Of the more than 2,200 alumni across a span of 39 years who responded to the 2021 survey on the impact of their project experiences:
Meet our PBL Experts
The goal of Professor Bakermans' research program is to promote the conservation of biodiversity by maintaining viable wildlife populations across the landscape. Specifically, her research addresses the influence of anthropogenic disturbances, like forest management, urbanization, and agriculture, on wildlife. She says it's her goal to open students' eyes to the evolving and interconnected world of science by using my research as an example of how to assimilate science and the role of conserv[...]
Professor Boudreau's research in literature, culture, and education is unified by broad concerns for justice, inclusion, and social progress. Her literary scholarship considers the ways literature helps to advance social progress and justice, while her educational research investigates educational environments and works to develop pedagogies and content that open STEM education to broader populations by bringing the humanities and arts to scientific and technical subjects.
Her expertise[...]
Professor Davis is a scholar of 20th century U.S. history, focusing specifically on topics of race, gender, legal history, and critical prison studies.
Professor Gericke is a biophysical chemist studying lipid mediated protein functions using calorimetric, spectroscopic, and advanced microscopic techniques. An area of particular interest is phosphoinositide mediated signaling.
Professor Heinricher is the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. As dean, he is responsible for ensuring the quality and effectiveness of all aspects of the undergraduate experience at WPI, providing leadership and working with the faculty to implement new undergraduate curricular and structural changes. He is also a Professor of Mathematics.
Professor Rodriguez's research program uses a biopsychosocial approach to study health and health behaviors. She conducts research at the intersection of social phenomena (such as weight stigma), biomarkers (such as the stress hormone cortisol), and psychological factors (such as perceived stress and body image). Her work follows two core arcs investigating (1) biopsychosocial predictors and consequences of eating, not eating (i.e. dieting), and obesity; and (2) weight stigma and its conseque[...]
Professor Pfeifer’s research focus in philosophy is on contemporary continental philosophy, social and political philosophy, global justice, and development ethics. He teaches philosophy courses, international studies courses, and for the Great Problems Seminars—WPI’s distinctive first-year, project-based, interdisciplinary program that explores the many facets of a great global problem.
In addition, in the area of pedagogical research, Pfeifer, in collaboration with his colleague[...]
Professor Rissmiller has served in a number of leadership positions associated with WPI's global studies, including most recently as The Global School dean, ad interim. He also teaches government, law, and public policy, directs the Pre-Law program, and oversees the Law and Technology minor. His own research is in energy policy. His studies have addressed the restructuring of the electric industry, energy conservation in hospitals, and the Green Communities Program in Massachusetts, among oth[...]
Professor San Martin is a historian of science, environmental change, and public policy. His work examines the history of the science-policy interface to inform contemporary debates on environmental governance. I specialize in international development, global environmental policy, climate justice, animal rights, conservation, and sustainable development in Latin America and the Global South.
Mimi Sheller is the Dean of The Global School at WPI. She is a widely cited expert in the post-colonial context of the Caribbean, with particular expertise on Haiti. Sheller also founded and directed the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, an interdisciplinary field that studies the movement of people, objects, and information, as well as the complex new mobilities (and immobilities) that are afforded by changing technologies and infrastructures. Sheller can also provide insight i[...]
Professor Smith is an award-winning game designer. Her interdisciplinary work merges technical research in AI and HCI with creative practice in textiles and games, with a view towards addressing social issues and broadening participation and perspectives on computing.
Sarah Stanlick, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in The Global School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Her research interests include vulnerable populations, health and human rights, global and local citizenship, and technology's impact on empowerment and capacity to build community. It is also of note, she assisted the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power during her time at Harvard.
Professor Stanlick directs WPI’s signature first-year experience program, the&n[...]
Professor Stoddard is a human-environment geographer who is interested in the intersection of nature, society, and social justice. She looks at the ways in which farmed animal production can create environmental hazards and injustice for local communities, including water, air, and soil pollution, as well as the spread of disease. She examines how a changing climate and global economy can exacerbate these issues. Stoddard also looks at the ability of social movements to make powerful changes,[...]
Professor Telliel teaches a range of courses on ethics, rhetoric, religion and culture, and science and technology studies. His current research examines the ethical implications of technologist's work as designers and maintainers of socio-technical systems, such as what counts as a "social and ethical issue" from technologists' perspective and in what ways do they engage with questions of social complexity, diversity, and inequality? He is also part of several interdisciplinary initiatives a[...]
As director of WPI’s Center for Project-Based Learning (PBL), Dr. Kris Wobbe has worked with peers across higher education, nationally and internationally, to facilitate the advancement of project-based learning, tailored for their students, their curriculum, and their institutions. She draws upon over 25 years of extensive PBL experience including leading a first-year, interdisciplinary, project-based program and integration of projects into coursework as a professor of biochemistry.[...]
