On Saturday, November 5 of 2016, the Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department at WPI held an event in celebration of the 20th anniversary of BME undergraduate program. Our graduate program began in 1962, and in 1996 the undergraduate program was established with the support of a Whitaker grant lead by Professor Robert Peura.
The goal of this celebratory event was to bring together alumni, faculty, and current students to celebrate the progress of the BME program. The event started with student- and faculty-led tours of our state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities at Gateway Park and in Goddard Hall, respectively, followed by a panel discussion of WPI alumni and a keynote speaker. In addition, Dept. Head Billiar, emeritus Professor Robert Peura (WPI '64), former Chair of the BME Advisory Board Al Potvin (WPI '64), and Professor Yitzhak Mendelson provided the audience with stories about the history of the department. The keynote 
speaker, Mike Aspinwall '75, a WPI Trustee, reminisced about the school from forty years ago and highlighted the important evolutions that have transformed WPI to the vibrant institute that it is today. Following the formal programming, there was a lively reception, games for all ages, and a cornhole tournament (which was won by Connor Haley and Stephanie Fariello). With more than sixty-five people of all ages registered for the event, there was a nice representation of alumni from 2002 to 2015. “