This academic year WPI is initiating the Worcester Community Project Center (WCPC), to improve WPI s service to the Worcester community through enhancing outreach from WPI faculty, graduates, and students, specifically through locally-sponsored projects relating to science, technology and society (the Interactive Qualifying Project or IQP), which is a degree requirement unique to WPI.
The Goal of the WCPC is as follows: to assist organizations in Worcester in addressing and solving policy issues where contributions from WPI s scientifically-oriented students and faculty are especially helpful. Through carrying out projects involving both technological and societal dimensions (the IQP) with Worcester sponsors, WPI students will develop a better understanding of how their professional practice will affect community structures and values.
For local charitable, educational and civic organizations, the WCPC will provide student and faculty teams to define and research a specific problem. Typically, each project team of three students will devote 1000 hours to producing their project reports, usually working full time for two months. These projects will result in professional-level reports proposing solutions to the problem that are financially, technically and socially acceptable. The sponsoring agency will obtain proposed solutions to a problem of direct concern to them, the value of which will result in part from their own resource investment to support the student team. Thus, the WCPC provides the community with efficient and very low cost professional-level consulting and problem-solving services to address issues that require both societal and technological skills to produce useful results. This fall five teams of three students will begin work on the projects listed below. Before starting their full-time project work at their sponsor s site in the city, the students will participate in an introductory course to learn about the political, economic and cultural forces at play in the community. The intent is to provide them with the context needed to carry out their projects and to make them more likely to participate in civic responsibilities during and after their projects. The five projects for the fall are as follows:
Marketing Worcester, sponsored by Susan Black, Director of Marketing, City of Worcester. Two projects are planned, marketing a) the Worcester Convention Center and b) the Commons outside City Hall. Students will prepare background materials to solicit users of these two locations by (a) examining how other cities our size carry out this work, (b) helping to identify resources and data available to make this case, and (c) helping in preparing the “”story”" Worcester needs to tell to attract users in competitive environments.
Re-developing Industrial Areas for New Uses, sponsor, Dave Forsberg, Worcester Business Development Corporation. This project will very likely focus on the redevelopment of the Prescott Street industrial area, behind Grove Street and within one mile of WPI. WPI itself will likely be an institutional player in the process. The project will address the issues of “”brown field remediation”" financial, technical and political, and assist WBDC in planning and redevelopment of specific sites.
Pre-engineering curriculum in the Worcester Public Schools, sponsored by the WPS with the direct support of the superintendent and deputy superintendent. The project will look largely at the social and learning issues of introducing and supporting a pre-engineering curriculum in grades 9-12 at nearby Doherty High School, where WPI will be expected to provide some on-going support to the program. The curriculum will be selected before the students begin work; their task will be to help implement it including developing materials for classroom use and teacher professional development.
Internet Access Issues for Internet2 Connectivity in Worcester, sponsored by the Worcester Information Technology Project (WitP). A major social issue in IT is access to computers and the Internet for those with lower incomes. Students will examine the technologies available to connect lower-income households and the social and economic issues raised by a commitment to connect “”everyone to the Internet”" (as in the last century, the US took steps to connect everyone to the power grid and the telephone system.)
Contact person: Lance E. Schachterle, Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs, es {at} wpi(.)edu
