Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) today announced a visionary $12 million legacy gift from Carl Karlsson, Class of 1960. The unrestricted estate gift, made following Karlsson’s passing in 2023, will provide broad support across WPI, with a portion dedicated to establishing endowed professorships for early career faculty—a strategic investment in the university’s long-term academic excellence.Among the most significant philanthropic commitments ever made by an individual to WPI and in support of Beyond These Towers: The Campaign for Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Karlsson’s gift will leave a lasting mark on the university’s future. Unrestricted gifts are among the most powerful forms of philanthropy because they provide WPI with the flexibility to address its highest priorities, respond to emerging opportunities, and invest strategically in areas of greatest need. Karlsson’s altruism ensures WPI remains nimble and well-positioned to advance its mission for generations to come.“This is a shining example of the extraordinary generosity and dedication of our alumni to give back and help WPI continue to thrive,” said Grace J. Wang, President of WPI. “Carl Karlsson’s remarkable gift will impact the university by supporting faculty excellence, fueling research and innovation, and enriching the student experience. His legacy will empower future generations to achieve, discover, and lead in ways that ensure WPI’s enduring excellence and global impact.”After earning his degree in chemical engineering in 1960, Karlsson built a successful career in information systems and technology, working for Praxair Inc. in Tonawanda, New York. Throughout his life, he remained deeply connected to WPI, contributing annually to the university’s areas of greatest need for nearly four decades. His legacy gift reflects a lifelong belief in the power of education to improve lives, a value that aligns closely with WPI’s mission and project-based learning model.

Rest is often overlooked in the race for academic achievement, but science shows it may be one of the most powerful tools for success. This podcast explores the vital role rest plays in learning, creativity, focus, and long-term well-being. We dive into the ways sleep, downtime, and intentional pauses can boost memory, sharpen problem-solving skills, and prevent burnout. Whether it’s power naps, digital detoxes, or building a healthier relationship with time, listeners will discover practical strategies to rest smarter and perform better. 

Meet Christina Bailey-Hytholt '15! 🧬 She went from WPI chemical engineering student thinking about med school to Forbes 30 Under 30 researcher focusing on something we rarely discuss: the placenta 🤰 Now she's back at WPI as a professor with a $500K NSF grant, using engineering to solve women's health problems that have been overlooked for way too long. Her research could change pregnancy outcomes for millions of people. Sometimes the most ordinary things (that we sometimes throw away!) are actually the most critical. #WPI #WomensHealth #STEM #Research #ChemicalEngineering #Forbes30Under30 #Pregnancy #Science #WomenInSTEM #Placenta #Innovation

