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Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Tennessee State University (TSU) will launch early-stage, interdisciplinary research projects with support from new “seed” grants funded by John T. (Jack) Mollen, WPI trustee emeritus. The Worcester Polytechnic Institute–Tennessee State University Collaborative Seed Funding Program will provide $20,000 each to four teams composed of WPI and TSU researchers. The teams will use the one-year grants to develop plans for joint research initiatives that could potentially attract government or industry funding. “We are grateful to Jack Mollen for his generous gift, which will enable collaborations between two universities with complementary research strengths and expertise,” says Bogdan Vernescu, WPI vice president and vice provost for research and innovation. “The seed funding will support researchers during the early stages of their work to develop innovative projects with the potential to address important scientific and technological problems.” Mollen served as a WPI trustee from 2007 to 2022 and received an honorary degree from the university in 2023. He was chairman of the WPI Board of Trustees from 2016 to 2021 and again briefly in 2022. “Research collaborations between institutions have the power to tap expertise that may not exist at a single institution,” Mollen says. “I hope WPI and TSU researchers will build long-lasting ties that will benefit both institutions and lead to innovative breakthroughs.” TSU, one of the country’s historically Black colleges and universities, is a public, land-grant university located in Nashville, Tenn. TSU is home to a range of research in science, technology, agriculture, engineering, and mathematics fields.  “This seed-grant partnership between our institutions strengthens and expands the research collaboration between Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Tennessee State University, and it enables our institutions to advance critical technology and innovation priorities of national importance,” says Quincy Quick, TSU chief research officer and associate vice president for research and sponsored programs. “Led by TSU researchers in the colleges of Engineering and Agriculture, cornerstones of the university’s research enterprise, this initiative aligns with the state of Tennessee’s strategic investments in artificial intelligence and innovation. WPI investigators bring unparalleled expertise that complements TSU’s strengths, creating a highly synergistic partnership. Beyond the immediate objectives of this seed grant, the collaboration establishes a strong foundation for pursuing significantly larger, externally funded research initiatives while enhancing the research capacity of both institutions to make meaningful contributions in applied artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, and other emerging technologies.” Grant funding will be divided equally between WPI and TSU researchers. The four projects will focus on food safety, agriculture, quantum sensing, and sustainable buildings. 

It’s no secret that higher education is facing multiple headwinds these days. What isn’t as widely reported, though, is that project-based learning—the active learning approach that’s at the core of WPI’s curriculum—can offer some protection from those headwinds. Last month WPI convened about 70 college and university faculty and administrators to strategize innovative, yet realistic, ways to harness project-based learning (PBL) to ensure that higher education not only remains relevant for students but also prepares them to succeed in an increasingly unpredictable career landscape.  “The proof, we like to say at WPI, is in the projects,” said WPI President Grace Wang. “We know that a project-based curriculum challenges students the right way, with complex, real-world problems. They work in teams. They ask questions. They test ideas. They adjust when the path is unclear. They learn to lead and to listen. They grow through adversity as well as success. The result is a degree with enduring value—and graduates who enter the workforce ready to contribute with confidence for the full length of their careers.” The two-day Symposium on Project-Based Learning included panel discussions, workshops, and plenary sessions featuring WPI faculty and alumni as well as faculty from other colleges and universities and staff from national education organizations, including the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the Lumina Foundation, an independent organization focused on strengthening the effectiveness of higher education. Speakers and participants shared multiple perspectives on how PBL can be leveraged today to prepare students for tomorrow’s jobs in a rapidly changing AI-driven economy. 

Researchers led by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Assistant Professor Jiawei Yang have designed a modular system that could potentially improve hydrogel implants in the body by customizing the materials for stiffness and functionality. At left, hydrogels developed by Jiawei Yang and a team of researchers exhibit different colors according to their coatings. At right, a microscopic image of a hydrogel surface. Photos courtesy of Jiawei Yang. The system, described in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, uses coatings to treat the surface of hydrogels, which are flexible, water-loaded polymers. The researchers reported that by customizing different types of hydrogels with unique coatings, they were able to create two distinct hydrogel implants that maintained adhesion in living tissue and resisted an immune system response.  “It is difficult for a material with a single chemical composition to play two distinct roles in an implant,” says Yang, a faculty member in the WPI Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. “We addressed that by developing a way to customize hydrogel implants with two sets of chemical compositions that can be tailored to address specific needs and achieve better results.” The research addresses two critical challenges in the design of hydrogel implants—functionality and immune rejection. In the body, hydrogel implants need to adhere to tissues that may have different levels of stiffness, ranging from soft tissues in the brain to stiffer tissues in muscles and cartilage. Hydrogel implants also need to function, perhaps by delivering medicine to tissue or holding a device in place.  Increasing the stiffness of a hydrogel implant to meet the needs of stiffer tissues, however, can alert the immune system to a foreign body. One particularly challenging immune system response is fibrosis, in which the body produces collagen to encapsulate an implant with a thick, dense covering. Once encapsulated, an implant can stop functioning.