In the News

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Tech Power Players 50: Yan Wang

Yan Wang, the William B. Smith Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, was named to the Boston Globe’s Tech Power Players 50 list. Wang was recognized for his pioneering work to recycle lithium-ion batteries and to build cleaner li-ion batteries with improved performance.

WBUR 90.9

Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it will no longer participate in the National Merit Scholarship Award program.

BBC

BBC News quotes from the blog “Securing Phones and Securing Us (Revisited)” by WPI professor and cybersecurity expert Susan Landau on the issue of the government accessing encrypted information on iPhones. Landau wrote last week that the answer is not a bill allowing easier access but “instead we must increase law enforcement’s capabilities to handle encrypted communications and devices. 

Worcester Business Journal

The Worcester Business Journal takes a look at the intellectual property policies at area colleges, with an interview with Todd Keiller, WPI’s director of intellectual property and innovation. 

EDN Network

Alumni Martin Rowe explores the value of the WPI curriculum that balances creativity, technical skill, and diversity of perspectives in effective problem solving. Rowe interviewed Chrystanthe Demetry, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Michael Gennert, professor and director of robotics engineering; John Orr, director of sustainability and professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering; and Richard Vaz, director of interdisciplinary global studies division,

 

IT News

WPI cracks the Top Ten list on computer science grads with the highest median salary.

Telegram.com

A new multi-university research center led by WPI, is aiming to dramatically reduce energy and water usage, while also increasing the economic competitiveness of a broad spectrum of industries by bringing innovations to one of the most energy-intensive aspects of manufacturing: drying.

"Voting machines are privately manufactured and developed and, as with other many other IT systems, the code is typically proprietary,” said Suzanne Mello-Stark, associate teaching professor and forensic computer scientist .

Telegram.com

Alex Wyglinski, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and his team of Ph.D. candidates and fellow faculty members are working to apply bumblebee communication methods to driverless cars.

Telegram.com

A team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is headed to Alabama soon to test a blanket that doesn't snuff out flames, but keeps them going to clean oil spills.

Scienmag

WPI’s Katrina Hansen and Glenn Gaudette demonstrate changes in heart function that occur directly in the region where researchers delivered stem cells. 

TechTarget

Fearlessness, curiosity, and mastery of statistics are keys to data science success, says Elke Rundensteiner, director of WPI’s Data Science program. 

SMART Manufacturing

Wally Towner, director of the WPI Center for Innovative Manufacturing Solutions, offers guidance on flexible manufacturing systems.

ASME

Mike Gennert, head of WPI’s Robotics program, highlights lessons learned from the DARPA Robotics Challenge  

Lee Sheldon, professor of practice in the computer science department, recalls his time as writer and producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Telegram.com

Martha Cyr, executive director of the STEM Education Center at WPI, discusses Seeds of STEM, an initiative to create STEM curriculum for preschool in partnership with Head Start.

The Washington Post

Kristen Tichenor, senior vice president at WPI, explains why making SAT and ACT test scores optional for applicants increased enrollment of women and underrepresented minorities.

Daily Mail

Professor Sergey Makarov explains how 5,000 high resolution cross sections of a cadaver, digitally stitched together in a lab at WPI, will aid medical researchers.

CBS Boston

Professor Sergey Makarov exhibits the "virtual human" 5,000 high resolution cross sections of a cadaver, digitally stitched together in a lab at WPI, to aid medical research.

Beta Boston

As part of a list of contributions to the field of robotics made in Massachusetts, WPI is noted as the first university in the country to offer a major in robotics engineering.

CBS Boston

WPI professors Craig Shue and Krishna Venkatasubramanian discuss cybersecurity concerns in the realm of the internet of things (IoT) where devices, including toys, are connected to WiFi.