Note: Some media outlets require users to log-in. The Gordon Library offers the WPI community free access to a number of newspapers. Visit newspaper database for details.
Computer science department head provides analysis on global technology outage
Professor Craig Shue, head of the computer science department, helped explain the causes of, impacts from, and lessons learned by the worldwide outage that resulted from a faulty CrowdStrike cybersecurity update. He was interviewed by and featured in reports from NPR and The Boston Globe. He was also quoted in The Associated Press in its coverage.
WPI President Laurie Leshin is noted in a story in Boston.com as being named a member of the Reopening Advisory Board, which is charged with informing Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker’s administration “on strategies for a phased reopening of the economy” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
President Leshin was noted in The Boston Business Journal article, "Inventing a University 'from Scratch': College Leaders Talk COVID-19", a virtual panel hosted by the Mass. High Technology Council. “We can move quickly and innovatively in higher ed — more than anyone thought,” Leshin said. “This moment has shown we can pivot quickly and that’s exciting,” she told the group.
The Verge featured Greg Fischer, professor of engineering, along with other makers in an online interview (quoted throughout). “This is not going to do as well as a commercially available ventilator, but it’s going to do a heck of a lot better than nothing,” Fischer told The Verge. “And, that’s really unfortunately the situation we might be in.”
Craig Wills, professor and head of computer science, spoke with The Chronicle of Higher Education about the surge of students enrolling in computer science programs.
Joseph D. Fehribach, associate professor of mathematical sciences, wrote a piece for the Telegram & Gazetteabout how one of the greatest weapons against COVID-19 is widespread testing for both the virus and for COVID-19 anti-bodies produced by infected people.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Andrew Palumbo was quoted in a Diverse Issues in Higher Education article. “Test scores have a problematic correlation with family income, with sex and with race and ethnicity. Period,” he said. “As someone who’s led admissions teams at a range of different institutions, admissions officers do not need a single high-stakes test score to make solid admissions decisions.”
The Worcester Business Journal spoke with Andy Palumbo, dean of admissions and enrollment, about how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect college admissions for the next academic year (pg. 12).
Alex Wyglinski, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and robotics engineering, wrote a piece for the Hartford Courant on how critical 5G technology is to helping people whose work depends on the internet do their jobs better, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WBZ Radio radio featured how WPI students in ME1800, a normally hands-on class, are, instead, building thermoacoustic engines virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. Toby Bergstrom, operations manager at Washburn Shops, was interviewed.
Mike Timko, assistant professor of chemical engineering, wrote a special piece for Biofuels Digest on how people should consider biofuels instead of waste for power, following the goal behind his research of transforming food waste and yard waste into biofuel.
The National Interest talked to Dmitry Korkin, associate professor of computer science, about how and why diseases, like coronavirus spread quickly on ships.
WBZ-TV is the latest to air the work that Greg Fischer, the William Smith Dean's Professor, is doing with other WPI researchers on designing ventilators and making their components publicly available so anyone with a 3D printer and background in electronics and mechanical engineering could use them to produce ventilators for hospitals.
WBUR interviewed Greg Fischer, the William Smith Dean's Professor, on his spearheading the idea of having teams of WPI researchers make designs of ventilators and their components publicly available so anyone with a 3D printer and background in electronics and mechanical engineering could use them to produce ventilators for hospitals.
Frank Hoy, Beswick Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, was quoted in a Worcester Business Journal article. Hoy discussed the financial focus that is needed to assist small and medium-sized business during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Boston Herald reported on the research that Dmitry Korkin, associate professor of computer science, is doing to project how viruses, including the coronavirus, might spread in confined spaces.
