In the News

Singapore News Tribe, Malaysian Tribune, and LAO PDR News Gazette printed an article that included comments from Lauren Mathews, associate professor, Biology and Biotechnology, about a study finding that antidepressants in waterways can affect crayfish behavior and the food chain.

(6:54:52 mark) highlights civil and environmental engineering associate professor Nima Rahbar’s research into a new self-healing concrete.

Physics World detailed a paper authored by David Medich, associate professor, Physics, in the article, “Novel Brachytherapy Device Treats Eye Cancer with Intensity-Modulated Radiation.” “David Medich, an associate professor of physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, was explaining why internal radiation, or brachytherapy, may be preferable for treating ocular melanomas over external-beam radiation therapy: using brachytherapy to deliver radiation to an ocular tumour also protects healthy tissues and critical structures, like the optic nerve and retina, from radiation-induced damage,” the article stated.

New England Cable News (NECN), (7:25:21 mark), featured civil and environmental engineering associate professor Nima Rahbar’s research into a new self-healing concrete.

Michael Horan, WPI’s newly announced chief financial officer and executive vice president, was featured in the Worcester Business Journal article. He’ll replace Jeffrey Solomon, who is retiring, the article noted.

NASA Tech Briefs included the WPI YouTube video, “Advancing Medical Robots at WPI” and noted, separately, how in 2015, Greg Fischer, professor of robotics engineering and mechanical engineering, along with fellow researchers built a robot that finds its way through a patient to potentially dangerous tissue, using real-time images from an MRI as a navigational guide.

WPI was noted in The Wall Street Journal as one of two universities whose graduates were among new hires at Moderna in the article, “Moderna Plans to Expand Production to Make Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters, Supply More Countries.” A company official described the hires as “a mix of people with experience in biotech manufacturing as well as fresh college graduates with engineering and chemistry degrees from nearby universities including Northeastern University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.”

Provost Wole Soboyejo was quoted about The Global School in the Worcester Business Journal article, Hiring WPI's Global Dean Marks Milestone in International Projects Program. He told the WBJ that the school’s arrival–coinciding with a pandemic–brought a sense of deeper meaning: “It really addressed its greater sense of purpose,” Soboyejo said. “It helped identify the global great challenges, such as, ‘How do we bring teams together on matters like this, matters such as global public safety?’ It has shown that the school is more important than ever.” The article added, “The brainchild of WPI President Laurie Leshin, the school is an umbrella to existing units such as the Department of Integrative and Global Studies and the Global Experience office–which helps students ready for off-campus travel–as well as the Global Lab.

Space Weekly, Wonderful Engineering,  Phys.org, and Mashable (on Twitter) reported on WPI researchers using an enzyme found in red blood cells to create self-healing concrete that is four times more durable than traditional concrete, extending the life of concrete-based structures and eliminating the need for expensive repairs or replacements.

Civil and environmental engineering associate professor Nima Rahbar’s research into a new self-healing concrete was featured in Fast Company.

In the report, “How Climate Change is Impacting Wildfires,” NBC10 interviewed Albert Simeoni, professor, department head, fire protection engineering. “If we understand better how fires start then we can start to support policy and decision making, he said.

WPI’s Public Interest Technology (PIT) group was featured in the PIT University Network’s monthly newsletter, “Member Spotlight: Worcester Polytechnic Institute.” “With initiatives touching communities around Worcester and across the globe, and PIT projects and programs incorporating a set of disciplines just as vast, WPI is a national leader in integrating technology and public service disciplines. This expertise is a great asset to the network as other Network members—from fellow technical universities to liberal arts colleges—look to collaborate and build the PIT community,” the article stated.

NBC10 interviewed Sarah Strauss, professor, integrative and global studies, for its report on WPI’s new master of science program in Community Climate Adaptation. “We wanted to use the existing infrastructure and extend it to the master’s level to create an interdisciplinary with the specific goal of helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change,” Strauss said

International Firefighter included WPI in the article, “Measuring What We Value: to Unlock a Budget for Emergency Services, We Need to be Able to Point to Success Around the World.” “All sides agreed that measuring public support and satisfaction was simultaneously one of the most important metrics to decision makers and rarely studied – a subject that GESA (Global Emergency Services Action) is beginning to tackle, working with Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Global Center for Public Safety. We need to build the tools to help practitioners track the success metrics that are important to them and the communities they serve – but we can’t do it alone,” the article stated.

WPI got a shout out in the Spectrum News 1 report. “With help from WPI, participants and their parents learn to program and code different robots. Staff from WPI and volunteers from the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI help facilitate the groups virtually.”

The Worcester Business Journal reported on Nima Rahbar, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and lead author of the paper published in Applied Materials Today, was noted in the article.

Spectrum News 1 reported on Nima Rahbar, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and lead author of the paper published in Applied Materials Today, was mentioned in the article.

The Worcester Business Journal reported on Mimi Sheller, PhD, head of the department of sociology at Drexel University and a distinguished and internationally recognized scholar and educational leader, joining WPI in July as the inaugural dean of The Global School.

WPI is noted throughout the article, “Worcester’s colleges have fostered a startup ecosystem to help students become business owners.” The decision by the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute to move to WPI reflects the university’s “world-renowned video game development programs,” the article stated. It also noted how the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce partners with “WPI’s Venture Forum and the business incubator and coworking space WorcLab to run an annual program known as StartUp Worcester to help young entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.”

Travel Tourism News interviewed Professor Fabio Carrera, director of WPI’s Venice Project Center, for the article, “How Venice is managing Europe’s worst tourism crisis.” “It is this focus on the livability of a city that Venetian data scientist Fabio Carrera believes is the key to Venice’s future. Because if a city cannot retain its own populace, no amount of tourist tax will be able to avert its inevitable decline and death,” the article stated. “As such, Carrera has dedicated 30 years of his academic life working on the Venice Project Centre, dividing his time between Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the prestigious Santa Fe Institute and Venice. During that time, he has supervised over 250 projects examining the city’s challenges: mapping every bridge, bell tower, well and water bus.”