Christina Bailey-Hytholt’s research explores something so ordinary that it is often discarded when no longer needed yet so critical that it sustains life. The placenta. - Recently named to the Leonard P. Kinnicutt Professorship, Bailey-Hytholt ’15 is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering who focuses on using engineering approaches to advance women’s and prenatal health. She concentrates specifically on problems of the placenta, a temporary organ that forms in the uterus during pregnancy to provide nutrients and oxygen to a developing baby. Some of her work is considered exploratory, but she’s also interested in developing models of the placenta for research and developing particles that package and deliver therapies to patients. Her research has captured attention from funders and others. In 2024, Bailey-Hytholt was awarded a three-year, $502,999 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for early-career researchers to determine the relationship between placental cells known as trophoblasts and the biomolecules they secrete, called exosomes, that are important for cell communication. In 2022, Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 Class of Innovators. Bailey-Hytholt joined the WPI faculty in 2022 after receiving her PhD in biomedical engineering at Brown University and completing postdoctoral research in genomic medicine and biologics drug product development and manufacturing at Sanofi. Her research has been supported by the NSF, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and the Amnion Foundation. She is affiliated with WPI’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. The following is a question-and-answer conversation with Bailey-Hytholt. Question: Did you always want to be a researcher? Answer: I always gravitated toward healthcare. During middle and high school, I volunteered at a nursing home for several years. When I arrived at WPI as an undergraduate in chemical engineering, I thought I would later go to medical school. Then I worked in the lab of Terri Camesano (dean of graduate studies) and had the best experience. She and the graduate students working in her lab encouraged me to think about pursuing research and my PhD. I didn’t know what graduate school and becoming a researcher really was until my experience working in a lab. At the same time, I had some health challenges of my own. I realized that there are many things we don’t have answers to in a clinical setting, and new research is important to advance medicine. Question: How did you decide to focus your research on women’s unmet health needs? Answer: Women’s health is an area that I can relate to and feel I can be an advocate for, which led to my passion for this area of research. However, research into women’s health as an engineer really wasn’t on my radar until a few things came together during my first year of graduate school—opportunities, exciting projects, and good mentors. There was an opportunity to contribute to a prenatal diagnostic project, and that project spurred ideas about using engineering skill sets to study the placenta. I also was fortunate to be an NSF fellow and to have advisors who supported me. Pursuing these projects, I really became passionate about the subject and saw that there were not many engineering approaches being used to advance prenatal and women’s health. On a personal level, I recently went through my own pregnancy and had a healthy daughter, so I saw firsthand how important research is for prenatal health. Question: What does chemical engineering have to do with human health? Answer: The words “chemical engineering” may typically conjure up images of a person wearing a hard hat and working in an industrial plant, but chemical engineers work in many different fields. Many chemical engineers work in health-related fields such as the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Chemical engineers learn to solve problems involving complex systems and processes, and human health involves complex systems and processes. Chemical engineering concepts such as material properties, mass balances, transport, kinetics, thermodynamics, and more are crucial to designing therapeutics and cell models, which are important in advancing human health. Question: What is the goal of your three-year NSF-funded project? Answer: The goal of this project is to study and identify the relationship between the environment that trophoblast cells, the main cells in the placenta, are grown in and how they communicate with each other. Trophoblasts invade the endometrium, which is the membrane that lines the uterus, to anchor the placenta in place and ensure adequate blood flow. Trophoblasts also secrete factors that allow cells in the placenta to communicate with each other. The placenta is not a well-understood organ, so my lab is looking at how the environment in the placenta—such as the presence of growth factors or hormones—influences invasiveness and impacts what trophoblasts secrete. It’s important to expand ...

Move-in day at WPI hits different when you play with time. From those slow-motion goodbyes to lightning-fast unpacking! Welcome to campus life, Goats! 🐐 #WPI #MoveInDay #SpeedRamp

Worcester Polytechnic Institute researcher Catherine Whittington has been awarded a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to develop three distinct laboratory models for the study of fibrosis in pancreas, skin, and uterine fibroids. Whittington, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $629,998 from the NSF for the five-year project. The models she develops could lead to research advances in the understanding and treatment of fibrosis, a condition that occurs when an injury results in too much scarring that stiffens tissue and threatens to disrupt the normal functioning of organs. Chronic pancreatitis, keloid scars, and uterine fibroids are all the result of fibrosis. “There is much to learn about fibrosis so that better treatments can be developed,” Whittington said. “Better laboratory models for pancreatic, skin, and uterine fibroid tissues could lead to an improved understanding of factors at the cellular level that lead to fibrosis and how interventions could interrupt or reverse that process.” Models are representations, such as physical objects or mathematical equations, that represent real-world phenomena. Researchers use models to study a problem, test ideas under controlled conditions, and make predictions. Whittington will develop models composed of materials such as collagen and human cells that represent the tissues of interest. The combined materials will be placed in wells on laboratory plates about the size of an index card and then exposed to hormones, varied mechanical inputs, and other environmental factors. “These models will be small, but they will allow us to systematically ask questions and make discoveries about how different chemicals and forces contribute to the process of fibrosis,” Whittington said. CAREER Awards are given to promising researchers who are in the early stages of their academic careers. More than 40 current WPI faculty members have received CAREER Awards since the NSF program launched in 1994. Whittington joined the WPI faculty in 2018 after receiving her PhD in biomedical engineering at Purdue University, completing post-doctorate work at Eli Lilly and Co., and serving as a visiting scholar at Purdue. She was a recipient of WPI’s Romeo L. Moruzzi Young Faculty Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education in 2022 and was awarded tenure in 2025. Her research has explored cancer, tissue engineering, lymphatic disorders, and the role of fat cells in pancreatic fibrosis. Her work has been financially supported by the National Cancer Institute, the NSF, Genentech, and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. As part of her CAREER Award project, Whittington will develop and lead educational programs tailored to high school students, college students, and patients at a free medical clinic in Worcester. She will expand her biomedical engineering curriculum offerings to high school students enrolled in Frontiers, a summer science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program at WPI. She also will collaborate with the Epworth Medical Program in Worcester to develop educational materials for patients, and she will advise teams of WPI undergraduates as they work with the clinic on projects that use STEM to address social problems. “A unique element of CAREER Award research is the opportunity to broaden educational outreach about science to the public,” Whittington said. “I am excited to work with others to improve medical literacy, inspire the next generation of scientists, and show how the research in my laboratory can positively impact people.”

