A PURPOSE-DRIVEN COMMUNITY OF EDUCATORS & RESEARCHERS

WPI’s research focuses on discovery and innovation that has purpose. Our discoveries

address global challenges and often seek solutions starting at the local level—where they impact

people and communities first. Faculty and student classroom-to-real-world-work bridges

the space between where ideas become opportunities. To this end, WPI’s extensive network

of expertsand resources can help turn a spark of imagination into a game-changing gateway.

The growth and expansion of WPI’s research creates tremendous opportunity, even as it introduces more complexity. We know research that encourages cross-cutting and interdisciplinary collaboration brings advanced results that help people; therefore, research, discovery, and innovation are highly integrated throughout the university.

Our faculty researchers collaborate with each other, with other world-class institutions, and with industrial associations and corporate partners on work that makes everyday life in a complicated world easier, safer, or healthier—and better overall. Their focus on addressing vital societal problems and technological challenges leads to projects and investigations with meaningful, innovative insights that translate to genuine change.

Here are some examples of how WPI’s research tackles the significant challenges in the world to create human-scale solutions:

• Developing smart buildings/infrastructure solutions through the use of computational methods and smart design

• Leading cutting-edge work in cybersecurity research that addresses a host of security threats and critical policy issues

• Developing new materials and more durable and sustainable materials

• Finding new technologies to recover and reuse materials

• Driving advanced manufacturing in a broad array of industries to fuel economic development and job creation

• Revolutionizing the nation’s education system through pioneering new technologies, such as intelligent tutors, wearable learning technologies, and gamification

• Advancing robotics and cyberphysical systems and exploring applications for these technologies in a broad range of areas, from precision healthcare to autonomous vehicles

• Applying advanced experimental and computational techniques in WPI’s state-of-the-art facilities to address myriad global fire safety issues

Bogdan M. Vernescu Vice Provost for Research

A MESSAGE FROM THE VICE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH

COMMITTED RESEARCHERS WITH WORLD-CLASS CREDENTIALS

Innovative thinkers, makers, and problem solvers flourish in an environment that supports and rewards rigorous crossdisciplinary work at the cutting edge of discovery. WPI offers researchers support as they look to solve important, complex problems vexing the world today.

Securing Home Networks

Computer scientist Craig Shue is working on a novel way to secure the nation’s 54

million home computer networks and shield homeowners from fraud, compromise, and

even property damage by outsourcing security to the cloud. The work is funded in part by a National Science Foundation

CAREER Award in the amount of $507,600.

Intelligent Materials Design and Agile Processing

Agile processing will ultimately enhance the readiness of soldiers in the field. Danielle Cote, funded by a 3-year, $25 million award from the Army Research Laboratory, will lead a team that will draw on WPI’s unique expertise in metal processing and computational modeling to enhance and extend the latest additive manufacturing processes, including cold-spray and wire arc additive manufacturing, which could be used to repair parts or make new parts in the field.

Replacing Tracheas Using Tissue Engineering

Biomedical engineer Marsha Rolle is using new tissue engineering methods she developed with a team from Case Western Reserve University to repair damaged windpipes. The cell-derived replacements are coaxed into distinct tube types after being developed into a tube-like structure. The process may eventually help repair tracheas. The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering—$1.9 million for both schools.

Combating Human Trafficking

Foisie Business School’s Renata Konrad, working with co-principal investigator Andrew Trapp, is using her expertise in operations research and math to develop best practices in the worldwide fight to end the exploitation of human life for monetary gain. Konrad was inspired by a volunteer trip she made to Ukraine.

Improving Learning Outcomes for Students

Created by computer scientist Neil Heffernan and his wife, Cristina Heffernan, ASSISTments—a free

web-based learning platform used by teachers—has been shown to boost student learning in a federally

funded research study. Recently, Neil was awarded funds from two major foundations, the Schmidt Futures (Eric Schmidt was the first CEO of Google)

and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. This allowed ASSISTments to create a 401c3 nonprofit, called the

ASSISTments Foundation, to lead growth in both ASSISTments use and research in online education.

SEEKING LIKE-MINDED PARTNERS

WPI faculty researchers collaborate with each other and with strategic partners to investigate and apply solutions to challenges in such areas as healthcare, manufacturing, public safety, education, and energy.

MPI’s four research centers produce work that changes the way we progress in these areas. Partnerships with key universities, businesses, and laboratories around the globe ensure many options and viewpoints contribute to MPI’s research and approach. Collaborative efforts help evaluate and implement the processes that give the center’s work the widest impact.

MPI’s Research Centers

• Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling

• Advanced Casting and Research Center

• Center for Heat Treating Excellence

• Center for Materials Processing Data

Metal Processing Institute (MPI)

At WPI’s Metal Processing Institute, one of the nation’s premiere

research centers dedicated to metal processing, WPI’s 2018 Innovator

of the Year and MPI founder Diran Apelian is a driving force in the development of technologies in metal casting, heat treating, and resource recovery and recycling. Work at MPI, a leading industry-university alliance, is considered

essential for a sustainable future.

