WPI Research is the research magazine of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It contains news and features about graduate research in the arts and sciences, business, and engineering, along with notes about new grants, books, and faculty achievements.
Issue link: http://wpiresearch.epubxp.com/i/229254
Dirk Albre.,cht* edical Eng.) st. Prof Biom (for As ng, U. California, - PhD. bioengineeri n Diego Sa ckefeller University - Postdoc, The Ro gy/ ical microtechnolo vior, - Strong in biologral dynamics/beha , neu bioMEMS signaling, quantitative neuropeptide sis and modeling, and more! systems analy ic ard at the Scientif - Career Awfrom Burroughs Welcome Fund terface In The phrase that inspired an Iowa farmer to plow up a cornfeld to create a baseball diamond in the classic movie Field of Dreams also rings true when it comes to building a world-class team of researchers and educators at WPI. If you build it, they will come. And as they come, the building gets easier. Scott Barton (for Asst. Prof., Music) - PhD, composition and computer technologies, U. Virginia - Won U. Virginia Grad. School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Fellowship - Expertise: music technology and perception - Composer, musician, producer, programmer, instrument builder Dmitry Berenson (for Asst. Prof. Computer Science) - PhD, robotics, Carnegie Mellon - Postdoc., U. California, Berkeley - Focus: robotic manipulation, motion planning, collaborative robotics - Covered in Nat. Geographic, Sci. American, Fortune; also BBC and PBS To a large degree, the strength and accomplishments of WPI's faculty defne the institution — particularly in the eyes of prospective students and faculty members, and for administrators and faculty at other universities. When the faculty is strong, other strong faculty members are drawn to the university, which helps attract a competitive student body, which brings in accolades and awards, which keeps the cycle going. "That's why we want to compete for the very best," says Eric Overström, WPI's provost and senior vice president. "It's as simple as that. We've made pretty incredible investments in faculty over the last six years or so, and our focus has been on folks who embrace not only cutting-edge research, but also the project-based learning curriculum and strategy that WPI has practiced for almost 150 years." Counting the 13 tenure-track faculty members who joined the university this fall, WPI has recruited more than 90 new educators and scholars since 2006. That amounts to flling more than a third of the Institute's approximately 250 tenured and tenure-track faculty positions in a very short period of time. Like the satisfying crack of a well-hit fastball, the results of this remarkable building period have resounded through laboratories, classrooms, and offces all across campus and down Salisbury Street to the growing life sciences–focused campus at Gateway Park. If you build it, 26 > wpi.edu/+research *The faculty members featured on these pages were all recruited in 2012.