Tag Archives: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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WPI to host their 28th Annual Math Meet!

High school teams from across New England will compete for more than $100,000 in scholarships to attend WPI
 
What: 28th Annual Invitational Mathematics Meet

Where: Sports and Recreation Center, WPI Campus, Worcester

When: Tuesday, October 20, 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The Department of Mathematical Sciences of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in keeping with its commitment to K – 12 outreach and education, has for nearly 30 years brought bright, interested high school students to campus for innovative and exciting mathematical competitions.

In doing so, the university helps high school teachers throughout New England motivate their students to excel by exposing them to new research in math and its applications.

On October 20, 90 public and private schools from New England will participate in WPI’s 28th Annual Invitational Mathematics Meet, bringing roughly 360 students with their advisors to campus. Students and teams will compete against each other by completing a series of increasingly difficult math problems, which they must answer within a set amount of time to score points.

The winners will receive more than $100,000 in individual and team scholarships to WPI. The first-place winner of the individual student competition will receive a $3,000 scholarship and a plaque; the second- and third-place winners will receive $2,000 and $1,500 scholarships, respectively. Each of the remaining schools’ top scorers will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship, while the top nine team competition winners will receive WPI scholarships of up to $1,000 per team member.

The individual student competition will take place from 8:45 to 9:30 a.m., and the team competition occurs from 9:50 to 10:35 a.m. 

Several members of the WPI Department of Mathematical Sciences will take part in the schedule of events – including a welcome from department head Luca Capogna and John Goulet, a WPI math professor and director of the Math Meet.  

Dean of Arts and Sciences Karen Oates will also address students. High school advisors will hear from a WPI graduate student in mathematics.

The event will conclude with an awards ceremony which is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:45 p.m.

The following schools are scheduled to participate in the 28th Annual Invitational Mathematics Meet:

Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, MA

AMSA Charter School, Marlboro, MA

Auburn High School, Auburn, MA

Bancroft School, Worcester, MA

BART Charter Public School, Adams, MA

Bay Path Regional Vocational High School, Charlton MA

Belmont High School, Belmont MA

Bishop Brady High School, Concord, NH

Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, MA

Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth, MA

Blackstone Millville Regional High School, Blackstone, MA 

Bristol – Plymouth Vocational Technical High School, Taunton, MA

Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School, Cambridge, MA

Burrillville High School, Burrillville, RI

Cathedral High School, Boston, MA

CATS Academy, Newton, MA

Chicopee Comprehensive High School, Chicopee, MA

Clinton High School, Clinton, MA

Cumberland High School, Cumberland, RI

David Prouty High School, Spencer, MA

Derryfield School, Manchester, NH

Dover Sherborn High School, Dover, MA

East Providence High School, East Providence, RI

Frontier Regional School, Deerfield, MA

Grafton High School, Grafton, MA

Groton School, Groton, MA

Innovation Academy Charter School, Tyngsboro, MA

Keefe Technical High School, Framingham, MA

Kent School, Kent, CT

King Philip Regional High School, Wrentham, MA

LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI

Leominster High School, Leominster, MA

Littleton High School, Littleton, MA

Londonderry High School, Londonderry, NH

Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT

Ludlow High School, Ludlow, MA

Lunenburg High School, Lunenburg, MA

Manchester High School Central, Manchester, NH

Marianapolis Preparatory School, Thompson, CT

Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI, Worcester, MA

Medfield High School, Medfield, MA

Middleboro High School, Middleboro MA

Milton High School, Milton, MA

Minnechaug Regional High School, Wilbraham, MA

Minuteman Regional High School, Lexington, MA

Mohawk Trail Regional High School, Shelburne Falls, MA

Monument Mountain Regional High School, Barrington, MA

Nashua High School North, Nashua, NH

Nashua High School South, Nashua, NH

Natick High School, Natick, MA

Nauset Regional High School, Orleans, MA

North Brookfield Junior/Senior High School, North Brookfield, MA

North Providence High School, North Providence, RI

North Smithfield High School, North Smithfield, RI

Northampton High School, North Hampton, MA

Northfield Mount Hermon School, Gill, MA

Palmer High School, Palmer MA

Pentucket Regional High School, Newbury, MA

Ponaganset High School, North Scituate, RI

Rockville High School, Vernon, CT

Saint John’s High School, Shrewsbury, MA

Sanborn Regional High School, Kingston, NH

Silver Lake Regional High School, Kingston, MA

Smithfield High School, Smithfield, RI

Somerset Berkley Regional High School, Somerset, MA

Somersworth High School, Somersworth, NH

South High School, Worcester, MA

Southbridge Middle/High School, Southbridge, MA

Southwick Regional High School, Southwick, MA

Stafford High School, Stafford Springs, CT

Tabor Academy, Marion, MA

Tantasqua Regional High School, Fiskdale, MA

Taunton High School, Taunton, MA

Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, Franklin, MA

Ursuline Academy, Dedham MA

University Park Campus School, Worcester, MA

Uxbridge High School, Uxbridge, MA

Waltham High School, Waltham, MA

Ware Junior/Senior High School, Ware, MA

Warwick Veterans Memorial High School, Warwick, RI

Wells High School, Wells, ME

West Warwick High School, West Warwick, RI

Weymouth High School, Weymouth, MA

Whitinsville Christian School, Whitinsville, MA

Wilbraham & Monson Academy, Wilbraham, MA

Woonsocket High School, Woonsocket, MA

Worcester Academy, Worcester, MA

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute:

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation’s first engineering and technology universities.

