As B-Term gets underway, more than 300 students are beginning exciting project work at nearly 20 of WPI’s 50+ Global Project Centers. And WPI recognizes an important milestone—the 50th anniversary of project-based learning at off-campus project centers through the Global Projects Program.
WPI’s first project center opened in Washington, D.C., in 1974, and this B-Term a student cohort will again tackle professional-level project work in the nation’s capital. Whether they are completing Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQPs) or Major Qualifying Projects (MQPs), students collaborate with community and industry partners at project centers near and far each term.
The basis of WPI’s off-campus project work is firmly rooted in the WPI Plan. “It fulfills the idea in the Plan that if students can work full time on a project, then they can do that from anywhere,” says Kent Rissmiller, associate dean of The Global School, who first advised the Washington, D.C. Project Center in 1993. Even then, he says, more than 90 percent of students were completing IQP work on campus. In the last 30 years, the significant growth of the GPP means that nearly 90 percent of today’s students complete some work through an off-campus project center.
The success of the D.C. program, which for years saw three active terms every year, led to additional project centers opening in London, Venice, and Thailand in the 1980s. As interest grew in off-campus opportunities, faculty and staff teamed up with community and industry partners around the world to establish new project centers.
And the Global Projects Program continues to expand. Two new project center locations—in Kathmandu, Nepal, and in Syros, Greece—are being piloted during B-Term.
IQP locations
Cape Town, South Africa Project Center with advisors Patricia Agupusi (SSPS) and Michele Femc-Bagwell (Adjunct)
Hangzhou, China Project Center with advisors Hansong Pu (Adjunct) and Marc Trudeau (Adjunct)
Hawaii Project Center with advisors Brigitte Servatius (MA) and Herman Servatius (MA)
Kathmandu, Nepal Project Center with advisor Prajjwal Panday (Adjunct)
Kyoto, Japan Project Center with advisors Alex Sphar (DIGS) and Adrien Stoloff (HUA)
Melbourne, Australia Project Center with advisors Doug Creed (Adjunct) and Uma Kumar (Ch/BCh)
Nantucket, Massachusetts Project Center with advisors Dominic Golding (DIGS) and Melissa Belz (DIGS)
Prague, Czech Republic Project Center with advisors Beth Eddy (Adjunct) and Michael Ginzberg (Adjunct)
Santa Fe, New Mexico Project Center with advisors Phil Hultquist (Adjunct) and David Spanagel (HUA)
Syros, Greece Project Center with advisor Bob Hersh (DIGS)
Tirana, Albania Project Center with advisors Curtis Abel (Adjunct) and Laureen Elgert (DIGS)
Venice, Italy Project Center with advisors Ruth McKeogh (DIGS) and Fran Leahy (Adjunct) with support from Fabio Carrera (DIGS)
Washington, D.C. Project Center with advisor Zoe Eddy (DIGS)
MQP locations
FinTech Project Center (remote projects) directed by Adrienne Hall-Phillips (BUS)
Kyoto, KUAS Japan Project Center directed by Adam Powell (ME)
Silicon Valley, California Project Center directed by Mark Claypool (CS)
Tokyo, Japan Project Center directed by Adam Powell (ME)