A student lounges in a hammock while working on a laptop.

The Month in Photos: March 2021

April 08, 2021

As we head into month number four of 2021 (and more spring weather!), let’s look back at everything the WPI community was up to in March. 

Offices and Departments

Andrew Teixeira
Andrew Teixeira
Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
Andrew is a classically trained chemical engineer with with specialties in the fields of chemical reaction engineering and materials science. He received his B.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2009, and continued to pursue his Ph.D. with Professor Dauenhauer at the Univ [...]
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Bengisu Tulu
Bengisu Tulu
Professor, The Business School
I enjoy teaching because it allows me to interact with students who have the potential to make the world a better place using technology. I continually innovate in my courses to ensure students enjoy the learning experience, learn the key concepts and skills related to informatio [...]
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Darko Volkov
Darko Volkov
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
Professor Volkov’s research is on Partial Differential Equations theory, Integral Equations theory, and asymptotic and numerical methods. He is interested in abstract existence and uniqueness questions as well as inverse problems and their numerical solutions. He has collaborated [...]
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Gu Wang
Gu Wang
Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences
My research is in the field of Mathematical Finance, which aims at building probabilistic models that provide insights into the behavior of financial market participants, and developing the underlying mathematical theories. My work focuses on the optimal investment and consumptio [...]
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Joshua Rosenstock
Joshua Rosenstock
Professor,
Humanities and Arts - HUA
Born to an artist mother and a musician father, Josh was destined from a young age for a life in the arts. An early interest in black and white darkroom photography and art-house cinema led him to study film and video art at Brown University. Fortuitously stumbling on a new cours [...]
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Karen Troy
Karen Troy
John Woodman Higgins Professor & Department Head, Biomedical Engineering
  The ability of our biological tissues to adapt to their mechanical environment, and the ways in which our tissues are well suited for their own mechanical role within the body, is a constant source of wonder to me. I am interested in understanding the mechanical signals that ar [...]
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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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Robert Dempski
Robert Dempski
Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Our research integrates investigating the structure and function of targeted membrane proteins with development of mixed reality tools for workforce development. We combine biochemical and biophysical techniques to investigate the structure and function of two classes of membrane [...]
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Elizabeth Ryder
Elizabeth Ryder
Adjunct Teaching Professor, The Global School
I have a long-standing interest in applying computer science and mathematics to solve biological problems. I am currently the Associate Director of WPI’s Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and I am always looking for students with interests in this exciting inte [...]
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Sarah Olson
Sarah Olson
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
At WPI, I enjoy teaching all courses fundamental to applied mathematics, scientific computing, and modeling. I look forward to mentoring students interested in working on areas in Mathematical Biology, Computational Biofluids, and Scientific Computing. I specialize in Mathematica [...]
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Songbai Ji
Songbai Ji
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
The biomechanical mechanisms behind traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been an active research focus for more than 70 years. However, the field is still largely focused on impact kinematics or estimated brain responses in generic regions from single head impact to predict a binary [...]
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Scarlet Shell
Scarlet Shell
Associate Professor, Biology & Biotechnology
I have a passion for understanding how living systems work, as well as for sharing my love of biology and research with the next generation of scientists and informed citizens. The central goal of my lab is to understand the regulatory mechanisms that underlie mycobacterial stres [...]
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Susan Zhou
Susan Zhou
Professor, Chemical Engineering
Professor Zhou’s research specializes in the versatile field of biosensors. Specifically, her research includes the application of microfabrication and nanotechnology to the development of biosensors based on Electrochemical (EC), Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), and Surface Enha [...]
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Burt Tilley
Burt Tilley
Professor & Interim Department Head, Mathematical Sciences
Applied Mathematics is a broad subdiscipline within mathematics, and the theme of my work over the past two decades has been the application and practice of mathematics to fields in engineering and science.  In particular, my research program centers on the development or impleme [...]
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Yanhua Li
Yanhua Li
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Yanhua Li is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department and Data Science Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research interests focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and data science, with applications in smart cities in many contexts, including s [...]
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Zheyang Wu
Zheyang Wu
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
Professor Wu’s research interest lies in applying the power of statistical science to promote biomedical researches. In statistical genetics, he is developing novel statistical theory and methodology to analyze genome-wide association (GWA) data and deep (re)sequencing data to hu [...]
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Spring is here—can we get a tech, yeah!

 

Sarah Olson was named interim head of Mathematical Sciences at WPI; she’s the first woman to lead the department in the university’s 156-year history.

 

How many digits of pi can you name? We challenged WPI students to name as many as they could this past Pi Day, and their answers had us infinitely impressed.

 

2020 President’s IQP Awards

The annual President’s IQP Awards were held virtually this year, with students presenting on everything from environmental awareness and emergency preparedness to music and historic preservation. The winning project focused on the memorialization of the Spaç Labor Camp in Albania.

 

Let’s hear it for the undergoats! During its BattleBots journey, Team Ribbot upstaged MIT’s Team Uppercut to move forward in the competition. (Photo courtesy Team Ribbot)

 

WPI has long been focused on creating an equitable, holistic application review process, and we took another step forward with a recent faculty vote in favor of an eight-year pilot to eliminate SAT and ACT scores from our admissions review process.

 

You’re killing us, Smalls—after more than a year, the WPI baseball and softball teams are heading back to the field for play!

 

WPI professors

18 full-time faculty members were promoted in academic rank or awarded tenure this month—12 have attained the rank of full professor, and six have been awarded tenure, all effective July 1.

 

There’s no better way to start off D-Term than by catching up with friends.

 

Did you miss the latest in The Global School’s Virtual Event Series? On-demand content is available now: check out the video for discussions on faculty research and student projects, future collaborations, and a keynote address by Meng Bo, associate dean of the Office of International Affairs at Tsinghua University.

 

AndrewTeixeiralab

Over the past few months, assistant professor of chemical engineering Andrew Teixeira has received four grants totaling over $1.6 million for research into on-demand manufacturing systems to improve water quality, agriculture, and drug development.

 

the Housing & Residential Experience Center, the Student Government Association, and Student Activities Office hosted a special build-a-plushie event—yes, it was just as adorable as it sounds.

 

Members of the Alliance placed a trans pride flag on Gompei in support, honor, and celebration of transgender and nonbinary people around the world as part of this year's Trans Day of Visibility.