The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has recognized two WPI faculty members as recipients of the department's Educator Award to celebrate their decade of work in upholding the department’s mission to ensure a clean environment and enhance natural resources in the state. During an event at WPI in June, the MassDEP announced the recipients of the award: Corey Denenberg Dehner, associate professor of teaching in The Global School, and Paul Mathisen, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering and WPI’s director of sustainability. 

Dehner and Mathisen co-direct WPI’s Massachusetts Water Resource Outreach Center (WROC), a project center that allows student teams to partner with municipalities, local government agencies, and watershed organizations to work on water resource challenges. Dehner and Mathisen co-founded the center in 2015 with a goal of exposing students to the inner workings of state and local government and tackling water resource issues in Central and Eastern Massachusetts. 

Leaders with the MassDEP cited the pair’s work at the center as a main reason they were selected to receive the award. The department gives the honor to recognize educators who inspire and empower students to protect the planet; who incorporate environmental themes into curriculum; and who are committed to fostering environmental awareness in the community. MassDEP leaders said the project center has exposed students to environmental challenges through work on water issues such as nitrogen reduction and emerging contaminants and has provided students with the chance to learn about careers in the environmental field.

“For 50 years, MassDEP has been protecting our natural resources and working with local communities to ensure the water we drink is safe and healthy,” said MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple. “And since its founding, WPI’s Massachusetts Water Resource Outreach Center has shared this commitment to safeguarding our vital water resources. Students are gaining hands-on experience to address the many challenges facing our drinking water today, including lead, PFAS, and a changing climate. We are grateful to have partners like WROC to ensure the next generation of water specialists are well equipped to take on these challenges and maintain Massachusetts’ drinking water as some of the cleanest in the nation.”

Dehner expressed gratitude for everyone at the MassDEP and for their efforts and collaboration with the WROC. “I think the award is a recognition of this effective partnership,” she said. “Through collaboration with the MassDEP, our project center is able to help WPI students understand the value of being civically engaged and the interplay between federal and state environmental agencies, local communities, industry, and organizations.”

Dehner credited Andrea Briggs, deputy director of MassDEP’s central region, with helping her and Mathisen bring the evolving goals of the WROC to fruition. For example, in the spring Dehner, Mathisen, and Briggs worked with students to develop a comprehensive immersion program to intentionally and thoughtfully expose students to the breadth of water resource career opportunities and to help students understand the complex relationship between state, federal, and local governance. During a single project term, for example, students may tour a water treatment plant and a town’s stormwater infrastructure facilities, conduct hands-on activities such as water quality testing and participate in a MassDEP roundtable with employees from different water-related divisions. 

Also starting this spring, WROC began publishing student projects on QUBES Hub, an open educational resource site. This gives residents, organizations, and municipal officials an additional way to access the resources students develop. These materials can also be found on the WROC website.

Through the center and WPI’s commitment to delivering project-based learning, students have had the opportunity to complete more than 40 projects directly with MassDEP or other sponsors, including local municipalities and the Central Massachusetts Regional Stormwater Coalition. 

Those projects have included creating educational campaigns to alert the public to the dangers of PFAS chemical contamination in drinking water; conducting outreach to inform private well owners about groundwater contamination; producing a manual to help cities and towns consider establishing funding mechanisms to manage the impacts of stormwater runoff; and helping the City of Worcester develop guidelines for monitoring bacteria levels in ponds and lakes. In many cases, towns and cities have chosen to partner with WPI students to help tackle important water issues that demand resources and staff beyond what they can dedicate.

Mathisen said the projects give students the chance to make an impact in communities by doing hands-on work in partnership with others. The projects also help the students learn how water resource policy is created and implemented and provide opportunities to receive mentorship from professionals working in water management and environmental protection.

“One of the goals of the WROC is to help our students gain leadership experience and the perspective to make a difference and have a positive impact on sustainability in their future careers,” said Mathisen. “The projects not only help to educate students and the public, they also show students the importance of bringing together people with different experiences, perspectives, and talents to address an issue, whether it’s a water resources challenge or a problem in a different area.”

The WROC is one of more than 50 WPI project centers on six continents where students conduct term-long projects required for graduation. At this specific center, students can complete their Interactive Qualifying Project, a signature WPI project that places students in interdisciplinary teams to work in partnership with a community-based sponsor on a challenge at the intersection of science, technology, and the needs of society.

Dehner accepted the award on behalf of herself and Mathisen during a MassDEP 50th anniversary celebration at Rubin Campus Center. John Beling, the department’s deputy commissioner of policy and planning, read a citation from Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll in recognition of the WPI educators and WROC’s 10th anniversary, stating, “Massachusetts commends your ongoing efforts addressing municipal water resource challenges through this hands-on community engagement and partnership.” 

Beling added that the state’s partnership with the project center provides benefits both to students and the MassDEP. “It’s so important that we expose students to the work we do and to help them understand what we do,” he said. “We get a lot out of it. Hopefully they get a lot out of it. I hope this relationship continues and is as beneficial as it has been for the last 10 years.”