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How can AI tools help consumers find the best deals and tackle the holiday shopping list? Associate Professor of marketing Purvi Shah spoke with NBC Boston about the technology driving retail transformation. "AI can help you compare products and prices across stores. It can also give you review summaries that can help you evaluate various product options based on those review summaries," Shah said. "All of this is done very efficiently."
Boston 25 included an interview with Suzanne LePage, an instructor of civil engineering, in its segment, "Would You Pay Extra in an express lane if it meant avoiding traffic?" LePage worries that this would still create a traffic hierarchy based on who can pay. “Anytime you introduce a cost to things, you have to think about equity and justice and is that now restricting access to some people in our population.”
In a front-page article, The Boston Globe profiled WPI student Jack Duffy-Protentis. “The sky’s the limit for Jack,’’ his mother told The Globe. “He’s innovative. He’s all personality. The experience at WPI made me realize that it’s not a disability for Jack. He’s differently abled, that’s all.’’
Jing Xiao, director, robotics engineering, was interviewed for this The Boston Globe article. “Its entertainment value is already very obvious,” she said. “But because it’s so versatile in going over all kinds of terrain, it can be very useful for applications such as search and rescue.”
The Associated Press quoted WPI Provost ad interim Winston Soboyejo in its article about the Worcester Red Sox partnering with a California tech startup to open what’s billed as the first autonomous checkout store in a pro sports and entertainment venue. The team made the announcement about the new facility for the future Polar Park on campus yesterday. “WPI is dedicated to creating the workforce of the future, which will include cutting-edge fields like AI, machine learning, and data and computer science,” Soboyejo said. WPI is the academic technology advisor for the team.
In WPI research news, Worcester Business Journal is the latest to report on the university receiving a $25 million award from the Army Research Lab to be used by Danielle Cote, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and Kyle Tsaknopoulos, a postdoctoral fellow at WPI. They’ll use the funding to advance a cold spray 3D printing technique that could be used to repair military vehicles and equipment.
Worcester News Tonight aired a story about a new mural at WPI created by internationally renowned graffiti artist Panmela Castro. Castro’s painting, which was done on a wall in Salisbury Labs, features Abby Kelley Foster, a 19th century women’s rights activist from Worcester. The work was done in celebration of Arts and Sciences week at WPI.
Thrive Global (UK) quoted Assistant Professor Sarah Stanlick, IGSD, in this article. “Nuance can be difficult to understand and honest representations and discussions of mental health in media can help our society to transform to a place where we understand those nuances,” Stanlick told Thrive.
WPI was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Ed's Teaching Newsletter. Beth McMurtrie, the Chronicle writer, attended a presentation by Geoffrey Pfeifer, associate teaching professor of philosophy and international and global studies, and Derren Rosbach, associate teaching professor of environmental studies, as part of WPI’s 2019 Institute for Project-Based Learning. She wrote about designing project-centered courses for first-year students.
Boston 25 interviewed Suzanne LePage instructor, civil engineering, for its segment on how telecommuting could help ease Boston traffic. “If we’re going to work within the capacity that we have then that seems to me a logical solution,” she said.
Craig Shue, associate professor of computer science and cybersecurity, contributed his thoughts in a Wall Street Journal point-counterpoint opinion piece, “Should Cities Ever Pay Ransom to Hackers?” Shue’s position: “YES: Sometimes, the Benefits of Paying a Ransom Outweigh the Costs."
WPI mechanical engineering professor Greg Fischer, the director of WPI’s Automation and Interventional Medicine Lab, is noted in a story about medical robotics and his research on MRI-compatible robots for cancer therapy.
Danielle Cote, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and Kyle Tsaknopoulos, a postdoctoral fellow at WPI, discuss their $25 million award to advance a cold spray 3D printing technique that could be used to repair military vehicles and equipment. Cote noted that they alter the chemical composition of spray powders, where “a small adjustment in composition can make a big difference.”
Boston 25 reported news about WPI receiving a $25 million award from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory. Danielle Cote, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and director of WPI’s Center for Materials Processing Data, is the principal investigator for the project.
The Worcester Business Journal reported on WPI and the University of Massachusetts Lowell partnering to award more than $111,000 in seed funding to six different teams, focusing on work ranging from human-robot collaboration to cancer detection and rehabilitation for stroke patients.
In Iceland Project Center news, TV news station RUV interviewed Professors and project advisors Fred Looft (16:10, 17:46 marks) and Ingrid Shockey (16:57 mark) about the work students will be undertaking there related to transportation congestion. “They’ll be conducting surveys. I’m sure you’ll see our students around town,” Shockey told RUV.
The Telegram & Gazette’s College Town lead off with the news of WPI rolling out its bachelor’s degree program in data science. The article quoted Elke Rudensteiner, Data Science Program director, “As the availability of vast amounts of digital data increasingly impacts all facets of our daily lives, from health to business to entertainment, it is critical that we build a pipeline of programs to equip more students with the necessary skills for these 21st-century jobs,” she said.
Harold Walker, Schwaber Professor of Environmental Engineering, was interviewed for NPR affiliate WCAI about toxic algae blooms in Cape Cod ponds. In her on-air report, reporter Eve Zuckoff noted her conversation with Walker. “(Walker) basically said we’ve reached a point of high enough risk for ponds that the standard shouldn’t be ‘Is this unsafe?’ but rather, ‘Is there proof that this IS safe?’
WBZ radio interviewed Randy Paffenroth, associate professor of mathematical sciences, computer science, and data science, on his work to make NASA spacecraft lighter and more damage tolerant. “Any mission that NASA wants to do, they have to build spacecraft out of materials, and they want those materials to be stronger, to improve the safety of the spacecraft,” Paffenroth told WBZ. WPI, he said, helps make the materials even better.
WBZ Radio featured WPI’s Fire Protection Engineering Lab, interviewing students and describing the research done there. “WPI boasts the largest fire lab in academia nationwide. They put the lab to good use doing a number of controlled burns over the course of the year,” WBZ reported.
