Manasi Vartak ’10 using her passions to found AI startup Verta; Arnold Lee ’98 becoming a highly regarded lead master Pilates trainer after realizing he wasn’t fully committed to his engineering career; and the first cohort of students resuming in-person project work at Acadia National Park—they’re just a few examples of WPI alumni and current students braving their own unknowns.
WPI professors and researchers Pratap Rao, Cagdas Onal, and Zhi Li have been awarded over $1.7 million to develop, in collaboration with UMass Lowell, a soft, lightweight glove equipped with printed sensors and electronic circuits that will enable a user to tele-operate or train robotic systems. Check out the technology in action in the video above, and sign up for the research newsletter for the latest research news.
My research is aimed at discovering, understanding and developing advanced materials for a range of applications including solar energy conversion, catalysis, printed electronics, sensors, and functional coatings. Our lab specializes in the synthesis of nanostructured thin film materials using scalable processes. Students and researchers in my lab can expect to work on highly interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of materials science, mechanical engineering, solid state physics, and thermal sciences.
My research bridges the gap between human-robot interaction and human movement science. I am particularly interested in the design of human-robot interfaces and assistive robot autonomy, based on the understanding of the perception-action coupling of humans and cyber-human systems. At WPI, I primarily work on tele-nursing robots and assisted teleoperation interfaces. I also have extensive experience in exoskeletons for rehabilitation and tele-surgical robots.
An integral part of a rewarding academic career is being an educator. It is a wonderful opportunity to work with students and guide their development to fulfill their potential. I enjoy teaching the fundamentals of robotics engineering, science and technology as well as training students in advanced independent research. I aim to teach students about research-based thinking and problem solving, to give them a real career choice to determine their future in further research or the industry.
The overarching goal of my teaching and research is to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental governance and policy. More specifically, I focus on the building of individual, organizational and institutional capacities to participate in collaborative efforts to address complex social and environmental sustainability problems through the application of science and technology.
I perform experimental and computational (Monte Carlo) research in the field of applied nuclear physics with a focus on Medical and Health Physics. Presently my research group is investigating: 1) developing a unique technique to enable ultrahigh-resolution in-vivo functional imaging using neutrons,
2) adapting Gen. IV micro-reactors as the core of a next generation research nuclear reactor which also can supply carbon-free energy to a campus,
3) developing a 169Yb brachytherapy source to enable localized intensity-modulated radiation therapy, and,
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