HDI Faculty

CONTACT
Phone: 508-831-6199
Fax: 508-831-5673
Emmanuel Agu
Professor, Computer Science

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5568

Emmanuel Agu is currently a professor in the computer science department at WPI having received his Masters and PhD in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His research interests are in the areas of computer graphics, mobile computing, and wireless networks. He is especially interested in research into how to use a smartphone as a platform to deliver better healthcare. In collaboration with researchers at WPI and at UMass Medical School, he is currently working on NIH-funded research project to create a mobile application for chronic wound care ...

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Isa Bar-On
Adjunct Teaching Professor, The Global School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5127

My favorite activities involve guiding students in projects and research. I like to give them independence and to learn from their work. I enjoy challenging them and myself to find better answers, explanations, and solutions. I am very interested in socio-technical systems, such as the healthcare system or the energy delivery system.Over the past years, my research has focused on developing models in support of an improved healthcare delivery system. To this end, I co-founded the Healthcare Delivery Institute (HDI) at WPI, with faculty members from the business school, and from computer ...

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Andrew Trapp
Associate Professor, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x4935

I am Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), with courtesy professorships in Mathematical Sciences and Data Science. I hold a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. My objective is to use science and technology to assist real human need by improving systems that serve vulnerable peoples, such as refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of human trafficking, and children in the foster care system. I believe that the convergence of novel analytical technologies and open-source software can create ...

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Brenton Faber
Professor, Humanities & Arts

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x4930

In my lab we study medical writing and the human factors that influence medical diagnosis, treatment, and patient care. I am a practicing paramedic who volunteers with a rural ambulance squad and at a free urban clinic. My current research is focused on three areas: 1) Improving healthcare for uninsured and underinsured at-risk patients; 2) Alternative systems for healthcare delivery; and 3) Clinical reports in pre-hospital care. An ongoing topic of interest that links my research, teaching, and clinical practice is the concept of "allostasis" and "allostatic load." The terms have ...

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Bengisu Tulu
Professor, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5184

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 information systems through real world examples, have an opportunity to learn from each other, learn to present themselves as professionals, and most importantly learn to use or develop technology to make a difference. WPI provides a learning environment that allows me to accomplish these principles with its emphasis in theory ...

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Christopher Lambert
Teaching Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5443

Christopher R. Lambert, Ph.D. is a Research Associate Professor with appointments both in the Bioengineering Institute and the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. He is the Associate Director of the WPI Bioengineering Institute. He is co-founder of Active Surface Technologies a research company dedicated to the development of specialized molecular films. Professor Lambert earned a Ph.D. from the University of Paisley in Scotland, and spent two years in a post-doctoral position at the Center for Fast Kinetics in Austin, Texas. He then spent five years in Manchester, UK at the Christie ...

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Mark Claypool
Professor, Computer Science

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5409

Mark Claypool has been a professor of Computer Science and Interactive Media Game Development at WPI since 1997. Mark has a B.A. in Mathematics from Colorado College and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed conference and journal papers and written two books on computer games. He has chaired several ACM conferences on networks, games and multimedia and served on the technical program committee for over 40 of them. His research interests include multimedia networking, congestion control, network games and ...

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Soussan Djamasbi
Professor, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5266

I specialize in user experience and decision-making research, focusing on uncovering the intricacies of human cognition to understand the factors that enhance or impede the effective use of information technologies.Since people predominantly use their eyes to process information, I utilize eye-tracking technology to study user reactions to product and service designs. For example, I analyze eye movement data to evaluate user engagement with various content, ranging from embedded information on organizational websites to complex details, such as diagnosis and treatment options, in medical ...

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Diane Strong
Professor & Department Head, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5573

WPI provides an environment that values both teaching and research, which is ideal for me. I enjoy teaching at WPI because students are interested in learning and willing to work hard. My teaching focuses on how business, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations can best use computing technologies, such as database systems, electronic health records systems, and mobile apps. Students in my classes learn to design computing applications that meet the needs of organizations. Students understand the value of learning these topics, and as a result, they work hard to learn the principles and how to ...

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Gregory Fischer

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5261

Professor Fischer is the William Smith Dean's Professor and a faculty member in Robotics Engineering with a appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at WPI. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2008 from Johns Hopkins University, where he was part of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer Integrated Surgery. At WPI he has been an integral part of developing the Robotics Engineering program and teaches primarily junior-level and graduate courses in Robotics. He is the founding director of the Automation and Interventional Medicine (AIM) ...

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Jennifer deWinter
Professor, Humanities & Arts

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x6679

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 ...

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Michael Radzicki
Associate Professor, Social Science & Policy Studies

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5767

Professor Radzicki is an economist, creator of WPI’s program in system dynamics, and co-creator of WPI’s program in trading and investment system development. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Notre Dame and his training in system dynamics computer simulation modeling from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, he is a certified Rapid-I Predictive Analytics Analyst.Professor Radzicki’s research focuses on predictive analytics, simulation science, and the application of techniques from these areas to problems in economics, finance, and management. He has ...