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has been named to a select group of academic institutions leading a nationwide effort to strengthen cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the U.S. automotive industry—a sector increasingly reliant on smart, connected technologies.Supported by a $2.5 million grant from the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity the DRiving Automotive Industry WorkForce Transformation (DRIFT) program will provide specialized online and in-person training designed to upskill the workforce and protect vehicle systems from emerging threats.WPI associate professors Jun Dai, Xiaoyan Sun, and Xiaozhong Liu, all from the Department of Computer Science, will lead the university’s DRIFT program. WPI will receive $749,994 over two years, with the opportunity for an additional $300,000 in a third year. The program will offer tuition-free modules, workshops, and real-world training to help engineers and professionals develop advanced competencies in cybersecurity and AI.“Today’s vehicles are computers on wheels—powered by data, software, and smart systems,” said Dai. “AI is transforming the future of mobility, but without robust cybersecurity, we put innovation—and lives—at risk. DRIFT directly addresses the workforce gap by preparing engineers and professionals with the tools they need to protect connected and autonomous vehicles, and ultimately, to accelerate the development of next-generation transportation.”As vehicles become more connected, equipped with internet-enabled infotainment systems, GPS, remote diagnostics, and automated driver assistance systems, they also become more vulnerable to cyberattacks. While autonomous vehicles are often in the spotlight, nearly all modern vehicles are now potential targets.In one of the most publicized demonstrations of this risk, cybersecurity researchers remotely took control of a Jeep Cherokee in 2015, manipulating its brakes, steering, and transmission while it was on the highway. More recently, the 2025 Global Automotive and Smart Mobility Cybersecurity report by Upstream revealed that massive-scale incidents—each impacting millions of vehicles—more than tripled between 2023 and 2024, rising from 5% to 19%. The data shows the vulnerability of even top-tier smart vehicles. These incidents underscore the urgent need to secure both automotive systems and the talent pool capable of doing so.The DRIFT curriculum is designed for a wide audience, including:Automotive engineersCybersecurity and AI professionalsIT workers transitioning into transportation-related sectorsEducators and students at two- and four-year institutionsDepartment of Transportation personnelMilitary and civilian defense staffFirst responders and public safety officialsPolicymakers and regulatorsCourses will be delivered online, in-person, and hybrid formats and will cover:The architecture and key components of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) systemsAI applications and their role in enabling core CAV functionsCommon vulnerabilities in connected vehicle systems, including GPS spoofing, sensor interference, and over-the-air update threatsDefensive cybersecurity strategies tailored for CAV environmentsHands-on case studies to bridge theoretical knowledge with real-world applicationsWPI joins the following partner institutions in offering DRIFT training:Oakland UniversityUniversity of DelawareUniversity of Michigan-DearbornCleveland State UniversitySinclair Community CollegeThose interested in this program can access the application link for the activities at: https://www.secs.oakland.edu/ei/drift/programs/. For more information about WPI’s DRIFT program, visit: https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/cybersecurity/drift.

