At WPI, researchers are innovators and educators who are working on solutions to the world’s great problems. Purpose-driven research at WPI focuses on four key areas that highlight the technical and societal intersections of these global challenges: the life sciences, smart technologies changing the way we live and work, materials and manufacturing processes designed for a more sustainable world, and global initiatives.
“Sustainability may be the single most important challenge that humanity faces, and WPI researchers want to be part of the solution. By developing new energy technologies, unraveling the causes of disease, designing advanced technologies that improve life, and partnering with people around the world to address their real-life needs, the university’s faculty and students are pushing the boundaries of understanding.”
Winston Soboyejo
WPI Interim President
A Bright Forecast | Climate Change
In WPI laboratories, researchers are producing innovations that will help the world sustainably and successfully adapt to a changing climate. Materials that will improve the storage of hydrogen fuel and that will create a low-emission, self-healing substitute for concrete are in development. Researchers are exploring processes that turn unconventional products, like bamboo, into fuel and those that transform the recycling of lithium-ion batteries.
The Future of Work | Tech and the Digital Future
From computer chips to robots, WPI researchers are showing how humans can work smarter, faster, and safer. Experts are developing ways to secure cyber networks from intruders, analyze the weaknesses of integrated circuits, build robots to assist humans with diverse tasks in health care, and improve learning and education.
Healthcare | Starting at the Molecular Level
WPI researchers are exploring the fundamental mechanisms of life to expand knowledge about human diseases and how to treat them. Laboratory discoveries combined with computational analysis are illuminating the workings of everything from chromosomes to viruses, fungi, and bacteria.
Worcester Origins | Global Impact Goals
True advances start with partnerships and with identifying the real problems that matter to people. WPI researchers work with each other and with community partners around the globe to co-create approaches to the issues of concern to the people living in those locations. With different yet balanced perspectives, teams arrive at solutions that will work with the resources and culture of communities. As they solve authentic problems, teams create value with their work.
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.
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 it 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.
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.
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.
