Q: Looking back to the program’s launch, what problem in higher education or industry were you trying to solve?
A: It was clear there was a talent gap. Businesses, government, and organizations needed skilled workers who could access big data, analyze it, and turn it into insights to drive decision-making, from sales and sciences to services. There weren’t enough people with the right skills. As the world grew more data-driven, we at WPI saw an opportunity to step in, using our expertise to educate the next generation of data professionals and help drive the economy forward.Q: A decade ago, “data science” wasn’t a common term—most people talked about “big data.” How did you decide on the program’s name?
A: I vividly remember trying to find the appropriate name for this new major. As an interdisciplinary team of colleagues from computer science, mathematical sciences, and business, we spent half of the time designing the curriculum, and half of the time we were having fun debating what to call it. In retrospect, the name we chose fit perfectly: We’re working with data and we’re answering fundamental scientific questions. Calling it “data science” gave the program academic staying power. And we got it right—today, everyone uses the term “data scientists” for the data modeling professionals in this field.Q: How close is WPI’s program today to your original vision?
A: I’d say 110%. We dreamed big, and it has come together even better than we dreamed. The program now delivers rigorous training in mathematical foundations—like statistical machine learning—while offering a wide range of cutting-edge computational courses, from deep learning and reinforcement learning to natural language processing and beyond. When we started, we knew there was great potential, but what now has become reality and the impact it allows us to make on our students is truly rewarding.Q: How has demand from industry influenced the direction of the program?A: From day one, we set out to make this a program where students don’t just graduate with knowledge—they graduate with the skill set to immediately excel in their profession. In that sense, industry demand has been our compass. To ensure that, I formed an executive industry advisory board for data science composed of professional leaders in the field. They share real-time insights on where their companies—and the field at large—are heading, allowing us to have a finger on the pulse through the disruptive transformations we encountered, from COVID-19 to the invention of generative AI. Those insights don’t just inform us, they help us transform our curriculum. Courses and projects have been developed from those conversations, ensuring our students aren’t just prepared for meeting the demands of today’s jobs but are also equipped to shape tomorrow’s opportunities.Q: What kinds of companies and industries do you engage with?
A: We engage with companies across all industries. Our graduates work in banking, finance, engineering, energy, startups, global corporations, and government labs. They’ve joined organizations like National Grid, Google DeepMind, DataRobot, Bose, Microsoft, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Capital One, Mitre Corporation, Dell Technologies, Fidelity Investments, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and many more. Because data science is so versatile, our students can be found contributing to nearly every sector.Q: What’s the “secret sauce” of WPI’s success in data science?
A: Our students develop a distinctive combination of skills. They know how to analyze data and use computational tools, but they also have strong communication, collaboration, and business skills. They’re willing to dive in and tackle complex problems, working closely with engineers, marketers, or social scientists—whatever the challenge requires. That flexibility makes them highly sought-after and opens doors to a wide array of career opportunities.Q: What unique opportunities does WPI offer data science students?
A: One of the most distinctive opportunities in the data science program at WPI is the Graduate Qualifying Project (GQP) we offer in close partnership with our industry partners. Every master’s student tackles a real-world project sponsored by industry—not hypothetical problems, but actual challenges companies need solved. It’s similar to a focused internship or co-op. Students contribute to products, processes, and even intellectual property for their sponsoring company while gaining hands-on experience they can showcase on their résumés. Our WPI faculty play a key role in mentoring these projects. Similar opportunities are available to undergraduate students as well.Q: Technology has changed rapidly over the past 10 years. How has the curriculum kept pace?
A: We constantly update. While some of the core principles remain the same, tools and techniques evolve quickly. Every year faculty adjust their existing courses and design new ones t...
