Graduate Student and Postdoc Newsletter
Graduate Student Newsletter
March 13, 2025 Edition
Announcements
Graduate Student Health & Wellness Series:
Financial Wellness March 18 4pm – 5pm Unity Hall 420. Join the Office of Financial Aid for a workshop to enhance your financial wellness and provide you resources that will support you with items like protecting yourself from identity theft, buying a home, and building up your credit. Refreshments will be served. Please register here.
EXPLORE THE INTERSECTION OF SCIENCE + INNOVATION - A Life Sciences Career Expo | Worcester Polytechnic Institute For current and aspiring scientists in the field, there’s no better place to advance your career than at the Life Sciences Expo. The life sciences industry is exploding in WPI’s backyard, with big names like AbbVie, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Insulet, UMass Chan Medical School, and more carving out a foothold in Worcester County. Meet with those and other potential employers.
Check out Catalyst – WPI Graduate and Professional Studies Blog. Catalyst offers practical tips, professional development tools, and discussions of hot topics in STEM with insights direct from WPI's labs, researchers, and industry experts.
Career and Professional Development
Grad Student Training and Readiness Sessions (STARS)
- Grad Alumni/Career Panel March 21. 12-1 PM via Zoom. The panel session will feature several WPI graduate alumni, both Masters and PhDs, and will cover their career paths and provide advice on career advancement. Registration required.
WPI students are invited to participate in WPI’s 17th Annual Sustainability Project Showcase, hosted by the Office of Sustainability and Gordon Library! Submissions are open to any student project that tackles a sustainability-related problem, local or global, with consideration to at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Registration opens on March 17th. Find key dates here.
2025 NextProf Nexus Future Faculty Workshop September 8 – 11, 2025 This 3-day workshop is intended for senior-level Ph.D. candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scientists or researchers in the field of Engineering. This preeminent event is designed to give participants the opportunity to explore and prepare for a faculty position in academia.
Social, Community, and Wellness Activities
Graduate Student Health & Wellness Series:
Financial Wellness March 18 4pm – 5pm Unity Hall 420 Join the Office of Financial Aid for a workshop to enhance your financial wellness and provide you resources that will support you with items like protecting yourself from identity theft, buying a home, and building up your credit. Refreshments will be served. Please register here.
Energizing Meditations April 8 12pm – 1pm Salisbury Labs Feeling the weight of the semester? Tired? Tough to get motivated? Learn Energizing Meditation practices that will help revive you. Lunch will be served. Please register here.
March Wellness Day – March 31, 2025
- 11am – 12pm: Start your Herb Garden- From Seed to Table, location TBD. Come to pot cilantro, mint or basil. Register here.
- 3pm – 4pm: Graduate Online Meditation Session – Join other Graduate Students to engage in a short meditation practice followed by a time to meet fellow graduate students. Register here.
Registration is still open for D-term Graduate Student ProjectConnect! ProjectConnect is a fun, 6-session peer-led program to help you build community on campus. Questions can be sent to cwb@wpi.edu
Registration is still Open for Intro to Mindfulness Meditation in D-Term MIEA Intro to Mindfulness is a four-week evidence-based mindfulness curriculum that runs Mondays, 4:45 to 6:00pm, Mar 17 to Apr 14 (skip Mar 31, wellness day).
Internships/Job Opportunities/Employer Info Sessions
Heebner Career Development Center
Check out upcoming Talent Tabling: Chemtek on March 18th 9am – 2pm, Amazon, March 26th 9am – 3pm and City of Worcester Emergency Community Response Team, April 3rd 10am – 2pm.
How to Ace your Interview as a Master’s Student: A webinar by Beyond Graduate School March 19th 2pm – 2:30pm. Whether you’ve already booked your first screening interview, or you’re wondering what to expect, this webinar will help you prepare for your first meeting with an employer.
WPI VIRTUAL CAREER FAIR – April 17th 12pm-4pm – Register on Handshake.
EXPLORE THE INTERSECTION OF SCIENCE + INNOVATION - A Life Sciences Career Expo | Worcester Polytechnic Institute For current and aspiring scientists in the field, there’s no better place to advance your career than at the Life Sciences Expo. The life sciences industry is exploding in WPI’s backyard, with big names like AbbVie, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Insulet, UMass Chan Medical School, and more carving out a foothold in Worcester County. Meet with those and other potential employers.
Funding Opportunities and Competitions
Celdara Medical Fellowship: experiential learning opportunity for student and post doctoral researchers Entrepreneurial skills are critical for many high-impact careers, including academia, biotech, healthcare, private practice, investing, and consulting. Our fellowship program is a 1 day/week commitment for a period of 9 months. This is expected to be in addition to the participants’ current responsibilities in academic research. Interested applicants should submit a cover letter (2 page maximum) and their CV to chef@celdaramedical.com
Sigma Xi Virtual Student Research Showcase March 30th – April 13th, 2025. Students compete for awards and recognition of outstanding virtual research presentations. Learn more here.
