Peer-Reviewed Student Publications
The Office of Undergraduate Research is excited to present an online collection of peer-reviewed articles published by and with Worcester Polytechnic Institute undergraduate students, the WPI Undergraduate Research Publication Collection. Faculty, if you have published a peer-reviewed article with WPI undergraduate co-authors and the article is not yet on the site, please fill out this form to have your article added to the collection.
Summer Research Projects
This summer, over forty students had the opportunity to participate in the Summer Professional Development Series for Undergraduates (SPuDS) while conducting summer research. At the end, students were invited to share their research via the Virtual Undergraduate Research Showcase by submitting an abstract, slides, and a video about their work. You can learn more about students' research by visiting the Summer Research 2020 page of the Virtual Undergraduate Research Showcase.
Featured Showcase Projects
With so many great projects to see at the Virtual Research Showcase, and not nearly enough time to see them all in one sitting, this newsletter will showcase a few featured projects each edition.
Loss of pRB and Motility - Biology & Biotechnology
The goal of this project is to determine whether cells with depleted pRb have a greater motility than cells with sufficient pRb. pRb acts as a master regulator of the cell cycle and has interactions with many of the other proteins in the cell. Previous research seems to have indicated that cells with a knockdown of pRb possess a higher motility, but these findings were unconfirmed. Since pRb is lost in many cancer types, a higher motility in these cells may lead to increased rates of metastasis, in which cancer cells migrate through the tissue to other locations in the body, at which point the cancer is nearly impossible to remove. See, hear, & read more...
Students: Thomas Perry
Major: Biology & Biotechnology
Advisors: Prof. Amity Manning
Preliminary Results on Math Efficacy and Math Anxiety using the Game-Based Technology, From Here To There - Psychological Science
This project presents data from a large federally funded IES study involving a randomized controlled trial of 2 math technology interventions and examines how the relations of math anxiety on math performance vary. Students either played the game From Here to There (FH2T) (Ottmar & Landy, 2015) or solved problem sets with hints and feedback in ASSISTments (Heffernan & Heffernan, 2014), an online learning system. Our lab is aiming to understand the relationship between game-based learning systems and learning benefits. See, hear, & read more...
Students: Alisionna Iannacchione
Majors: Psychological Science
Advisors: Prof. Erin Ottmar
Telenursing Robopuppet - Robotics Engineering
RoboPuppet is a scale-model arm of ReThink Robotics’ Baxter used for intuitive remote control. The arm contains joint angle sensors and motors which allow for gravity compensation and limited haptic feedback. The project includes a ROS package for controlling Baxter in real life and simulation, with a basic real-time GUI for calibration and debugging. This platform is ideal for helping nurses work remotely with patients in high-risk and contaminated environments. See, hear, & read more...
Students: Michael Sidler, Daniel Oates, and Tabitha Gibbs
Majors: Robotics Engineering
Advisor: Prof. Zhi Li
This newsletter is sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research at WPI. Please contact Prof. Suzanne Weekes, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, ad interim at sweekes@wpi.edu if you have any questions or undergraduate research highlights.