In the News

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This Master’s in AI Program Is a Cross-University Collaboration. Here’s How Students Will Learn.

Elke Rundensteiner, the William Smith Dean's Professor of Computer Science and founding head of the WPI data science program, spoke with BestColleges about the university's new master's degree in artificial intelligence

Spectrum News 1

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.”

Worcester Business Journal

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

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.

Worcester Business Journal

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.

Worcester Business Journal

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

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.”

Telegram.com

The Telegram & Gazette covered WPI’s Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony for the School of Arts & Sciences and the Foisie Business School, “Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Lt. Gov. Polito honor WPI grads via video during commencement ceremony Thursday.” Congratulatory messages from Tyson and Polito were delivered via video. President Leshin, meanwhile, told students during the ceremony how impressed she was by their endurance. “We have come through a once-in-a-century event together, this global pandemic. We will be forever bonded not only because of what we came through together, but how we came through it,” she said. “It’s sort of like we completed the largest and most complex IQP ever, and I know that when I reflect back on this unprecedented time in our lives I will always think of you, the great class of 2021 and what you all did individually and collectively to keep WPI safe and to make it to today."

Worcester Business Journal

President Laurie Leshin was named to The Worcester Business Journal’s “2021 Power 50.” “Worcester Polytechnic Institute tends to nearly always be at the center when people talk about where Worcester colleges shine: drawing more students, spurring startups, and a forward-thinking mentality toward equal opportunities,” the article stated. “Laurie Leshin, WPI’s president since 2014 and its first female leader, has led this change.”  

 

Worcester Business Journal

The Rev. Dr. Debora Jackson, dean of the Foisie Business School, were named to The Worcester Business Journal’s “2021 Power 50.” Jackson, “already has engaged with several organizations to strengthen WPI’s ties to the community, including Worcester Interfaith, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, Diverse Professionals Roundtable, Black Families Together, Yes We Care, the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative, and the Black Excellence Academy,” the Journal wrote.

Boston 25

Boston 25 News reported on WPI biology professor Pamela Weathers being part of a team of researchers finding that extracts from leaves of the medicinal herb known as sweet wormwood inhibit the replication of COVID-19 and two of its variants. (7:36:31 mark)

Mass Live

MassLive reported on WPI biology professor Pamela Weathers being part of a team of researchers finding that extracts from leaves of the medicinal herb known as sweet wormwood inhibit the replication of COVID-19 and two of its variants. 

Spectrum News 1

Spectrum News 1 reported on WPI biology professor Pamela Weathers being part of a team of researchers finding that extracts from leaves of the medicinal herb known as sweet wormwood inhibit the replication of COVID-19 and two of its variants. 

WBZ News Radio 1030

WBZ reported on WPI biology professor Pamela Weathers being part of a team of researchers finding that extracts from leaves of the medicinal herb known as sweet wormwood inhibit the replication of COVID-19 and two of its variants. Plays at time mark 19:07:26.

Boston Herald

Boston Herald reported on WPI biology professor Pamela Weathers being part of a team of researchers finding that extracts from leaves of the medicinal herb known as sweet wormwood inhibit the replication of COVID-19 and two of its variants. 

Worcester Business Journal

Worcester Business Journal reported on WPI biology professor Pamela Weathers being part of a team of researchers finding that extracts from leaves of the medicinal herb known as sweet wormwood inhibit the replication of COVID-19 and two of its variants. 

The New York Times

The New York Times article highlights some of Prof. Greg Fischer’s work. “Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are developing ways for machines to carefully guide surgeons’ hands as they perform particular tasks.”

Boston Globe

Boston Globe columnist Thomas Farragher wrote a column about WPI robotics engineering professor Marko Popovic and undergraduates Mia Buccowich ’22, Andy Strauss ’23 and Brian Fay ’22 helping to develop a partial hand prosthetic for University of Houston student Payton Heiberger. “Working with them in the lab and coordinating with students of my own age has been amazing,” Heiberger said of her experience working with the WPI team.

TechXplore

TechXplore featured research by Erin Solovey, associate professor computer science, and a team from Drexel University that investigated the impact and importance of trust in interactions between humans and Embodied virtual agents (EVAs). These graphically represented 3D virtual characters that display human-like behavior, could have valuable applications in a variety of settings including helping people practice their language skills or could serve as companions for the elderly and people with psychological or behavioral disorders.

NBC Boston

Sarah Strauss, professor of integrative and global studies, and Jeanine Dudle, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, discuss the university’s new graduate program in Community Climate Adaptation. “We wanted to use our existing infrastructure and extend this at the master’s level to create an interdisciplinary program with a specific goal of helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change,” Strauss said.

Assistant Professor, Kenny Ching, Foisie Business School, did a radio interview with Money FM 89.3 Singapore, on the explosive growth of e-Sports, and the role Singapore can play.