Twenty-eight WPI graduate students earned awards and recognition for their innovative research efforts at the eighth annual Graduate Research Achievement Day (GRAD 2013), held March 13 at the Campus Center and Alden Memorial. The recipients will use their certificates and cash prizes to further their research.
Nearly 250 master’s- and PhD-level students presented informative posters that demonstrated the need for their chosen research topics, described their methodology, and revealed their progress to date. Categories for the projects were business and social science, engineering, life sciences and bioengineering, and science.
Teams of faculty judges reviewed the posters and interviewed the participants. The judges chose recipients of first-, second-, and third-place awards in each category, based on criteria such as the
- quality and importance of the research itself,
- clarity of the poster, and
- students’ ability to explain their work and answer the judges’ questions.
Award recipients received certificates and cash prizes that they will use to further their research. Richard D. Sisson Jr., dean of graduate studies and George F. Fuller Professor of Mechanical Engineering, praised all the participants for doing inventive and important work.
“What’s on display here are many scientific breakthroughs that may soon have a lot of commercial value and value to society,” he said. “Plus, it’s an excellent opportunity to recognize and showcase the accomplishments of our graduate students.”
Michael B. Manning, associate provost for research, noted that this year’s program reached new heights. “The bar has been raised to a new level. The quality of the presentations has improved every year to the point where the talent of the student presenters is at an all-time high,” Manning said.
