Chrys Demetry

As Director of the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, I work with faculty colleagues, staff educators, and other units on campus to coordinate programs and build communities that foster excellence and innovation in teaching. The Center also coordinates mentoring and professional development programs and communities for new faculty and mid-career faculty. 

Many of my professional contributions integrate leadership, program-building, and scholarship to broaden participation and advancement of women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In 1997, I co-founded WPI’s Camp Reach program, a project-based engineering outreach program for middle school girls. At the same time, I embarked on a decades-long longitudinal study of its effects, which ultimately showed that Camp Reach makes a positive difference in the number who pursue engineering pathways. As a co-PI on WPI's ADVANCE Adaptation grant from the National Science Foundation (2018-2022), I am coordinating efforts to enact our new Associate-to-Full promotion policy and mid-career mentoring system in an equity-minded way. This work has great potential to lessen gender inequity among the senior ranks of faculty, and to better align rewards with the breadth of WPI’s institutional mission and strengths. 

After many years teaching introductory materials science with a team-based approach, my teaching efforts now focus on project advising, academic advising, and mentoring. Advising Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQPs) in the Global Projects Program is one of my favorite teaching roles because of its transformative potential for students. I’ve been privileged to learn about the local context of global challenges alongside students, community partners, and co-advisors at nine locations around the globe, including Bangkok, Thessaloniki, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Windhoek. I’m also passionate about academic advising. I focus on the whole student and look for opportunities to extend advising into a mentoring relationship. I have served as an advisor to first year students in WPI’s Insight program for more than 20 years. I enjoy helping them transition to college life, build community, and make the most of their WPI experience. 

Visit Digital WPI to view student projects advised by Professor Demetry.