The Month in Photos: January 2025

We’re still basking in the glow of a recent demonstration of what teamwork can accomplish: Student teams in last fall’s “Shelter the World” Great Problems Seminar collaborated with the City of Worcester on a proposed homeless resource center.  

Seniors on both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were honored at the Menck Invitational. Photo credit: Nicole Miller ’24, MS ’25 

The start of the spring semester brings new graduate students to campus and WPI greets them wholeheartedly. Before heading out to classrooms and research labs, new students meet each other and faculty members during orientation events. 

January ended on a high note with the presentation of the prestigious President’s IQP Awards for the top five 2024 Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQPs). Students were honored for outstanding project-based research that explores issues at the intersection of science, technology, and human needs. 

At the women’s track and field BU Terrier Classic, Rayna Thompson ’28 powered to a collegiate best in the 60-meter (7.97 seconds) and then logged the seventh-fastest time in program history in the 200-meter (25.77 seconds). Photo credit: Troy Hendricks/WPI Athletics 

WPI welcomed Liaohai “Leo” Chen as the new director of both PracticePoint, the university’s health care technology research and development facility, and the Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center at Gateway Park. Chen previously oversaw a $20 million surgical robotics training facility while at the University of Illinois Chicago and anticipates connecting students and faculty with startup companies and industry leaders. 

Learning about your project center’s host country is part of the Global Projects Program experience—and it’s usually also a whole lot of fun. Students in the Monteverde, Costa Rica Project Center spent some time exploring the outdoors in their C-Term 2025 home.  

For more than two decades, VOX, WPI’s student musical theatre company, has been a creative outlet and a community fixture. In January, the group again showed its production talents with the presentation of the C-Term show Ride the Cyclone in Alden Memorial.

Jessi Hill’s dream to become a psychologist blossomed when she was 10 years old—and she’s never wavered from that goal. As director of the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center and a professor in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, Hill noted in a recent Q&A that, “WPI feels like this little haven of rationality where people are dedicated to student excellence.”   

During the men’s basketball win over Clark, Tim Reidy ’25 posted a scoring career high of 22 points—and then broke it two days later by netting 23 points in a game against Springfield.  Photo credit: Abi Rauch ’24 

The end of B-Term brings the annual Poster Presentation Days to celebrate the accomplishments of first-year students in the research-immersive, two-term Great Problems Seminar. After tackling challenging issues from clean water to recycling, students presented their findings to the community. 

WPI wrestler Ethan Edmondson ’25 (pictured) and teammates posted victories during meets against Bridgewater State, Maine Maritime, and Wesleyan that contributed to one of the best season starts in the program's history. Photo credit: Geoff Riccio