Faculty & Staff

Joseph Beck, assistant professor of Computer Science, has been at WPI since 2007. His research focuses on educational data mining, a new discipline that develops techniques for analyzing large educational data sets to make discoveries that will improve teaching and learning. His work centers on estimating how computer tutors impact learning. He established the first workshop in the field and in 2008 was program co-chair of the first International Conference on Educational Data Mining. ... View Profile

Since 1999 I have been Professor of Practice at WPI in Computer Science and Robotics Engineering. The greatest thing about working at WPI is the chance to work with the students on so many different projects, so it is always interesting. Some of these have included Moonraker (winner of the NASA Lunar Excavation Challenge, 2009), Oryx (winner of the NASA Sample Return Challenge, 2010), and Prometheus (Rookie of the Year at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, 2010). My interests include curriculum creation, software development, user interface design, networking, and embedded systems. ... View Profile

I'm a transplanted San Francisco hippie who's found his way to New England through Georgia. My interests are in digital media, programming, scientific computing, space exploration, green technology, and the interdisciplinary uses of computing. When not teaching, I enjoy computer programming, reading, creative writing, video production, astronomy, hiking, traveling, and science fiction, among other interests. I also volunteer with FIRST Lego League and with the videography staff at DragonCon in Atlanta. I'm an avid Star Trek fan, but I usually leave my Vulcan ears at home. ... View Profile

The common thread running through my teaching and research is the use of mathematical methods---especially methods based on logic---in designing and building systems. Interesting systems are too complex to be understood by informal intuitions, and it can be very powerful to use formal tools to help understand whether the system we are actually building really fulfills our ideas about what it is supposed to do. Tools based on logic can help people build things in a way guided by specification, and indeed they can help people arrive at the right formal specification in the first place. ... View Profile

My research interests are in the application of robotics and computer science to enhance medicine, and particularly surgery. What gets me out of bed in the morning is the prospect of helping doctors save lives and improve the quality of life of their patients. My students and I work side-to-side with clinical collaborators to create technology that presents a tangible clinical value – for instance, making an existing surgical procedure more accurate or enabling new procedures that are not feasible with current instrumentation. ... View Profile

I am an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst advised by Prof. Prashant Shenoy in 2016. I am a system builder. My research is about modeling system behaviors, especially these of large scale systems, and to build prototypes that help to empirically evaluate system's behaviors. Broadly, I am interested in designing systems to handle new trade-offs in cost, performance and efficiency. ... View Profile

Information visualization is a powerful means for understanding data and informing human minds. As people begin to rely on visualizations to make high-impact and even life-critical decisions, there is a growing need to ensure that information can be perceived accurately and precisely. My research addresses these challenges by leveraging cognitive and perceptual principles to quantify and model user performance with visualizations. ... View Profile

Computer programming makes it possible to solve problems that otherwise could never be attempted. You can create worlds that could never be possible and help make this world a better place. Most of my professional and personal accomplishments were possible directly because of my understanding and practice of computer programming. For me, programming led me to appreciate fundamental concepts in computer science and directed me to major in CS. I've always been passionate about the possibilities of computer programming; this forms the basis for all of my teaching. ... View Profile

My research is interdisciplinary and spans the fields of bioinformatics of complex disease, computational genomics, systems biology, and biomedical data analytics. We bring expertise in machine learning, data mining and massive data analytics to study molecular mechanisms underlying genetic disorders, such as cancer, diabetes, and autism, and deadly infections, such as pandemic flu. Our approaches benefit from integrating Next Generation Sequencing, high-throughput interactomics, and structural biology data. ... View Profile

Dr. Lee’s research interests are in social computing, information retrieval, data science, and cybersecurity over large-scale networked information systems like the Web, social media, crowdfunding, and crowd-based systems. My research focus has both positive and negative dimensions. On one hand, I focus on threats to these systems and design methods to mitigate negative behaviors; on the other, I look for positive opportunities to mine and analyze these systems for developing next generation algorithms and architectures that can empower decision makers. View Profile

I am a data mining researcher who investigates how to develop and leverage ground-breaking techniques to explore time series datasets at the confluence of theoretical computer science and application domains like medicine, neuroscience, economics, transportation, and complex decision making. With more than fifteen years of teaching experience in various academic institutions, I am committed to use my love and talent for teaching and research to empower others through education to make a difference in the world. View Profile

From 2003-2015 I was a full-time Professor of Practice in Computer Science. As a PoP I taught mainly Software Engineering, Object-oriented Analysis and Design, Testing, and Compilers/Techniques of Programming Language Translation. I previous spent 37 years in industry as a software engineer specializing in software tools, compilers, and the software engineering process. I worked for several companies during my industry experience and was active in the beginning of the Agile movement while working at Rational Software. ... View Profile

Carolina Ruiz's research interests are in data mining, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Together with her graduate and undergraduate students, colleagues in computer science and biology, and medical doctors, Ruiz investigates and develops data mining algorithms for genomics and for clinical medicine. In addition to being a faculty member in computer science, she is a founder and active member of the bioinformatics and computational biology program at WPI. She enjoys teaching courses, and advising undergraduate and graduate research projects in data mining and machine learning. View Profile

My research interests are in graph theory, discrete mathematics, and theoretical computer science. I am especially interested in studying the structure of very large graphs,; an area that is getting more and more important these days. I enjoy teaching at WPI; in particular, I enjoy the project experience. I am the founder and director of the Budapest Project Center, the first and only WPI Project Center in Eastern Europe. I love sports, especially tennis and soccer. View Profile

Dr. Smith's research interests are in computational creativity, game design, computer science education, and the intersection of traditional crafts and computation. Her interdisciplinary work merges technical research in AI and HCI with creative practice in textiles and games, with a view towards addressing social issues and broadening participation and perspectives on computing. ... View Profile

My research is in human-computer interaction, with a focus on next-generation interaction techniques, such as brain-computer interfaces, physiological computing, and reality-based interaction. I design, build and evaluate interactive computing systems that use machine learning approaches to adapt and support the user’s changing cognitive state and context. I also investigate effective human interaction with complex and autonomous systems and vehicles. My work has applications in areas such as education, transportation, medicine, creativity support, gaming, and complex decision making. View Profile

Dr. Walls' research interests lie at the intersection of security and digital forensics. In part, he seeks to analyze and secure the large-scale, complex, inter-connected systems underpinning critical internet services. His past efforts have focused on multiple aspects of this problem, including the development of novel data collection methodologies, the analysis of partially structured data, and the transition of research results into practical tools and techniques. Before joining WPI, Dr. Walls worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State University. ... View Profile

Prior to entering academia, I worked as Chief Technologist, Director of Information Systems, and Director of Technical Operations at various corporations in the information systems and software field. For the past 16 years teaching in university courses, I have aimed to impart this industry experience in my software engineering and databases courses by incorporating real life projects, examples, and whenever possible, collaborations with business organizations such as Brigham & Women's Hospital, the US Treasury, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital. ... View Profile