Two students work on an experiment in the lab while wearing safety goggles and lab coats behind a protective screen.

The Month in Photos: January 2020

February 07, 2020

2020’s off to a busy start, with drone racing to research ranging from American Sign Language to classrooms that are just right. Check out more of what the WPI community was up to in January through the lenses of our talented staff photographers.

Erin Solovey
Erin Solovey
Associate Professor, Computer Science
  My research is in human-computer interaction and human-AI interaction, exploring how people and intelligent systems can work together in both high-stakes and everyday environments in ways that are natural, empowering, and aligned with human goals and values. One focus of my res [...]
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Randy Paffenroth
Randy Paffenroth
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
My research focuses on compressed sensing, machine learning, signal processing, and the interaction between mathematics, computer science and software engineering. My interests range from theoretical results to algorithms for tackling practical applied problems, and I enjoy probl [...]
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Reeta Rao
Reeta Rao
Professor & Department Head, Biology & Biotechnology
A member of the WPI faculty since 2004 and chair of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology since 2022, Reeta Rao is a leader in the field of molecular genetics and genomics. Her primary research activities are focused on emerging infectious diseases, specifically understandi [...]
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Steven Van Dessel
Steven Van Dessel
Professor, Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering
My research and teaching activities are in the area of sustainable building design and building technology, with a special focus on the study of adaptive building enclosure systems. One of the goals of this research is to develop smart materials that can alter their thermal prope [...]
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Shichao Liu
Shichao Liu
Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering
Sabbatical Leave in Fall 2026 Openings in Spring and/or Fall 2027: Postdoc in Fire Experiments and Modeling (here) PhD student in Fire Experiments and Modeling (here) PhD student in Human-Environment Interaction (here) Dr. Shichao Liu is an Associate Professor in the Department [...]
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Jacob Whitehill
Jacob Whitehill
Associate Professor, Computer Science
My research interests are in applied machine learning, computer vision, data science and their applications to education, affective computing, and human behavior recognition. My work is highly interdisciplinary and frequently intersects cognitive science, psychology, and educatio [...]
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This ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the opening of PracticePoint, a collaborative, membership-based development and testing facility that will lead to advances in healthcare and patient wellness technologies.

 

What’s cooler than the weather? Having the chance to take classes in flash fiction and sushi making to pitch crafting and personal finance—which is exactly what students, faculty, and staff did during this year’s WinterSession.

 

Biology and biotechnology professor Reeta Rao has been named associate dean of Graduate Studies. In taking on the role, her long-term goal is "to listen, learn, and support every graduate program at WPI so it can become as distinctive as it can be and provide our grad students with the best learning environment.”

 

New year, new…maps? Obviously.

 

What’s the ASL sign for breakthrough? Computer science professor Erin Solovey is part of a team researching the feasibility of interfaces that will allow deaf individuals to utilize technology completely in American Sign Language.

 

The men’s basketball team posted four straight wins on the road in mid-January and are regularly receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

 

Students have wasted no time getting back into the labs, using their talents and passions to create the next big thing in, well, everything.

 

As much as this may seem like a depiction of two consecutive days of New England weather, it’s actually the focus of new work by WPI researchers Shichao Liu, Steven Van Dessel, and Jacob Whitehill: developing technologies to control classroom temperature, ventilation, and lighting to boost student engagement.

 

Mathematical sciences, computer science, and data science professor Randy Paffenroth is using all three to help the U.S. Army create a sensor that can detect dangerous chemicals more quickly. Talk about the three musketeers!

 

The women’s swimming and diving team won two meets on January 22, defeating Hartwick and Norwich and paving the way for a second straight winning season.

 

This year’s President’s IQP Awards presentations were held Friday, January 31. The winning team was based right here in Worcester, and created an app offering resources for substance abuse recovery, housing, mental health support, and more.

 

The Vietnamese Student Association hosted a Lunar New Year celebration—complete with native cuisine, games, and live performances—in Alden Memorial.

 

We're excited to run further into 2020, and to see what the rest of the decade brings.