considers writing to be vital to its mission and to professional life, as you can see from the project requirements. I also think writing is a very important aspect of learning, and that is why I became a writing tutor. I want to help others realize that although they might encounter obstacles in writing, there are skills writers can learn to overcome them. I particularly love creative writing but am also good at writing speeches and research papers. I know several citation styles and can answer questions about writing with sources. I look forward to meeting you and getting started!

Byron Rodriguez (Spanish Tutoring)

bron@wpi.edu

¡Hola! Me llamo Byron. I'm the Spanish addition to the Writing Center. I'm a junior majoring in Industrial Engineering. I love learning, and I love challenges. Writing has always posed a great challenge, and although I wouldn't call myself a writer, I've learned how to overcome many of the obstacles that writing entails. Spanish is my native language, and I'm familiar with many of the problems that non-native speakers encounter. I am also able to help students learn Spanish by offering conversational practice. This is my second year at the Writing Center, and I am eager to learn from and to help others. I have minor experience in technical writing, specifically writing process-at-a-glance guidebooks.

Jyotsna Vinayak

jvinayak@wpi.edu

I'm Jyotsna, a senior majoring in Biology and Biotechnology.  As a science major, I have taken many biology labs and am familiar with scientific writing. I also enjoy writing short stories. Writing has always been a means for me to escape from this intense and hectic world. I get pleasure from working with people from different backgrounds, and I work well with ESL students;  English is also my second language. I look forward to helping you.

Jason Forte

jforte@wpi.edu

I am a senior majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Most of my writing experience lies within the scientific field. I enjoy writing biology lab reports and also have firsthand experience writing professional journal articles for a drug development company. Although I have a good grasp on technical writing, I look forward to working with any kind of writing that you bring in!

Isaac Barbour

barbour_i@wpi.edu

Joseph Alea

jmalea@wpi.edu

This is my first year as part of the writing tutor family.  I have firsthand experience researching and writing technical documents, training manuals, and test plans from two summer internship positions. My innate creativity has inspired me to follow the artistic IMGD major and pursue my love for creative writing. I look forward to helping you.

Kaitlyn Kelley

knkelley@wpi.edu

My life's goal is to be an aerospace engineer, but I also want to pursue a second passion: writing.  I'm working on a minor in Writing and Rhetoric and also tutoring in the Writing Center. I've always been a good grammar-checker. Another one of my strengths is organization. I'm good at asking questions that help others refine and categorize their ideas. When I'm not tutoring, you'll almost always find me at the pool. The swim team is a big part of my life. I am also involved in the AIAA, the aeronautics group on campus. If you want some help organizing and clarifying your writing, come find me in the writing center. I'm the one that smells like chlorine.

Roseann Gammal

rgammal@wpi.edu

This is my first year at the Writing Center, but I have been an unofficial writing tutor for my peers since high school. As a Writing & Rhetoric minor, I am familiar with the nuances of language and grammar and will gladly offer assistance with any kind of writing. My academic background (I'm a senior double major in Chemistry and Biochemistry) has given me specific expertise in science writing, especially lab reports. As Vice President of the Student Government Association (SGA), I also have had my fair share of speech writing. I am also an avid ballroom & Latin dancer, a member of the Student Support Network (SSN), and a student representative on the Athena Steering Committee (a part of the Office of Women's Programs). I look forward to meeting you!

Stephanie Hoag

srhoag@wpi.edu

My goal for tutoring is to share with other struggling writers the experiences I have gained from projects and papers. I am a sophomore pursuing a double major in Professional Writing and Robotics Engineering. This year I am doing my IQP on writing robotics curriculum for a local high school, and I'm completing my humanities seminar in technical writing. My strongest areas are style, flow, and reducing wordiness, but I will be more than happy to do my best to help you with any writing issues.

Rodrigo Ma

rodrigo.ma@wpi.edu

¡Hola! My name is Rodrigo Ma and I am a Spanish tutor for the Writing Center. I'm a sophomore majoring in Chemical Engineering and this is my first year tutoring. I was born in Panama, but I have lived my whole life in Peru. In fact, I am a proud Peruvian! Spanish is my native language and I'm eager to help anyone struggling with any aspect of it. Whether it's writing or conversational problems, I'll try my best to help you out. So just drop by, make an appointment or send me an email; I look forward to meeting you!

Robert Fitzpatrick

rjfitz@wpi.edu

I am a senior Mechanical Engineering major, concentrating in Robotics and minoring in Writing and Rhetoric.  I am the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Peddler Yearbook, a member of the Music and Comedy Committee in SocComm, and a Community Adviser.  I enjoy creative writing and love to tutor creative pieces.  I also know a lot about punctuation and can answer your questions about commas and more.  Last year I completed my IQP in Costa Rica, so I am  familiar with project requirements.  This year, I am completing my MQP in Robotics.  If you need assistance with papers or reports, I would be glad to help!

Hiral Dutia

hiral_dutia@wpi.edu

Hi! I'm Hiral, a sophomore double majoring in Biology & Biotechnology and Society, Technology & Policy. This is my first year at the Writing Center. I've been a voracious reader from a very young age, but I didn't develop a love for writing until later. Now that I've discovered I can write, I strive to be a better writer with every piece. I hope I can help you do the same.