Department of Social Science and Policy Studies Marks 50 Years of Using STEM Innovation for Good

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When Enis Agyeman Boateng ’24 (MS) was growing up, there was a huge garbage dump near where he lived in Ashaiman, Ghana, on the outskirts of Accra. Plastic and other debris clogged waterways and caused flooding that dislocated people from their homes when it rained. Watching the trash heap grow bigger every year upset Boateng. But it also set him on a path that led to WPI, where he is now pursuing a PhD in Sustainable Development Engineering so that he can make a real difference for the people of his home country—and for the planet.

Building upon his undergraduate materials engineering studies and his master’s degree in Science and Technology for Innovation in Global Development, Boateng is using trash that would normally accumulate in landfills to create a sustainable, affordable, and effective roofing material.

small pieces of plastic bottles, coconut fibers, and the composite roofing material made by combining both, showing an example of innovation for good

By combining plastic waste and coconut husk fibers, Boateng is creating a new roofing material, shown as test pieces here.

“I want to get waste materials out of the environment and repurpose them into something valuable for people,” says Boateng, who is in the proof-of-concept stage in his research to create a composite material from recycled plastic and coconut husk fibers. (In addition to manufactured trash, coconut husks account for a large portion of solid waste in Ghana.) “Everything that I’m doing is to better the human condition.”

Like so many people at WPI, Boateng and his advisors, Professor Robert Krueger and Associate Professor Danielle Cote, are committed to harnessing innovation for social and environmental good. These are the very values that prompted university leaders to create the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies (SSPS) in 1974.

The idea is that by weaving social sciences into the fabric of WPI’s curriculum, students not only learn STEM skills but also gain an understanding of human needs. Along the way, they become holistic problem solvers capable of creating true solutions meant to outlast the latest technical innovations. Combining social science and STEM in this way was truly groundbreaking when SSPS was founded. Today the approach is much more common—but no less effective or relevant.

“As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of SSPS, the world is literally on fire as communities everywhere deal with environmental disasters, political unrest, and social upheaval,” says Jean King, the Peterson Family Dean of Arts & Sciences. “This makes WPI’s commitment to teaching tomorrow’s STEM professionals how to responsibly leverage science and technology for the benefit of both people and planet more valuable and necessary than ever.”

Jean King, the Peterson Family Dean of Arts & Sciences

WPI’s commitment to teaching tomorrow’s STEM professionals how to responsibly leverage science and technology for the benefit of both people and planet [is] more valuable and necessary than ever.

Jean King, the Peterson Family Dean of Arts & Sciences

Before Boateng came to WPI, he was working in his brother’s plastics recycling plant and enjoyed knowing he was helping to make his community a little cleaner. But when he learned that through SSPS he could combine his engineering skills with rigorous social science and policy expertise, he knew he’d found his path.

student configures machinery in laboratory

Boateng sets up a universal testing machine to analyze the tensile strength of the composite roofing material.

“I already had a lot of interest in the materials engineering aspect of recycling waste. But now I am creating a connection with people and learning how to design solutions for users,” he says. “My vision has become so broad as to where this project can go and how many lives can be impacted.”

That, in a nutshell, is the promise of SSPS, says Krueger, who is the SSPS department chair.

“By definition, social science relates to people, and by integrating this perspective into our STEM curriculum, WPI gives students a multidimensional perspective that allows them to use their STEM skills to make life better for human beings,” Krueger says. “Crucially, SSPS also teaches students to break through the noise about science in today’s world and effectively communicate complex topics in plain terms that people use in their everyday lives.”

As SSPS looks beyond its 50th year, Krueger and King are optimistic about how affiliated students and faculty (see profiles, below) continually seek out innovative ways to use STEM to improve lives across the planet. Enrollment data back up that optimism: Increasing numbers of undergraduates are declaring majors or minors in SSPS programs, and the three new master’s programs established since 2019 (see timeline, below) are drawing graduate students to the department, too.

In the coming years some of those students may very well contribute to the recycled roofing project in Ghana, where Boateng is working to ensure that the structure to create the composite material will outlive him.

“Through my SSPS training, we’re using this concept called co-design, where we design with the community, not for them,” he says. “So you don’t go there with your solutions. You go there and ask, ‘What is your challenge? How can we solve this challenge?’ It is very effective because we can tailor the solutions for the community. But also, because local people are involved from the very beginning, they will be able to maintain the project and keep it long into the future.”