Shaping 21st Century Manufacturing

WPI has been contributing new ideas, new technologies, and new talent to drive the evolution of manufacturing since its founding in 1865. Today it is playing a pivotal role in a new advanced manufacturing revolution as a member of nine of the 14 Manufacturing USA institutes. Each institute is imagining ways to speed innovation, making advances in research, and nurturing young talent.

Launching an Integrated Photonics Facility

WPI and Quinsigamond Community College have launched a Laboratory for Education and Application Prototypes (LEAP) facility. As part of the national American Institute for Manufacturing initiative (AIM Photonics), LEAP@WPI/QCC supports the integrated photonics rapid prototyping and manufacturing sector in Central Massachusetts and provides an on-ramp to the national ecosystem.

Disrupting the IoT Industry

PracticePoint is a membership-based research, development, and commercialization alliance

founded to advance healthcare and patient wellness technologies in medical cyber-

physical systems. The focus is on smart and secure medical devices that interact with the

physical world to improve the promise of patient-centric care. This innovative space is composed of various suites where products

can be created, tested, and improved.

AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

WPI’s approach to innovation and entrepreneurship covers everything from idea to execution. An emphasis on applied research means faculty and students engage in work that can translate into products, services, or other intellectual property.

Innovation at Work

4x the national average for research universities’

invention disclosures and licenses

(2019)

21 patents and patent

applications were licensed

(2019)

68 invention disclosures

a record number for WPI

(2019)

Bringing Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Process to Market

Materials engineer Yan Wang and his groundbreaking research make it possible, for the first time, to easily recycle the energy cells that power most electronics and electric and hybrid vehicles. Now a company founded by Wang and colleagues at WPI—Battery Resourcers—is commercializing that innovation.

Visualizing Biological Networks

Computer scientist Dmitry Korkin realized that the holographic projections of Microsoft’s HoloLens, a video game enhancement,

could help biotech researchers visualize the intricate and overlapping networks of genes and proteins. Merging HoloLens technology

with targeted algorithms, Korkin and his team are developing an innovative tool to advance understanding of how these links relate to

genetic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and autism.

Academic Programs That Produce Enterprising Young Minds

Inquiring Minds Address Global Challenges

The Grand Challenges for Engineering lay the foundation for a new engineering education—something the WPI Plan has done for decades with an innovative project- and research-driven culture. Endorsed by the National Academy of Engineering in 2009, the Grand Challenges prepare students to use their engineering education and experiences to look at areas including sustainability, health, security, and joy of living. At more than 50 project centers around the world, WPI’s students are making change for the better.

The Strength of a Research Lab Comes from the Talent Within

The continuing growth of the research enterprise is attributed to a number of factors, including the talented young researchers joining new and established labs year after year. With 24 programs, PhD students have become

essential partners in research projects that continue to bring in funding and attract media attention.

A Second Look at a Spinach Leaf Opens Heart-Saving Potential

As a biomedical engineering student, Josh Gershlak had an unconventional idea of using a spinach leaf’s vascular system like human tissue. But with advisor Glenn Gaudette’s full support to pursue the idea at WPI, Gershlak, Gaudette, and their team grew beating human heart cells on a decellularized spinach leaf. The work has the potential to revolutionize human tissue reengineering.

Redesigning a Shoe and Protecting the Athlete

Preventing an injury is always better than repairing one. Mechanical engineering professor

Chris Brown’s sports shoe project uses biomechanics and engineering technologies to develop a shoe

that prevents or reduces non-contact knee and ankle injuries. The shoe is now in the prototype stage.

ADVANCING RESEARCH GOALS WITH EXPERTISE

A Tapestry of Strengths and Values

The work of the four groups, and the ideas and initiatives that will emerge from their collaborations, will be informed and infused by a number of WPI’s abiding strengths and values. Faculty and staff members gather, representing these cross-cutting themes:

• Diversity & Inclusion

• Sustainability

• Innovation & Entrepreneurship

• Project-based Learning & STEM Education

• Design Thinking & Maker Culture

Build Community, Foster Collaboration, and Establish Strategic Alliances

Interdisciplinary groups of faculty members are engaging across four strategic areas where WPI has well-established strengths, discussing and planning the university’s future in education, research, and outreach, discussing the needs of tomorrow’s workforce.

Interdisciplinary Groups

• Materials and Manufacturing

• Bio-X

• Smart World

• Global Initiatives

At A Glance

$37M in research funding

(2019)

200% increase in graduate professional

development programs

Preparing students for life outside academia

6th fastest growing private

doctoral institution in the U.S.

Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac

24 PhD

programs

8 NSF Career Award

winners on our faculty

(2015–2019)

60% increase in funding

(2016–2019 )

100 Institute Road | Worcester, MA 01609wpi.edu

Find out how WPI’s expertise can shape the future of your work:

vpr@wpi.edu

Data as of September 2019