Researchers across departments at WPI are studying how wildfires start, spread, and impact communities. In this episode of The WPI Podcast, Nan (Nancy) Ma, assistant professor, and Rachel Hurley, PhD candidate, both in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, discuss their work to understand the impacts of wildfire smoke on indoor environments. Ma studies the effects of smoke exposure on children’s sleep health. Hurley conducts research on how building materials found indoors absorb and re-emit smoke particles. This is the second of two episodes focused on wildfire-related research at WPI. See Episode 13 for a discussion with researchers in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering about their studies on wildfire behavior. Related links: Wildfires Explained WPI Experts on Wildfires Published study referred to in Nancy Ma interview EPA information on protecting yourself from wildfire smoke indoors American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers: wildfire response resources  

Worcester Polytechnic Institute has been ranked 39th on the 2025 LinkedIn Top Colleges list, an inaugural ranking of the top 50 schools in the U.S. LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, created the Top Colleges list to identify the undergraduate programs that best position their alumni for long-term career success.“LinkedIn’s Top Colleges list is additional proof of something we’ve long known and prioritized: that WPI offers students an incredibly valuable education,” said WPI President Grace Wang, noting that more than 95% of WPI graduates who responded to a survey reported that the university’s signature project-based learning prepared them for their current career. “Our unique hands-on educational model is designed not only to equip students with specific expertise and skills in their fields but also to empower them to think critically, work well in teams, and learn how to learn. As a result, our graduates are well positioned to be versatile and successful throughout their professional lives.”The first-ever ranking relies on exclusive LinkedIn data that measures the career outcomes of millions of alumni from universities and colleges. It uses a methodology that compares schools based on factors including job and graduate school placement rates, internship completions, and recruiter demand. “Employers tell us consistently they love WPI graduates, and that’s for a number of reasons,” said Amanda Laungani, director of the Heebner Career Development Center at WPI. “The employers we work with praise our students for having the confidence and capability to contribute immediately to their organizations as well as the extensive experience working in teams that allows our graduates to turn knowledge into impactful applications.” The LinkedIn ranking echoes a March 2025 ranking by U.S. News & World Report that placed WPI 18th on its list of “Colleges with the Best Return on Investment” and cited an estimated $3,408,000 return on investment for a WPI education after 40 years, as measured in 2023 dollars. A separate measurement finds that WPI graduates start their careers in a position of strength. WPI’s undergraduate Class of 2024 reported an average salary of $80,294 within six months after graduation, according to the university’s First Destination Outcomes data, which shows average starting salaries for recent WPI graduates consistently exceed the national average. WPI’s transformative STEM education model is based on learning by doing. All undergraduates are required to complete three long-term academic projects. Each of these experiences has a distinct focus and purpose and often involves students working in teams with community or corporate partners on challenges that have real-world relevance. In addition to these long-term projects, nearly two-thirds of WPI alumni report that they did project work in at least half of their undergraduate courses. This project-based learning approach provides repeated hands-on experiences that have a substantial positive impact for graduates. In the most recent survey of WPI alumni, 93% of respondents reported their project experiences enhanced their ability to effectively function on a team and 88% indicated that the approach helped them develop a stronger personal character. Class of 1990 alum Michelle Gass highlighted this in her 2025 WPI undergraduate commencement address. The Levi Strauss & Co. president and CEO stated, “This school has truly made itself into a powerhouse, providing an intimate learning experience that invites the outside world in, preparing students for the many challenges that lay ahead.” WPI students are also empowered to launch their career success through ongoing engagement with the Heebner Career Development Center. The center provides services including coaching, alumni networking and mentorship, workshops, and digital resources and hosts several in-person and virtual career fairs each year that attract hundreds of employers. Many employers hire multiple WPI graduates each year into fields including aerospace, information technology, life sciences, and financial technology.