Search Graduate and Postdoc Funding Opportunities at the UCLA GRAPES Database. Over 625 scholarships and fellowships listed.
Volunteer and Community Service Opportunities
Volunteer for WOMEN in STEM DAY We are excited to announce the 3rd Women in STEM Day will take place at WPI on Saturday, March 29! We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help make the day a success as we inspire the next generation of young women in STEM through hands-on workshops, inspirational conversations, and a team design challenge! Volunteer here or contact nmanterni@wpi.edu with any questions!
Highlighted Resources
Resources If You’re Facing Difficulties
Sometimes an unforeseen situation arises, and you need some emergency help. WPI has a few resources that can assist you in times of need.
- Hull Loan Fund Immediate short-term loan for emergencies and unforeseen situations. The loans are generally $25-$300, 0% interest, and expected to be repaid in 30 days.
- Emergency Assistance Fund This grant fund can help provide support up to $1,000 for unforeseen medical bills, expenses, or other hardships. The application is available on the Dean of Students’ website.
- Food Insecurity If you are experiencing hunger issues or food insecurity, reach out to the Dean of Students Office for help. They can offer you both short-term and long-term solutions.
Contact the Dean of Students Office staff at dean_of_students@wpi.edu for additional information
Latest Announcements - For Employees
- Cybersecurity Webinar on 3/19Come join us on Wednesday, 3/19 at 2:00PM ET for our webinar, Information Security Journey. It is about how members of WPI's Information Security team arrived in their roles. Plenty of time to ask questions, or submit in advance at registration! Please register on this Microsoft Form to receive the Zoom link. For more information about cybersecurity careers, check out SECURE IT - March 2025.
- Don't forget to Apply! Undergraduate Awards Deadline is Approaching.Applications for Undergraduate Awards Kranich & Two Towers awards are due on Friday, March 21st. Don't miss out on the opportunity to be recognized for your outstanding work. If you have additional questions, please contact undergradstudies@wpi.edu.
- Happy Pi Day 2025!Pi Day (March 14) is celebrated around the world and has a very special place at W∏! It's also the International Day of Mathematics, with this year's theme "Mathematics, Art, and Creativity"! March 14 also happens to be the birthday of Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879)! Explore more ∏ today! Check out this article about "The story of the circle" to learn all about Pi. Memorize more digits! First 100: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679… Pick up a book at Gordon Library about Pi! [Pi]: a biography of the world's most mysterious number, by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann (2004) (print) Pi: a sourcebook, J.L. Berggren et al (2004) (online) The joy of Pi, David Blattner (1997) (print) Listen to Kate Bush's "Pi" on YouTube: "Of course, this song could of been much, much longer into Infinity and Beyond...." Happy P∏ Day W∏!!
- WPI Students Providing Sounds to Go With Sights at Planned EcoTarium ExhibitStudents in Assistant Teaching Professor David Ibbett's Music and Science: Climate Change class recently collaborated with the EcoTarium in Worcester. The group developed prototype audio and visual technology enhancements for the nature and science museum's planned re-imagination of its African Communities exhibit. The technology will help the museum update the space to become more accessible, interactive, and engaging, while educating guests about the impact of climate change on African animal habitats. The work was one of several ongoing partnerships between the university and the EcoTarium. Just last year, the museum went live with a navigational app developed by a student Major Qualifying Project (MQP).
- Cybersecurity Careers - SECURE IT March 2025Dive into the dynamic realm of cybersecurity careers in this month’s SECURE IT newsletter, which includes videos, self-paced training, and resources from the Heebner Career Development Center (HCDC). Stay ahead of the curve and unlock new opportunities with information security! Special thanks to Sue Levine in the HCDC for providing several career resources. In this issue: Careers in Cybersecurity Heebner Career Development Center Resources Learning with Laughter From the CISTO Information Security Journey - Webinar Featured Videos By the Numbers Self-Paced Training Diversity in Cybersecurity
- Student Voices Page Shows the Student PerspectiveHave you seen the Student Voices page? In their own words, undergraduate and graduate students---both current students and recent graduates--share their unique perspectives and experiences as part of the WPI community, giving prospective students a window into life as a WPI student from different and diverse viewpoints. From IQP projects and research collaborations to athletic pursuits and extracurricular activities, and everything in-between. Through automated functionality built into Drupal, the platform of wpi.edu, relevant Student Voices are strategically pulled in and displayed throughout the website, including department and school sites, admissions, and more. If you'd like specific Student Voices added to your website, cmshelp@wpi.edu can help. If you know a rising sophomore or junior, or graduate student, who would be a good fit for a Student Voices profile, please email marketing@wpi.edu with the student's full name, class year, and major/degree program. Marketing Communications will reach out to these students to see if they are interested in participating in the project.