The Global School

An IQP team for Monte Verde planning out a design on paper in a garden
An IQP team from Iceland doing work on a beach

 

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.

CONTACT
Phone: +1-508-831-6566

Our Degree Programs

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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.

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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.  

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Announcements

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News

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Media Coverage

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NuclearNewswire
Biden appoints six new Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board members

Seth Tuler, associate professor in the department of integrative and global studies, has been appointed to serve as a board member of an independent federal agency that performs technical and scientific peer reviews of nuclear waste management and disposal activities in the United States. 

 

 

Additional Publications: E&E News
Livability
Meet the People Who Help Power Higher Education in Worcester

“WPI is making contributions to global efforts around sustainability, climate adaptation, social equity and global health.” Mimi Sheller, dean of The Global School, discusses the global impact of WPI faculty and students; and the dynamic environment and cross-institutional collaboration generated by Worcester’s colleges and universities. 

Telegram.com
New courses at Worcester colleges offer wide variety

For the first time this fall, the Great Problems Seminar, a program for first-year students, will feature two courses dedicated to understanding and thinking critically about artificial intelligence. The Telegram & Gazette highlighted one of the new courses: AI, Design, and Society. The course will provide a hands-on opportunity to build and use AI systems and to explore the history and future of AI. It will be co-taught by Sarah Stanlick, director of the Great Problems Seminar and assistant professor in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies, and Gillian Smith, director of the Interactive Media and Game Development Program and associate professor of computer science.

 

Bangor Daily News
Half of all bikes in Acadia are now electric

The Bangor Daily News and other media outlets reported on the results from a study by students at WPI's Acadia National Park, Maine Project Center in Bar Harbor. Students, as part of WPI's interactive qualifying project requirement and the Global Projects Program, have been collecting data on e-bike usage in the national park since 2019.

Additional Publications: Government Technology | WFVX-TV (Fox - Bangor, Maine) | WGME-TV (CBS - Portland, Maine)

Calendar

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Project 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.

The Global Projects Program: Partnering with communities
Learn about our 50+ global project centers
The Great Problems Seminar: Working on urgent global challenges
Teamwork support: The SWEET Center
Global Experience Office
Immersive project experiences
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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.

Learn about the GPS 15th anniversary

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.

Department of Integrative and Global Studies
The Global Lab
Institute for Science and Technology in Global Development

The Student and Alumni Perspective

Jacob

Alum Success Story: Jacob Morse '21, MS '23

Jacob wants to help cities adapt to climate change

Read more in the WPI Journal
Milanzi

Student Impact

Martin Thulani Milanzi Brings STEM to Refugees in Zambia

read more in the wpi journal

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.

Read more about Solange Uwera

Project Work Offers an Immersive, Interdisciplinary Experience

graphic of goat

A Sweet, Interdisciplinary Experience

The Switzerland Project Center is one of the few to host both Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQP) and Major Qualifying Projects (MQP).

Read more in the WPI Journal
buildings

Student Project: Living With Fracking in Albania

This student team won first place in the President's IQP Awards for their project highlighting fracking's impact on women in Albania

Read more in the WPI Journal
New Hampshire map

Global Impact: White Mountains, New Hampshire Project Center

Building Confidence While Helping the Environment

Read more in the WPI Journal
globe

WPI’s First Project Center

WPI's Washington DC project center celebrates its 50th year

Read more in the WPI Journal
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Meet Our Staff

Q&A with Colin Watters, Director of Global Risk Management

Answers to questions about ways to keep travelers safe 

Read more in the WPI Journal
Preview man
Faculty Snapshot

Dominic Golding

Learn more about the teaching professor of The Global School and director of the London and Nantucket project centers

Read more in the WPI Journal

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.

 

School of Arts & Sciences
The Business School
School of Engineering
The Global School