The Global School




The Global School Mission
The Global School is founded on WPI’s half-century of leadership in global project-based learning. The Global School embodies WPI’s commitment to empower our faculty, students, communities, and collaborators to address urgent local and global challenges. Our distinctive interdisciplinary programs immerse students in real-world projects that foster purpose-driven global learning and collaboration.
This generation of science and engineering students, social innovators, and business leaders must understand the complex interactions of technology and society in a rapidly changing world. This calls for education in inclusive globally minded approaches informed not only by cutting-edge technologies, but also by the social sciences, humanities, arts, and business. The Global School empowers this kind of integrative education and inspires collaboration for a better world.
The faculty in our Department of Integrative and Global Studies are experts in project-based learning and social sciences. We teach the first year Great Problems Seminar and advise team research projects at more than fifty global project centers through our award-winning Global Projects Program. We also offer interdisciplinary graduate programs that center the critical knowledge, collaborative mindset, and interactive methodological tools needed for meaningful community partnerships.
Global School faculty also have substantial research grants to work on major global challenges, from climate adaptation to public interest technology. You can join us in our Global School Forum where we engage with cutting-edge global research that addresses the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals including topics such as health, energy, environment, food, water, and climate change.
Our Degree Programs

MS in Science and Technology for Innovation in Global Development
The global MS in science and technology for innovation gives students the opportunity to explore and apply knowledge in design thinking, global technology and development, and technological and scientific innovation to create real change with and within communities. Working collaboratively, student teams, faculty, and community partners identify and work to implement sustainable solutions that promote resilience and change that makes a positive difference for people.

MS in Community Climate Adaptation
With a collaborative and research-based focus, the Community Climate Adaptation MS degree program helps students gain the knowledge and field experience to address one of the great problems of our time. This is a joint-degree program offered through the Department of Integrative & Global Studies (DIGS) and the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) where students work closely with each other, faculty, and community partners to address climate change and its impacts.
Announcements
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See More EventsProject Work in the Global School
The Global School rests on a foundation of extraordinary project work conducted over the past half century and is bolstered with WPI's academic offerings and The Global School's intensive, field-based research approach. To prepare for meaningful careers where they can make real change in the world, students, faculty, and community partners collaborate on team-based, interdisciplinary projects that address real issues in more than 50 communities from the local Worcester region to as far away as Australia. This approach of co-creation transforms lives with ethical and sustainable solutions.
Students work with the university's Global Experience Office to ensure they are fully prepared for their global projects.

Great Problems Seminar Celebrates 15 Years
WPI's Great Problems Seminar (GPS) immerses first-year students in university-level research for complex global challenges. This signature program recently marked 15 years of preparing students for developing ethical global solutions, and it also has a new director.
Research in The Global School
Every student at WPI participates in The Global School research throughout their years here and particularly with their work in the Global Projects Program. The Global School crosses all disciplines to create a network of rich research opportunities and results that foster community-based action. Drawing on deep area knowledge and concern for social justice, our interdisciplinary research, in collaboration with governments, NGOs, and other global organizations, uses design thinking to develop solutions that support community needs and aspirations.
The Student and Alumni Perspective

Alum Success Story: Jacob Morse '21, MS '23
Jacob wants to help cities adapt to climate change

Student Impact
Martin Thulani Milanzi Brings STEM to Refugees in Zambia

Fulbright Scholar Solange Uwera's Path to WPI
Uwera came to WPI as a Fulbright Scholar and is finding an ideal fit between her ambitious academic pursuits and her varied personal interests.
Project Work Offers an Immersive, Interdisciplinary Experience

Students Return to China’s Hangzhou Project Center
After three long years, Hangzhou Project Center has resumed operations allowing students to partake in collaborative projects.

Preserving the Beauty of Venice
The Venice Project Center offers students the opportunity to complete projects focusing on everything from mobility and city history and art to technology and data management, all with the common goal of improving living conditions in Venice.

Sustainability of the Built Environment
Researchers seek solutions for a source of 40 percent of carbon emissions worldwide—human-made infrastructure.

2023 IIE Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education
The award recognizes and showcases innovative and successful models for developing and expanding international education opportunities. WPI was selected for its commitment to the Global Projects Program and specifically the Global Projects for All initiative.

Q&A with Colin Watters, Director of Global Risk Management
Answers to questions about ways to keep travelers safe
Do you need more information?
For international research opportunities or institutional collaborations with The Global School contact Dean Mimi Sheller.
For Global Projects Program partnership or project sponsor opportunities, contact Associate Dean Kent Rissmiller.
For graduate studies information in The Global School, contact Professor Sarah Strauss.
For graduate admissions information, contact Graduate Admissions.
For general information, contact Dawn Farmer.
Four Schools. One WPI.