In the News

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Christmas tree fire dangers explained

Do you know how quickly a Christmas tree can burn and what measures you can take to prevent this type of fire from happening in your home? Every year, WPI’s student chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers conducts a tree burn demonstration in a laboratory in the Department of Fire protection Engineering to educate students and the public on the dangers and dynamics of Christmas tree fires. The event highlights fire prevention and safety measures during the holiday season and highlights the hands-on learning opportunities available to students in WPI’s fire protection engineering program. 

Boston 25 News, the Telegram & Gazette, and Spectrum News 1 reported on this year’s demonstration which, for the first time, included an artificial tree in addition to a real tree. Also, don’t miss a replay of WPI’s live stream of the burn and our recap video which helps explain some of the lessons learned.

"Voting machines are privately manufactured and developed and, as with other many other IT systems, the code is typically proprietary,” said Suzanne Mello-Stark, associate teaching professor and forensic computer scientist .

Telegram.com

The Geek is Glam STEM Expo on the WPI campus attracted more than 340 Girl Scouts in grades 4-8 from central and western Mass.

NPR

NPR’s “All Tech Considered” interviews WPI cybersecurity expert and professor Susan Landau on why neither of the 2016 presidential candidates have discussed how the U.S. should handle foreign hackers.  "I think there is an underlying issue [that] Secretary Clinton is avoiding—I'm not sure it's hit the radar for Donald Trump—and that's the encryption issue," she says. 

Business Insider

PayScale looked at the starting and mid-career pay for over a million college grads — including professionals who graduated with a bachelor's from 963 colleges and universities. WPI tied for 15th place for grads with the highest starting salaries.

The Hechinger Report

WPI takes a stand against a program that only factors students’ scores on the College Board’s PSAT citing university’s admissions process considers the “whole student”.

Boston Business Journal

Battery Resources, co-founded by WPI professors Diran Apelian and Yan Wang, has been named a finalist in MassChallenge’s  2016 Top Startups. Battery Resources recycles spent lithium-ion batteries into cathode materials, which can be used in new batteries. 

WBUR 90.9

Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it will no longer participate in the National Merit Scholarship Award program.

Worcester Business Journal

The Worcester Business Journal takes a look at the intellectual property policies at area colleges, with an interview with Todd Keiller, WPI’s director of intellectual property and innovation. 

Hartford Business

WPI joins UConn, Northeastern University, Tufts University, UMass, Amherst and University of Rhode Island in a higher education alliance focused on expanding diversity in STEM fields.

BBC

BBC News quotes from the blog “Securing Phones and Securing Us (Revisited)” by WPI professor and cybersecurity expert Susan Landau on the issue of the government accessing encrypted information on iPhones. Landau wrote last week that the answer is not a bill allowing easier access but “instead we must increase law enforcement’s capabilities to handle encrypted communications and devices. 

Telegram.com

Alex Wyglinski, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and his team of Ph.D. candidates and fellow faculty members are working to apply bumblebee communication methods to driverless cars.

Scienmag

WPI’s Katrina Hansen and Glenn Gaudette demonstrate changes in heart function that occur directly in the region where researchers delivered stem cells. 

Telegram.com

A team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is headed to Alabama soon to test a blanket that doesn't snuff out flames, but keeps them going to clean oil spills.

TechTarget

Fearlessness, curiosity, and mastery of statistics are keys to data science success, says Elke Rundensteiner, director of WPI’s Data Science program. 

ASME

Mike Gennert, head of WPI’s Robotics program, highlights lessons learned from the DARPA Robotics Challenge  

Lee Sheldon, professor of practice in the computer science department, recalls his time as writer and producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

SMART Manufacturing

Wally Towner, director of the WPI Center for Innovative Manufacturing Solutions, offers guidance on flexible manufacturing systems.

Telegram.com

Martha Cyr, executive director of the STEM Education Center at WPI, discusses Seeds of STEM, an initiative to create STEM curriculum for preschool in partnership with Head Start.

NBC News

WPI professor Susan Landau weighs in on the debate of whether law enforcement should have "back door" access to private, encrypted networks to investigate crime and terrorism. 

Boston Globe

Professor Yan Wang demonstrates how lithium ion batteries can ignite and explode when overheated. Older devices with battery management systems that no longer work are especially dangerous.