Meet the Team

By training, I am a political historian of China and Japan. Coming to WPI has expanded how I view my own research and teaching and what can be done with them. I’ve led WPI’s efforts to build China-related programs for STEM students on campus and off. With like-minded colleagues I helped establish and now direct WPI’s East Asia Hub (formally China Hub), established and co-direct WPI’s Hangzhou and Taiwan Project Centers, and advise the Chinese Studies minor. With WPI’s student body in mind, I’ve worked to integrate science and technology into my teaching on the histories and cultures of East ...

Jennifer deWinter has long been interested in how culture (which is local) moves internationally. She has spent a number of years analyzing anime, comics, and computer games as part of global media flows in order to understand how concepts such as "art," "culture," and "entertainment" are negotiated. In 2003, Professor deWinter joined the Learning Games Initiative, a group of scholars and game designers dedicated to the general study of games and the use of games to teach concepts and skills in particular. Since joining WPI, she has been an active faculty member in the Interactive Media  Game ...

I enjoy my interactions with students at all levels of education, research, and mentoring, whether it be in the classroom, the lab, or in project work. I especially enjoy taking them to the Morocco Project Center and sharing with them the places where I grew up. Challenging the students to achieve higher levels of discovery is a thrill for me. This could be in the process of working with ASCE students to design a high-strength cement composite for the concrete canoe, working with MQP groups to design the new WPI Recreational Center or solve problems for the Panama Canal Authority, or working ...

Professor Liang’s research explores the physics of interfaces between the nanometer and micron scales.  Her team responds to the challenging interdisciplinary nature of their research endeavor through successful collaboration with colleagues with expertise in metrology, physics, bioscience, medical science, chemistry, and fire protection engineering.  Her educational effort includes novel approaches to project-based learning and global centers for science and engineering.  She has created three new courses with technical focuses on nanomaterials (ME4875/MTE575/MTE594), nanobiotechnology ...

My research involves educational scholarship: investigating how students learn chemical engineering and how the curriculum can be modified to optimize learning. That includes understanding learning in hands-on labs compared to virtual or remotely operated labs; learning in international contexts; and how safety, ethics, and social responsibility can be effectively integrated into the chemical engineering curriculum. WPI is a great place to conduct this type of work because of our project-based program, our extensive Global Projects Program, and our philosophy of student-centered learning.

  Wen-Hua Du is an assistant teaching professor of Chinese in the Department of Humanities and Arts. Prior to joining WPI, she worked as a senior lecturer and coordinator of the Chinese Program at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park (2010-2017), and a visiting assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (2009-2010). Her expertise is in the areas of language teaching, curriculum design, and program development. Dr. Du has been an active participant in the SoTL communities in the field of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). She has also collaborated on two ...