InCity Letters

Friendly House to honor Camp Reach girls!

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Local Middle School-aged Girls Developed Solutions to Shelter’s Landscaping, Handicapped Accessibility Needs!

What: Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) summer program for middle school-aged girls, Camp Reach, will be honored by the Friendly House community shelter and city and state leaders. Two groups of alumni from the 2006 and 2010 programs will be thanked for their work in improving the shelter’s landscaping and handicapped accessibility.

Now celebrating its 15th anniversary, Camp Reach is part of WPI’s K-12 outreach program, which is focused on introducing young people to the exciting world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Students are divided into teams and work with teachers to tackle meaningful and real problems around Worcester. Through their project, the students learn about the engineering design process in the context of a social or humanitarian problem or need.

Who: Among those attending the ceremony will be WPI Professor and Camp Reach coordinator Chrysanthe Demetry, Friendly House Executive Director Gordon Hargrove, State Rep. Vincent Pedone, D-Worcester; Worcester Mayor Joseph O’Brien, and Worcester City Councilor Barbara G. Haller. Members of the 2006 and 2010 Camp Reach teams that worked on the Friendly House projects will also be on hand to help with the ceremonial planting of a tree in the shelter’s yard.

When: Thursday, June 23, 2011, 3:30-5:30 p.m., rain or shine

Where: Friendly House Shelter: 87 Elm St., Worcester

Be there!

InCity Feature, InCity Letters, InCity Voices

WPI students refuse ExxonMobil CEO – join their guest commencement speaker!

By Linnea Palmer Paton

It is frustrating to receive an education that allows you to think critically about the world, only to discover that the university [WPI] that gave it to you is avoiding critical thought, in the name of the status quo.

Climate change is a widespread, desperately urgent and crucial problem faced by humanity, and it is the absolute responsibility of the engineering and science community, especially its universities, to take the lead on addressing it.

So, naturally, when students and faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) found out a month ago that Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, would be speaking at commencement, many of them were furious.

They saw ExxonMobil as a canon for all things old and unsustainable: destruction of the environment, and the exploitation of two finite resources¾both the oil and the atmosphere’s storage capacity for CO2 waste.

This seemed incompatible with a ceremony understood to be about leaders and moving ahead, rather than about barons of the past. As one graduating senior puts it, “Being well-wished into our careers by Rex Tillerson is an insult to our generation. His leadership at ExxonMobil continues to threaten the peace, security, and prosperity of our futures. He is not a good role model, and we will not accept him as the figurehead of our graduation.”

Adding to the trouble was ExxonMobil’s disinformation campaign aimed at the credibility of the scientific community. Shortly after the establishment of the Kyoto protocol in 1998, ExxonMobil launched a covert PR effort worth upwards of $16 million. A memo leaked from the company set the tactic: the think tanks hired by ExxonMobil would attempt to popularize the notion that scientists were undecided on global warming, in the hope of stalling further policy action [1].

So, immediately after the announcement, 22 WPI faculty members wrote a letter to WPI’s President, Dennis Berkey, calling for him to rescind Tillerson’s invitation. Over 250 students signed a petition opposing the choice and calling for more involvement in the speaker selection process. Then, students gathered around the WPI chapter of Students for Just and Stable Future (SJSF) to organize a campaign to educate the WPI community about social and environmental justice. Continue reading WPI students refuse ExxonMobil CEO – join their guest commencement speaker! →

InCity Letters, InCity Voices

WPI students fight Exxon Mobil CEO’s planned commencement address

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Worcester- There’s a storm brewing on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) over the invitation by the administration to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to deliver this year’s commencement speech on May 14.

According to WPI’s Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF), ExxonMobil, the world’s largest private oil company and a major funder of climate deniers, has given over $1.3 million to the school. The invitation appears to have more to do with future funding aspirations than aspirational future vision.

After a decision by WPI’s President Dennis Berkey to prevent protesting students from receiving diplomas drew negative media attention, Berkey withdrew the threat and agreed to endorse an alternate commencement speech by Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. Invited by SJSF, Heinberg will deliver from the main stage directly following Tillerson’s address.

“Richard Heinberg’s work is a powerful symbol of our wishes for WPI: a university which, in line with its budding green image, chooses to honor someone with leadership and vision, rather than a baron of the past, a force of the status quo.” – SJSF Leadership

However, the fact remains that the CEO of the world’s most profitable company, one that has destroyed entire ecosystems around the globe, will be addressing the next generation of parents, thinkers and leaders.

Protesters, whose ranks will be swelled by organizations including 350.org and a number of Boston/Worcester area allies, have vowed to oppose Tillerson’s speech directly.