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.
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."
Worcester Magazine reported on WPI alum and Board of Trustees member Robert Hart ’79. Hart, CEO and president of Los Angeles-based TruAmerica Multifamily, and a founding partner in Benedict Canyon Equities of Los Angeles, has plans for the 24-story Skymark Tower apartment building in downtown Worcester that Benedict Canyon Equities purchased last year. Hart outlines renovations and building improvements that are under way.
The Telegram and Gazette covered the crossing of Earle Bridge by the Class of 2024, which took place Aug. 30. One of WPI’s most sacred annual traditions to welcome each new class, this year’s bridge crossing (socially distanced) was coordinated by the Student Alumni Society.
WPI student Manjusha Chava '22 was featured in the Wall Street Journal article. Chava talked about how she was able to pivot her internship role at the industrial automation company Alert Innovation to a remote setup when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and still have a successful experience.
President Leshin was interviewed about WPI’s fall reopening on NBC 10 Boston Facebook Live.“We’ve got to figure out how we can live and learn with COVID,” she said. “We’re going to learn from all of this.”
Jeanine Skorinko, professor of psychology, was mentioned in The New York Times article. Skorinko said people's behavior in the new, COVID-19 normal will reflect what they perceive others to be doing. "If your group keeps social-distancing rules, talks quietly, and avoids sharing drinks, you’re likely to follow suit," for example.
NBC 10 Boston reported on the checklist WPI is recommending for students to follow in order to safely return to campus in the fall. “This is all about helping ensure that the experience students have is as low-risk and as seamless as possible,” Emily Perlow, assistant dean of students, told NBC Boston. (Clips begins at the 00:23 mark).
More than 150 media outlets, including The Oklahoman and The Pittsburg Post-Gazette, reported on Eric Young, Leonard P. Kinnicutt Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at WPI, who received four separate grants totaling more than $2 million to support his research into using yeast and fungi to take on significant genetic engineering challenges. Through his research in synthetic biology, Young aims to engineer organisms to make it easier to develop numerous products, like medicines, biofuels, and plastics, and increase security by developing a new method to detect hidden underground explosives.
WPI’s new TechFlex was noted in the MassLive report. TechFlex is WPI’s reworking of teaching and learning for the upcoming academic year, grounded in all that is distinctive about the WPI experience, and designed to support students in person and remotely.
The Boston Globe quoted President Leshin in their article. “Every single one of the presidents is taking this work incredibly seriously,” Leshin told The Globe. “They see these decisions as being the most important of their professional careers."
The Worcester Business Journal featured WPI university research in their article. Yan Wang, William Smith Dean’s Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is principal investigator of the three-year project.
President Leshin was quoted in the Commonwealth article. Leshin served as the higher education representative on the Massachusetts reopening board headed by the lieutenant governor. Leshin told Commonwealth that Polito took the weight of the Massachusetts reopening decisions seriously, listening to various opinions, acknowledging that the group needed to act with imperfect information.
Vox noted the work of Jennifer Wilcox, James H. Manning Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering, and her team (scroll down to caption under Figure 4.5) in their article.
WPI was one of the many Worcester colleges noted in the Telegram & Gazette article defending international students’ rights to higher education in the United States. President Leshin spoke about the importance of educating all students, including those from around the world: “WPI has a proud history of welcoming and educating students and scholars from around the world,” she said. “These future STEM leaders are important members of our community, and this week’s action by ICE threatens their educational success.”
Andrew B. Palumbo, dean of admissions and financial aid, was interviewed for The Chronicle of Higher Education article. “The playbook goes out the window,” he said. “It’s a scary thing on one hand, but it’s also somewhat refreshing. It opens us up to innovate.”
President Leshin was interviewed for the Boston Business Journal. she describes the impact on college and university presidents of having to make decisions on how to approach the Fall semester/term.
IEEE Spectrum recapped President Leshin’s interview with a high school student as part of a series by MassRobotics “How to Be a Robotocist.” (scroll down to Robotics Debate subhead, 3:59 mark).
New England Cable News featured an interview with President Leshin. ”I think every campus across the commonwealth is making plans that will allow them to reopen and also plans in case they cannot,” she said.
President Leshin, President Laurie Leshin, who serves as the higher education representative on the advisory board Gov. Charlie Baker established to plan for the state's economic reopening, was interviewed on the podcast AICUM Insight (Association of Independent Colleges & Universities in Mass.). She spoke about, among other things, the difficult issues colleges and universities face during the pandemic. “I think our job in this moment is just to be as transparent as we can possibly be. If we’re going to have communities back together…it’s our job to continue to work to stop the spread of this virus,” she said.
The Worcester Business Journal included President Leshin’s thoughts in this article, (scroll up to 3rd article from bottom). “The protests of the past few days, ignited by the killing of George Floyd, but truly fueled by the continued targeting, demonization, and abuse of black people across our country, highlight legitimate anger, which I share,” Leshin wrote. “The uprising we’re now seeing points to the significant work we still have to do as a society to confront and eliminate racism. I stand with those who are outraged at the senseless loss of black lives.”
The Shelter Island Reporter covered the work WPI students Carly Campbell, Anna Carriero, Alaa Hassan, Brandon Weyant and Georgianna Wood, all of the Class of 2020, did during their MQP at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm. The students designed a modern wind energy system to augment the farm's windmill and its future energy production potential.