To determine the ultimate driving environment, WPI researcher Shichao Liu has put drivers to the test in some interesting ways. Liu, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, has measured the performance of study participants in a driving simulator while outfitting them in caps to image brain activity and exposing them to varying light levels, heat, cold, and even stinky T-shirts. Now Liu’s lab has published new research showing that when it comes to driving performance at night, the temperature inside a vehicle matters. Study participants who drove in a simulator were less comfortable, sweatier, and more mentally stressed as temperatures rose. They also used the simulator’s accelerator more and drove in a way that would increase the vehicle’s pitch and roll—meaning there would be more car body movement that could make rides feel rougher. “As the temperature inside the simulator went up, participants drove less steadily and with more variation in their speed,” Liu says. “This has implications for air conditioning operation in vehicles, vehicle design, and, of course, safety.” The group’s research, which focused on both temperature and lighting, was published in the journal Building and Environment. In addition to Liu, authors were Chao Wang, PhD ’24, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital; John Elson, a research engineer at Ford Motor Co.; and Yingzi Lin, a professor at Northeastern University. The research was supported by WPI and the Ford University Research Program. Both temperature and lighting play a role in what people experience in vehicles, Liu says, and those experiences have implications for a driver’s ability to safely and effectively manage a vehicle, make decisions, and respond quickly to different scenarios. Concentration, cognitive skills, memory, and reaction times are all impacted by temperature and thermal comfort. Light generally can affect alertness, sleep-wake cycles, and mood. “When the temperatures are very hot or very cold, drivers can feel uncomfortable and annoyed, which impacts their driving,” Liu says. “In addition, studies have shown that during hot summers, drivers drive more aggressively.” Thermal comfort and optimal lighting conditions also have implications for how vehicles of the future are designed, according to Liu. Commuters using self-driving cars might need temperatures and lighting that allow them to work while traveling. Electric vehicles may need to be designed with sufficient battery power to provide air conditioning for drivers traveling long distances in hot weather. To test multiple temperature and lighting scenarios under controlled conditions, the researchers built a simulator that replicated the experience of driving a typical sedan. First constructed in Kaven Hall and later moved to Unity Hall, the simulator was equipped with screens and a projection system to display front, left, and right window views from a video game that depicts driving at night. A steering wheel vibrated to provide a realistic driving sensation, and an audio system generated road noise. Foot pedals simulated brake and accelerator pedals. Wang, who was a graduate student in Liu’s lab at the time, even hit the road for the study. He loaded his car with sensors and drove through Worcester to measure nighttime light so researchers could replicate realistic conditions in the simulator. After screening applicants for a type of motion sickness that occurs in simulators, the researchers randomly assigned 72 participants to three groups that drove while the cabin’s temperature was set at 18, 23, or 28 degrees Celsius (approximately 64, 73, or 82 degrees Fahrenheit). All participants drove under four different ambient lighting conditions and, in a test of their mental performance, responded to numbers that flashed on a screen while they drove. The simulator collected information on vehicle position, motion, acceleration, steering wheel movement, and gas pedal usage, and study participants completed questionnaires about their experiences. Liu says that while the simulator provided valuable data, real-world driving may involve additional factors. The results offered some clear answers about light. Participants noticed changes in lighting, but the lighting changes did not affect driving performance. Liu says that finding contradicted some expectations about lighting’s role in comfort or alertness. In contrast, temperatures mattered. Higher temperatures impaired driver accuracy, and participants reported more mental strain, more sweating, and more sleepiness. Overall, participants preferred the middle driving temperature of 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit). Liu, whose research focuses on the design of healthy and sustainable indoor environments, says the next step in his lab’s research will be to analyze brain data collected from participants in the driving simulator. “We’re interested in how brain...