A photo of pink flowers in focus with campus out of focus behind them.

The Month in Photos: April 2021

May 13, 2021

April showers usually bring May flowers, but this year, they brought a little bit more: new research and projects, seesaw marathons, virtual panels and lectures, and a LEGO campus, to be precise. Check out what the WPI community was up to this month, courtesy of our staff photographers.

Topics
Month in Photos
DEPARTMENT(S)
Facilities Office
|
Mechanical & Materials Engineering
PROFILE(S)
Jianyu Liang
|
Brajendra Mishra
|
Diran Apelian

In a true interdisciplinary effort, WPI undergraduates Mia Buccowich ’22, Brian Fay ’22, and Andy Strauss ’23, led by Marko Popovic, assistant research professor of robotics engineering, have developed a partial hand prosthetic to help University of Houston student Payton Heiberger regain functionality following the loss of two of her fingers in a devastating car accident.

 

Who’s ready for some video games? We sure are—the award-winning Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDigi) has announced that it will be making the move to WPI this summer.

 

Composite image of teaching professors who have been promoted.

Thirteen full-time teaching professors at WPI were awarded promotions in academic rank this month, including seven who were promoted to full teaching professors.

 

There are lots of different ways to raise money for charities and nonprofits, but one of the most delicious (and fun)? Lambda Chi Alpha’s annual Watermelon Bash, which saw $650 raised for Friendly House, countless memories made, and just as many watermelons bashed.

 

And the crowd goes wild!

Members of the LEGO Club have been hard at work not just on academics, but on building a LEGO version of campus—really, is there anything WPI students can’t do?

 

Zoom screenshot of panelists

The latest in WPI’s Critical Conversations series focused on the important topic of student mental health. The multidisciplinary panel discussed ways students can not only alleviate their own stress but reach out to their peers and build trust and community.

 

Sometimes the best views of campus come when you’re at the top of a seesaw; just ask members of Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Chi Rho, who spent a week teeter-tottering to raise money for Fighting Hunger and Habitat for Humanity. 

 

A cupcake giveaway, Day of Silence, tie-dye event, Lesbian Day of Visibility, and more—the Alliance hosted a variety of events all over campus to celebrate Pride Week.

 

Many of the Asian cultural clubs on campus came together to host this year’s Pan-Asian festival on Higgins House Lawn.

 

Happy (belated) Birthday, Gompei—you don’t look a day over 128. 

 

SocComm’s annual QuadFest gave students the chance to participate in giveaways, movie nights, and other activities to cap off a year like no other.

 

Facilities is one of the many departments that has been working tirelessly to keep WPI running over the past year. WPI seniors thanked them with coffee and donuts in the Campus Center.

 

WPI researchers pour molten metal into a preheated investment casting mold.

With support from the Department of Defense, professor of mechanical engineering Jianyu Liang; Kenneth G. Merriam Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of WPI’s Metal Processing Institute (MPI) Brajendra Mishra; affiliate professor of MPI Diran Apelian; and George F. Fuller Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Center for Heat Treating Excellence within MPI Richard Sisson are helping the U.S. military to optimize mobile manufacturing labs, a new process that could enable remote units to turn waste metal into critical replacement parts.

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