1998-1999
Students Win 1999 Awards at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/June 16, 1999
Contact: WPI Media Relations, 508-831-5616
WORCESTER, Mass. - A local student has won a 1999 Provost's Major Qualifying Project (MQP) Award at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Every year WPI conducts a project competition among student teams and individuals in each discipline. The following, all seniors unless otherwise noted, earned 1999 MQP awards:
- Jennifer L. Brown, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence
Brown of Taunton, Mass., and Cynthia Drainville,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Drainville of Caroline,
R.I., for "Identification of Two Novel Genes Upregulated in
K562 Cells During Dengue Virus Infection," Department of Biology
and Biotechnology.
- Matthew E. Brevard, son of Mary E. Brevard of Chicago,
Ill., and Pewaukee, Wis., for "Magnetic Resonance
Imaging of Hemorrhagic Stroke," Department of Biology and
Biotechnology.
- Laura J. Cooper, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Cooper
of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Julie B. Roberts, daughter
of Linda Roberts of Falmouth, Maine; and Rebecca
A. Thibeault, daughter of Beatrice Thibeault of Ashland,
N.H.; for "Biotransport in Cancellous Bone," Department of
Biomedical Engineering. Roberts has also been selected to
receive the 1999 Alfred R. and Janet H. Potvin Award, given to
the outstanding undergraduate student in biomedical
engineering.
- Marissa Beres, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Gerald Beres
of Queensbury, N.Y.; Lauren M. Goodfellow,
daughter of Donna R. Goodfellow-Starkey of Foxboro,
Mass.; and Debra S. Kassabian, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Krikor Kassabian of Malden, Mass.; for
"Computer-aided Unit Operations Laboratory," Department of
Chemical Engineering.
- Christopher R. Milici, son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Milici
of Woodbridge, Conn.; Laura A. Pare, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Mark Pare of Norfolk, Mass.; and Jennifer
D. Reese, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Reese Jr. of
Schenectady, N.Y.; for "Nanostructured Methane Reforming
Catalysts," Department of Chemical Engineering.
- Craig P. Blanchette, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roland
Blanchette of Merrimack, N.H., for "Optimization of a
PECVD Borophosphosilicate Glass Process," Chemistry and
Biochemistry Department. He has also received the 1999 American
Institute of Chemists Award, given by the New England chapter of
the AIC to recognize one or more outstanding seniors in the
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department.
- Man Ching Cheung, son of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Cheung of
Chelmsford, Mass., for "Changes in Structural-Functional
Relationships Induced by Substitution Tyr771 in the
Na,K-ATPase," Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He has
also received the 1999 American Institute of Chemists Award,
given by the New England chapter of the AIC to recognize one or
more outstanding seniors in the Chemistry and Biochemistry
Department.
- Brendan T. FitzPatrick, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul
FitzPatrick of Newport, Maine; and Michael
J. Pockoski, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Pockoski of
Dayville, Conn.; for "WPI Parking Structure Design,"
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. FitzPatrick
has also received the 1999 Andrew Holt Memorial Award, presented
a civil engineering senior who has consistently earned academic
honors and who shows excellent promise for success.
- Justin L. Downing, son of Mr. and Mrs. Terry Downing of
Leominster, Mass.; Jessica L. Hamel, daughter of
Paula Hamel of Montgomery, Mass.; Carl
L. Hultgren, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Hultgren of
Charlton, Mass.; Laurie A. Vinagro, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. John Vinagro of Millbury, Mass.; Amy
E. Wenziak, daughter of Debby Wenziak of Wallingford,
Conn.; and Eric D. Whitfield, son of Mr. and
Mrs. David Whitfield of Goffstown, N.H.; for "Franklin
Street Industrial Park," Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. Vinagro has also received the 1999 Carl F. Meyer
Improvement Award in Civil Engineering, given to a civil
engineering senior who has demonstrated the most improvement
academically and professionally since entering the
department.
- Thomas P. Birmingham, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
J. Birmingham of Concord, N.H.; Terry
L. Desmarais, son of Mr. and Mrs. Terry Desmarais of
Manchester, N.H.; and Scott A. Hammond, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hammond of Little Compton, R.I.; for
"Waste Metals Management and Recovery," Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering.
