Interdisciplinary Groups
At WPI, our greatest strength is our people. We are home to a passionate community of faculty members and researchers who are dedicated to using their talents, expertise, and intellectual curiosity to solve the most complex of the world's great problems. Whether in the classroom or the lab, we embrace and encourage robust collaboration across disciplines, divisions, and organizations—recognizing the potential to make important impacts is multiplied when talents and passions are applied. This is a community called to use our scientific and technological knowledge and research for the greater good.
As a part of this collective vision of a better future, our faculty, staff, and researchers are building dedicated communities in four interdisciplinary areas where the university has well-established strengths. The four areas are Smart World, Materials Reimagined (MatR), BioPoint, and Global Initiatives (see below for more info). By eliminating silos, these boundary-breaking communities are fostering interdisciplinary scholarship and research, providing opportunities for faculty members to work together in creative—and even unconventional—ways, and strengthening WPI’s ability to make lives better.
- Wole Soboyejo
- Interim President
Smart World: The Intersection of the Physical, Digital, and Biological Worlds
The numbers of smart devices and services in the world are rapidly expanding and changing how people will live and work. This pace of progress brings both opportunities and challenges, and requires the focus of experts in areas such as data science, robotics, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, interactive media and game development, learning sciences and technology, bioinformatics, computational biology, neuroscience/engineering, architectural engineering, and smart design.
MatR: Materials Reimagined: Connecting the Industries of Today and Tomorrow
With its rich history and strengths in manufacturing and materials, WPI continues to play a pivotal role in a new advanced manufacturing ) revolution that is moving far beyond stainless steels and nickel-based alloys. New ideas, talent, technologies, and expertise in areas like nanomaterials, energy, and synthetic biology are required to help build a stronger, more sustainable, and globally competitive manufacturing sector.
BioPoint: Driving Innovation in Human Health and Healthcare Systems
The BioPoint team is dedicated to identifying key areas of collaboration with industry and government partners to advance research and development in the life sciences, bioengineering and biomedical engineering. WPI is particularly well-positioned to help deliver positive outcomes to our partners
Global Initiatives: A Hub for Global Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies
WPI is building on its long tradition of addressing the major social, technological, ecological, and economic challenges facing people around the world with technological and scientific knowledge. Shifting social, developmental, and cultural contexts require a transformation of research and education on a global scale and the continual development of STEM scholars and leaders who can respond to these increasingly complex and diverse global issues.