The Month in Photos: November 2020

It may have looked different than in years past, but our Founders Day celebration still got two thumbs up from participating students, faculty, and staff.​

Does it get any better than Roxane Gay describing your work as “delightful and imaginative, sometimes strange and sometimes disturbing but always absorbing and beautifully written”? For assistant professor of creative writing Kate McIntyre, the answer’s yes—when Gay chose her short story collection Mad Prairie as the winner of the prestigious Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.

The City of Worcester celebrated Veterans Day this year with the dedication of a new World War I memorial designed by associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of architectural engineering program Steven Van Dessel.

Who was more excited for the recent hot dog giveaway hosted by the Dean of Students Office as part of the Funday Friday series—WPI students, or the Dean of Students staff themselves?

The Global School’s virtual event series continued this month, with the latest presentation focusing on the university’s rich partnerships and deep engagements with organizations based and doing work in sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana’s ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, delivered the keynote speech.

An authority on real-world evidence, Marni Hall ‘97 is one of many WPI alumni using their talents, passions, and expertise to help the nation—and the world—grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The International Dinner is a highlight year after year, and thanks to the determination of the International Student and Scholars Office and International Student Council—combined with a little of that WPI ingenuity we all know and love—it kept going strong this year in a to-go format. Bon appétit!

The end of the term is coming; make sure to take a break to recharge! We’ll save an Adirondack chair for you.

80 ROTC cadets from WPI and the Worcester Consortium schools conducted training and other drills at Fort Devens earlier this month, taking what they learned in the classroom and applying it to the field.

As the WPI community headed into a well-deserved break to celebrate Thanksgiving, President Leshin took a few minutes to share what she’s thankful for this holiday season (hint: it includes all of us).

Remember the sticky note art students created a few months ago? Well, WPI faculty and staff shared some art of their own as part of the first Founders Day Window Decorating Contest. The names of students who correctly guessed which founder was the inspiration for each design were entered into a prize raffle.

Assistant professor in robotics engineering and biomedical engineering Haichong Zhang was awarded a $300,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support work he is conducting with an international team to build a robotic ultrasound machine to detect COVID-19 symptoms in the lungs to better protect healthcare providers.