- Timothy J. Miranda, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jaime Miranda of
Belmont, Mass.; Pavel V. Murnikov, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Vladislav Murnikov of Fall River, Mass.; Matthew
M. Sartin, son of Larry Sartin of Merrimack, N.H.;
and Dmitry Netes, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Netes of
Providence, R.I., for "Collaborative Filtering of an
Online Newspaper," Department of Computer Science.
- Sean E. Dunn, son of Janice Dunn of East Longmeadow,
Mass., for "Photorealistic Computer Animation of
Combustion," Department of Computer Science.
- Matthew L. Berube, son of Carol Berube of Cheshire,
Conn., for "TinFOIL: A System for Efficiently Learning Rules
From Examples," Department of Computer Science.
- Thomas J. Connor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Connor of
Winchendon, Mass.; Sheng Y. Deng, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Hong Deng of Fall River, Mass.; and Stephen
J. Marchant, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Birch of Townsend,
Mass.; for "Cryptographic Coprocessor With Algorithm
Agility," Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The
project team also received the 1999 Electrical and Computer
Engineering Alumni MQP Award.
- Michael A. Garrett, son of Marie E. Stevens of East
Longmeadow, Mass.; John M. Markow, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Michael Markow of Stoughton, Mass.; and Daniel
R. Nashold, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Nashold of
Rocky Hill, Conn.; for "The AD73422 dspConverter
Evaluation Kit," Department Electrical and Computer
Engineering.
- Jeffrey A. Bartlett, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bartlett
of Leominster, Mass.; Harish Chawla, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Om P. Chawla of Jakarta, Indonesia; and
Jeffrey C. Hanscom, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hanscom of
Orrington, Maine; for "Hydranet, the DQDB-based Local
Area Network," Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering. Chawla has received the 1999 Eta Kappa Nu
Outstanding Electrical Engineering Student Award.
- Erica Lynn Tworog, a junior and the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Paul A. Tworog of Steep Falls, Maine, for "Wealth
and the American Dream," Department of Humanities and
Arts.
- Allyson J. Bird, daughter of Marianne and Stephen Bird of
Groveland, Mass.; Alessandro F. Chicarelli, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Valdemir Chicarelli of Sao Paulo, Brazil;
and Kyle C. Donovan, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Donovan
of East Longmeadow, Mass.; for "Swifter Simulation,"
Department of Management.
- Charles G. Swanberg, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Swanberg
of Lamoine, Maine; and Paul R. Wellspeak, class of
1998 and son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wellspeak of West
Springfield, Mass.; for "Virtual Sales Office," Department
of Management.
- Barry J. Posterro, son of Mr. and Mrs. Barry Posterro of
North Grafton, Mass., for "Notions of Size for Infinite
Sets and Applications: Cardinality, Lebesgue Measure, Baire
Category and Hausdorff Dimension," Department of Mathematical
Sciences. Posterro also has received the 1999 Senior
Mathematical Sciences Major Award, presented for outstanding
performance and valuable contributions to the WPI mathematical
community.
- Xiao-Long Yu, class of 1998 and son of Mr. and
Mrs. Dingan Yu, Worcester, Mass., for "Finite Element
Simulations in Plasticity," Department of Mathematical
Sciences.
- Emily J. Pryputniewicz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ryszard
Pryputniewicz of Manchester, Conn., for "Development of a
Projection Moiré Interferometry System," Department of
Mechanical Engineering.
- Massimo Giorelli, a junior and son of Mr. and
Mrs. Roberto Giorelli of Rome, Italy; and Michael
P. Martinez, class of 1998 and son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Martinez of Holliston, Mass.; for "Modal Analysis and
Redesign of an IC-Engine Rocker Arm," Department of Mechanical
Engineering.
- Jeremy P. Gogos, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sherman of
Eveleth, Minn., for "Numerical Simulation of the Confined
Nematic to Isotropic Phase Transition," Department of
Physics. Gogos has also received the 1999 Robert H. Goddard
Award in Physics, given in recognition of outstanding
achievement, scholarship, consistent effort and dedication of
purpose in both theoretical and experimental areas of
physics. The award honors the memory of WPI alumnus Robert
H. Goddard, pioneer of American rocketry.
- Matteo W. Rinaldo, son of Gladys Hathaway of
Petersburgh, N.Y., for "A Novel Fractional-Dimensional
Model of Impurity Levels in Semiconductors," Department of
Physics.
Founded in 1865, WPI is renowned for its project-based curriculum.