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Oleg Pavlov

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5234

Professor Pavlov earned a BS degree in Physics/Computer Science and a PhD in Economics from University of Southern California and an MBA from Cornell University. He has taught at WPI since 2002. He has been to many universities in the US, Russia and Western Europe, but he thinks WPI is like no other university. The project-based approach at WPI allows him to involve students in research projects. He values the opportunity to include students in his research through IQPs and MQPs. Professor Pavlov’s expertise is in multi-sector analysis that accounts for feedback and resistance to change ...

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Renata Konrad
Associate Professor, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5192

The application of Industrial Engineering and mathematical knowledge has always been a rewarding challenge for me. I draw on a variety of Industrial Engineering techniques including optimization and simulation. My research has included evaluating anti-human trafficking efforts, computationally characterizing episodes of care from health insurance claim records, and examining the impact of physician incentives on patient outcomes, as well as research related to mental health, patient flow and practice guidelines.   In 2020-2021 I was a Fulbright Scholar at the Ukrainian Catholic ...

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Carolina Ruiz
Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences, Computer Science

Phone: +1 (508) 8315640

Carolina Ruiz is the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Harold L. Jurist ’61 and Heather E. Jurist Dean's Professor of Computer Science. She joined the WPI faculty in 1997. Prof. Ruiz’s research is in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Mining, and their applications to Medicine and Health. She has worked on several clinical domains including sleep, stroke, obesity and pancreatic cancer. Prof. Ruiz and her research group have developed novel, high-performing machine learning methods, including deep learning networks, for analyzing physiological sleep data; and machine ...

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Elke Rundensteiner
Professor, Computer Science, Program Head, Data Science, Computer Science

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5815

As founding Head of the interdisciplinary Data Science program here at WPI, I take great pleasure in doing all in my power to support the Data Science community in all its facets from research collaborations, and new educational initiatives to our innovative industry-sponsored and mentored Graduate Qualifying projects at the graduate level.Having served as the primary advisor and mentor of over 43 Ph.D. students who have secured successful professional careers in computing, I'm proud of all the great accomplishments of students I have had the opportunity to collaborate with. With an h-index of ...

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Khalid Saeed

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5563

Khalid Saeed is widely recognized for his work on the interface of economics and system dynamics. He has published two books and numerous articles on a variety of methodological, developmental and management agendas including sustainable agriculture, poverty alleviation, political instability, supply chain management and system dynamics modeling. His current focus is on operationalization of economic policy so it can be implemented through available managerial roles. Professor Saeed served as the head of social Science and Policy Studies department from 1997-2007. He previously taught at ...

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Sharon Johnson
Professor, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315183

I enjoy teaching at WPI because students bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to their learning; I am also inspired by their optimism. My teaching also reflects topics that motivate me:  detailed process design in our Industrial Engineering program, exploring the implications of operational excellence in our graduate programs, and advancing health care systems. My research explores the impact of lean improvement methods in healthcare settings, as well as applying work systems and modeling approaches to design more effective healthcare delivery processes. I am also interested in the ...

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Shamsnaz Bhada
Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x4848

As a systems engineer I view optimizing engineering endeavors as going beyond algorithmic optimization to include a humanitarian mission, using systems engineering tools, patterns, techniques, methods, themes, and philosophies to do policy modeling, all with the common goal of mission success. While engineering tools have brought about much excellence and productivity, we haven't always applied these powerful tools to goals such as human diversity in engineering, or looking at the full human as a participant in the human workforce. I pursue these ideas across multiple dimensions, from research ...

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John Sullivan

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5199

Teaching is the most important aspect of my profession. I have strived to teach the full spectrum of college offerings addressing freshman students through Ph.D. students. The project philosophy is a fundamental pillar of the WPI education. I encourage and promote this ideal in all of the projects that I advise. Students who bring a project to fruition gain more knowledge and understanding than most conventional instructional modes. I am committed to MQP and IQP activities. Students completing their projects under my advise have received dozens of awards and honors in the forms of ...

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Vance Wilson
Associate Teaching Professor, The Business School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5990

Prior to arriving at WPI in 2010, I held tenure-track positions with the University of Wisconsin system. I have visited at Cal Poly-SLO, University of Toledo, and Arizona State University. My teaching centers on software development, large business systems, and innovative uses of IT. My overarching research addresses organizational aspects of human-computer interaction with special emphasis on e-health, computer-mediated communication, and technology support for software development teams. I have published more than 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings.From ...

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Pamela Weathers

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5196

Prof. Weathers is an internationally recognized expert on Artemisia annua and artemisinin, having worked with the plant and its phytochemicals including the antimalarial drug, artemisinin, for >25 years. She is a Fellow of AAAS and SIVB, won many awards, given many national and international presentations, reviews manuscripts for many journals and proposals for many national and international funding agencies. She is an Associate Editor for multiple journals. Her lab was the first to genetically transform A. annua. Of her > 130 peer-reviewed papers, about a third focus on bioreactors and ...

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