Robots, haunted houses, championships, some pretty groundbreaking new shoes—October at WPI had all that and more. Check out what we’ve been up to this month, compliments of our talented staff photographers and videographers.
The month began with WPI’s first Social Justice Summit, where faculty, staff, and students gathered to discuss social justice in STEM and shape the future of social justice at WPI. The event featured a keynote by IBM software engineer and social activist Asima Silva ’01, '02 (MS CS).
Braving all that Boston traffic a few weeks ago was well worth it for the WPI women’s rowing team as the varsity eight earned its first-ever medal with a third-place finish at the historic Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge.
Another year, another championship. For the third time, Team Bite Force, led by Paul Ventimiglia ’12, was crowned BattleBots World Champion, and the WPI community got to celebrate with Bite Force and other robotics superstars during a finale watch party in the Odeum.
The Alliance celebrated National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), when our community comes together to continue to ensure WPI is a safe and inclusive place for all.
WPI’s commitment to strengthening the STEM pipeline isn’t limited to students, as evident by the STEM Faculty Launch. Open to participants worldwide, the annual two-day workshop is designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral researchers start their academic careers in the STEM fields, and offers interactive sessions, career advice, feedback from WPI faculty.
Rain, shmain—despite the weather, the WPI community still showed up in full force to celebrate Homecoming 2018 with games, food, goats, and, of course, more school spirit than can be contained in a single day.
WPI (led by the STEM Education Center and Pre-Collegiate Outreach Programs) participated in the state’s first annual STEM Week (Oct. 22–26), hosting several STEM-related activities and events for students of all ages, with a particular emphasis on students approaching college age. Lieutenant governor Karyn Polito visited WPI during the Girls VEX IQ Robotics Team event, where participants worked together to build competition-ready robots.
There was no shortage of Halloween spirit on campus this year, from the Student Alumni Society's annual Haunted Higgins House to students, faculty, and staff donning costumes throughout the day. (By the way, can someone tell us if this is Groot? Swamp Thing? An Ent? We have no idea, but one thing's for sure: whatever it is, it's awesome.)
The Hispanic and Caribbean Student Association held a “Taste of Latin America” dinner on October 24 featuring food from local Hispanic and Caribbean restaurants, musical performances, and guest speakers. As if that wasn’t enough, all proceeds from the evening went to the Save the Children Foundation.
The Hulk’s got nothing on the brothers of Sigma Pi, who partnered with the sisters of Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, and Theta Nu Xi to raise philanthropy funds through their annual car smash earlier this month. The event wouldn't have been complete without the attendance of WPI Police Officer Robert Vandal (center), who was recently honored with the Dr. Robert L. Burns Award for his work as advisor to the WPI chapter of Sigma Pi.
