Global Projects Program

As part of their Interactive Qualifying Project, four students at WPI's Nantucket Project Center are conducting a survey about usage of the Nantucket Community Pool. The project, in partnership with the Nantucket Community School, is one of 89 projects that WPI students have conducted at the project center since 2008 in collaboration with local organizations and town officials. “These projects have covered a wide variety of topics in areas such as energy conservation, museum studies, parks and recreation, coastal erosion, parking, sustainable agriculture, affordable housing, facilities management, light pollution, and town trees," said Nantucket Project Center Director Dominic Golding.

Nantucket is working in partnership with four WPI students and the non-profit Nantucket Lights on a project to reduce light pollution. As part of the students’ Interactive Qualifying Project, the students will take feedback from residents on new LED streetlights and potential future lighting decisions as part of the town's adoption of an outdoor lighting by-law.

An article in Australia's Waste Management Review highlighted the work of WPI students during their Interactive Qualifying Project at the Melbourne Project Center. The students helped Jesuit Social Services' Ecological Justice Hub to support local recycling solutions by designing a plastic recycling assembly line to collect, sort, and recycle bottle caps and turn them into new products. In March, the student team was honored for its work as winners of the Forum on Education Abroad's Award for Academic Achievement Abroad.

“WPI is making contributions to global efforts around sustainability, climate adaptation, social equity and global health.” Mimi Sheller, dean of The Global School, discusses the global impact of WPI faculty and students; and the dynamic environment and cross-institutional collaboration generated by Worcester’s colleges and universities.