Faculty Directory

Fabio Carrera

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Director, Boston Project Center
Director, Venice Project Center

Phone: +1-508-831-6059
Fax: +1-508-831-5485
carrera@wpi.edu

Related Information

• Personal Webpage

Educational Background

• B.S., Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• M.S., Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research & Teaching Interests

Emergent Systems; Municipal Information Systems; Urban Studies and Planning; Computer applications in the Humanities; Geographic Information Systems; Urban Technologies; Environmental Conservation; Historic Preservation

IQP Advising Interests

Air pollution; water pollution; soil pollution; natural resource management; acid rain; competition for open space; conservation; other renewable energy; solar energy; conservation of open space planning; transportation planning; resource management; effect of technology on social systems; science & society studies; environmental risks; history; technological transfer; appropriate technology; computers & education; environmental law, policy & implementation; energy law, policy & implementation

Research

My primary teaching duties include project preparation courses and project advising, both on campus (through the e-campus and hometown initiative) and off campus (most recently in London, Venice, Boston, Bangkok and Worcester).

Most of my research interests are concentrated under City Lab, an interdisciplinary research laboratory that I founded in 2003 (the website is being moved – if you experience problems, try the older site).  The most active research areas include the development of Urban Technologies (such as our Pothole and Turbulence Mappers), Urban Information Systems, primarily dedicated to the development of Web 2.0 tools, such as LOUIS (Local On-line Urban Information System) and Urban Initiatives, such as the E-Campus and Hometown Initiative.  I also continue to work on Emergent Systems, primarily with our Emergent Transcriptions Project.

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Honors & Awards

• Received several President's IQP Awards and the WPI John Boynton Young Alumni award for noteworthy service to WPI.
• On January 27, 2005, I received the University Ambassador Award which recognizes excellence in representing WPI to the outside world.
• On June 2, 2005, my PhD Dissertation was recognized with an honorable mention for the best dissertation of the year award in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT.

Media Coverage

• The National Geographic Video dedicated to my work in Venice still airs from time to time around the world.
• I was also recently interviewed by BBC radio and featured in articles in Wired magazine, Smithsonian and New Scientist.
• WPI and I were repeatedly mentioned in the September 23, 2005 issue of the magazine Science, in an article entitled "A sinking city yields some secrets".
• I was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday, September 6, 2007 for a 5-part radio series on Venice.