Course Information

By covering basic concepts in aerodynamics, the Aerospace Engineering program explores the science of flight. Topics such as drag, streamlining, airfoil stall and aircraft design will be studied. Participants learn how wings and aircraft create lift to fly. Wind- and water-tunnel experiments are conducted to visualize the airflow over aircraft, and computer simulations are run for different airfoil shapes. Participants will design and build a simple model aircraft using what they have learned.

Explore the world from the point of view of atoms to learn how we covert energy from sunlight, store energy in chemical bonds, and release energy back into the wild.  You will think about how we use chemistry every day, learn how material properties impact our lives, and control atoms and bonds to make new materials with new properties that have yet to be discovered!

You will explore the use of technology to identify and solve problems in our community. Blending entrepreneurial and computer science concepts, your WPI professor will guide you through a rapid development life cycle from launch to pitch. You will participate in teamwork through various activities to develop a web-based application using a programming language, explore design and programming approaches, and share your ideas with the group. Topics/languages covered include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and networking.

Use principles of chemistry to solve the mysteries of the world AND an ongoing crime!  You will learn some fundamental principles of chemistry, and then apply those principles in a series of hands-on activities to test evidence taken from our Who-Dunn-It Crime Scene. You will use your findings from the labs to question witnesses, interrogate suspects and identify the guilty party.

Do you love solving puzzles? Do you have a curious mind? Data scientists are detectives who use computer science and mathematics to solve mysteries. Whether it is marketing, healthcare, or the way that sports are played, data science is the key to making better decisions.

You will learn about data collection, statistical analysis, and data visualization techniques using the state-of-the-art software tool, Tableau. We will work through some hands-on activities to gain technical knowledge, as well as to learn presentation skills, in a storytelling manner, to deliver significant findings.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision have been changing our everyday life such as smart phone and autonomous robots. This course will introduce basic concepts and technologies in AI and computer vision, including object recognition and detection that have been used in many applications and equipments such as Tesla cars, through labs and experiments. Topics include: some basics in AI and computer vision, algorithms, and hand-on coding.

Millions of engineers and scientists use MATLAB to send a satellite into space, drive a robot, process medical image, and more! You can start building this skill NOW. You will gain experience with MATLAB programming by creating graphics to understand data, modeling the geometry of nature, and developing the game of life more easily. We will explore concepts such as RGB color model, fractals, randomness and self-organization, networks and six degrees of separation. No prior programming experience is assumed.

From art to engine!  This intense week of fun and learning will teach students how to create a character model, set it up for animation and import it into the Unreal game engine. Students will work in industry standard tools, modeling in Zbrush, animating in Maya and finally lighting and rendering in unreal. Students will be provided with completed assignments if they can’t reach their vision in time. But a special focus is placed on teaching them where to go when the class is over to continue their favorite part of the process.

Time travel, black holes, quantum realm - What do these things have in common? Physics! They are all principles of modern physics! Investigate selected fields and applications of modern physics - such as interplanetary travel, atomic spectroscopy, quantum phenomena, and black holes. This program incorporates the combination of lectures, audio-visual presentations, and technical hands-on activities (simulations). Will your knowledge take you to the next dimension?

Discover the interdisciplinary nature of robotic design and operations. Explore concepts of mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as computer science. Through several projects, you will learn about the use of motors, mechanisms, sensors, and programming in robotics. The C programming language will be used for an introduction to the type of programming used today on systems with embedded computers, like self-driving vehicles and drones.