More from WPI Youtube Channel
- 6:24WPI Researchers Send Experiment to Space Aboard Blue Origin SpacecraftA WPI experiment focused on a new way to prevent electronics from overheating flew into space September 18, 2025, aboard a Blue Origin spacecraft, giving researchers led by Jamal Yagoobi a critical opportunity to advance their technology by testing it in zero-gravity and multi-gravity settings.The uncrewed suborbital flight lasted just over 10 minutes, including slightly more than three minutes of weightlessness, and carried more than 40 scientific and research payloads. Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft blasted off and landed at a site near El Paso, Texas, while Yagoobi, the George F. Fuller Professor of Mechanical Engineering, watched a live webcast of the flight in his Multi-Scale Heat Transfer Laboratory with students who had worked on the WPI experiment.“Many people, including students and collaborators at NASA, deserve credit for working hard on this project during the years leading up to this mission,” says Yagoobi. “The results of our experiment aboard the flight confirm that our design can significantly reduce the surface temperatures of electronics in zero-gravity and much higher gravity conditions. Because of the excellent results we obtained, we are very close to commercializing our electrohydrodynamic cooling technology, as our project has reached a new level of maturity as designated by NASA’s Technology Readiness Level.”The project, funded by NASA, sought to address an out-of-this-world challenge that could have implications for future spaceships and satellites. On Earth, liquids boil upon encountering hot objects, and vapor carries away the heat, making boiling a liquid an efficient way to cool heated items. However, in space, where there is no gravity, vapor bubbles cannot rise from a boiling liquid and heat does not dissipate effectively or at all. To enable heat transfer in small spaces to avoid overheating, Yagoobi and his team adopted an electrohydrodynamic approach.Yagoobi’s gravity-independent hardware improves two-phase, or liquid-vapor, heat transfer by extracting vapor bubbles away from a heated surface during boiling with a dielectrophoretic mechanism, which leverages an electrical field to move bubbles. This thin-film boiling technology is a thermal management system that acquires heat non-mechanically at higher rates while consuming negligible power. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center collaborated with the WPI team to fabricate parts for the experiment, which was vacuum-sealed inside a metal chamber and housed in a locker that measured about 24 by 24 by 18 inches. Yagoobi traveled to Blue Origin’s Texas site in August with PhD student Matthew Catuccio and Alexander Castaneda, PhD ’25, to install the final pieces of hardware on the experiment. Two others in Yagoobi’s lab, Nate O’Connor, PhD ’23, and PhD student Lindsey Podlaski, have also worked on the project.“I am extremely grateful to have been a part of this project from its early stages to now,” says Castaneda. “To see it fly on a rocket into space is extremely rewarding and feels like the next step to pushing the technology readiness of this project. I am hopeful that the data from this experiment will lead to many more space launches for our laboratory at WPI.” Castaneda joined Blue Origin as an employee in September.“As an individual, this has been an incredible opportunity to work on a very cool experiment that got to go to space,” says Catuccio. “It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I also know this experiment is a major step forward for the laboratory. The technology being tested is very innovative and has the potential to reach integration into real application very soon.”Yagoobi has been exploring the problem of cooling in space for over 30 years, both on Earth and in the skies. He, his PhD students, and his collaborators at NASA have tested earlier versions of their technology aboard several of NASA’s parabolic flights, in which airplanes repeatedly climbed and plunged through the skies to produce 20-second bursts of weightlessness. Yagoobi also had a different experiment aboard the International Space Station for more than a year.The work was supported by the Biological and Physical Sciences Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters under NASA grants NNX16AT09G and 80NSSC22K0676.Blue Origin is a privately held space flight company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. The flight was the 35th and final mission for New Shepard, an autonomous and fully reusable rocket-and-capsule system built to fly people and payloads beyond the Kármán line, the boundary of outer space 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.Yagoobi continues to be passionate about space as reflected from his continuous engagement with NASA’s Goddard and Glenn Research Center.“When I was young, I dreamed about being an astronaut and traveling into space,” he says. “It has been very rewarding to work on this and other projects with so many students, researchers, and engineers who share ...
- 4:37WPI and MCPHS Expand Longstanding Partnership with New Degree PathwaysWorcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS), two nationally recognized institutions with complementary strengths in health science and biomedical engineering, are expanding their academic partnership with new degree pathways. Building on a long-standing relationship, this new agreement creates streamlined pathways for students to pursue advanced degrees across disciplines such as pharmacy and biomedical engineering—while remaining immersed in Worcester’s thriving academic and innovation ecosystem. The expanded partnership promotes collaborations of mutual interest and benefit and formalizes a series of articulated degree programs that will allow qualified undergraduate students from one institution to seamlessly transition into graduate programs at the other. These pathways are designed to help students accelerate their education, broaden their career prospects, and contribute to the evolving landscape of healthcare, life sciences, and technology. Students graduating from WPI with degrees in biology, chemistry, or related STEM fields will now have streamlined access to advanced degrees at MCPHS, including the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Similarly, MCPHS students completing degrees in molecular biology, biotechnology, or pharmacy will be able to pursue graduate-level studies at WPI in biomedical engineering. The agreement comes at a pivotal moment, as interdisciplinary knowledge and collaboration are increasingly essential to addressing global challenges. With Worcester emerging as a regional hub for biotechnology, medical research, and advanced manufacturing, WPI and MCPHS are uniquely positioned to train professionals who will drive innovation and improve lives. “By creating clear, cross-institutional pathways that connect WPI’s strengths in biomedical engineering with MCPHS’s expertise in pharmacy and health sciences, we are preparing students to advance from rigorous undergraduate programs into specialized graduate study,” said WPI President Grace Wang. “These programs will produce highly skilled professionals ready to make real impact, from leading breakthrough medical research to developing innovative biotech and pharmaceutical solutions that improve health and fuel the growth of the life sciences economy.” “Through this agreement, this partnership reflects the spirit of collaboration that defines Worcester’s higher education ecosystem. MCPHS is proud to strengthen our long-standing partnership with WPI, creating new opportunities for students to seamlessly advance their education and careers at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, and technology,” said Richard Lessard, president of MCPHS. The degree pathways feature clearly defined academic journeys, streamlined admissions processes, and personalized advising from faculty and admissions liaisons at both institutions. Students will benefit from an efficient transition between institutions to study in the heart of Worcester, a city rich with opportunity, innovation, and a strong sense of community. Students enrolled in these programs must meet GPA and course prerequisites, and final admissions decisions will be handled by the relevant program at each institution. Details for each program pairing will be available on the WPI and MCPHS websites, ensuring transparency and consistency. This agreement reflects a shared mission to empower students, support workforce development in the region, and strengthen the city’s position as a center of academic and professional excellence.
- 38:28E19: College Connections | Em Beeler | Class of 2022Meet a WPI alum who first visited campus in middle school and keeps coming back! In this episode of The WPI Podcast, Em Beeler ’22 discusses her journey to becoming a high school math teacher in Worcester and how her story is deeply intertwined with the university. From early exposure to math and science at WPI and a career-shaping opportunity to join WPI’s Teacher Preparation Program to post-graduation experiences on campus to further her professional skills and share her knowledge with the next generation, Beeler carries the lessons learned at the university into her work teaching and guiding her students. Related links: WPI Teacher Preparation Program STEM Education Center Research Experience for Teachers Program Pre-Collegiate Outreach Programs Let’s Talk Math Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Shell Lab Burncoat High School
- 0:53Inside WPI's Career Fair: How Students Launch $80K+ CareersWhat does one of the nation’s best returns on investment look like in action? It looks like this. 👇Our recent career fair was buzzing with students connecting directly with top employers. This isn’t just an event. It’s a critical part of the WPI experience that leads to incredible outcomes, like an average starting salary above $80K and a 40-year ROI valued at $3.4M—higher than Harvard’s or Yale’s.We’re proud to provide the resources that launch such successful careers.#WPI #Internship #Coop #CareerGoals #CollegeTok #STEM #JobSearch
- 0:51STEM Majors in 3 WordsThink all STEM majors are the same?Join our Computer Science, Interactive Media & Game Design, Biology, Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Mathematics students as they describe their majors in just THREE WORDS. You’ll be surprised by how different (and similar!) they can be.What’s your major and what three words would you use? Drop them in the comments—we want to hear from YOU!#STEM #STEMcareers #CollegeStudents #EngineeringStudents #ComputerScience #Mathematics #MechanicalEngineering
- 3:04WPI Joins Neuroarts Academic NetworkJean King, the Peterson Family Dean of Arts and Sciences, has been named to the newly launched Neuroarts Academic Network (NAN). The network, created by the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, brings together leaders from 38 universities and organizations worldwide to advance the emerging interdisciplinary field of neuroarts—the study of how the arts affect the brain, body, and behavior and how this knowledge is applied to improve health and well-being.King’s appointment highlights both her expertise at the intersection of arts and humanities with neuroscience and WPI’s commitment to exploring how creative expression can drive innovation and well-being. At WPI, King has championed cross-disciplinary approaches that integrate the arts and sciences, reflecting the university’s broader mission to harness creativity and research in ways that positively impact society. NAN seeks to establish neuroarts as a recognized academic and professional field. The network’s goals include connecting existing programs, encouraging new research and training opportunities, building career pathways that combine the arts and health, and supporting the long-term growth of the field.“I am honored to join the Neuroarts Academic Network and contribute to this important effort to show how the arts and creative expression can shape our health, our communities, and our future,” said King. “This field has long been a passion of mine, and I am excited to help advance the science that shows the transformative power of the arts in our lives.”Led by Johns Hopkins University’s International Arts + Mind Lab and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program, and supported by The Music Man Foundation, the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative underscores the transformative role of the arts in medicine, public health, education, and beyond.Susan Magsamen, New York Times bestselling author and NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative co-director, was a featured speaker at this year’s Arts and Sciences Week at WPI. She told the standing-room-only crowd gathered for her talk, “Neuroarts is the true marriage of arts and sciences. This field of study is both long overdue and just in time.”Read the full announcement from the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative.
