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John Sanbonmatsu Publishes The Omnivore鈥檚 Deception

amduffy — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

John Sanbonmatsu, Professor of Philosophy at WPI, has published his third book, The Omnivore鈥檚 Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves (New York University Press), about our injustices against other animals. The book offers a wide-ranging critique of the devastating ecological, social, and moral consequences of the animal food system, with special emphasis on the myth of "humane" and "sustainable" animal products. Jeffrey Moussaeif Masson, author of When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals, has described The Omnivore's Deception as "a work not only of immense moral significance, but a masterpiece."

Professor Sanbonmatsu will give a free book talk and host a signing at Harvard Book Store (1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge) Wednesday, June 25, at 7 pm. He will be joined in conversation by Frances Moore Lapp茅, leading researcher and author in the field of food and democracy policy, and author of Diet for a Small Planet.

More information about the book is here; details about the June 25 event are here.

2025 Arts & Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows Announced

abriggs — Tue, 13 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000

The School of Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce the undergraduate students who were selected to receive summer research funding through the Summer Training in the Arts and Sciences (STAR), LaPre, Manning/Lesser, Spencer, or Neuroscience Fellowship programs. These fellowships were awarded to A&S undergraduate student to conduct summer research projects with a faculty advisor. We congratulate all award recipients.

Summer Training in the Arts and Sciences (STAR) Award Recipients

	Sophia Aikins-Hill Class of 2027 Major: Biochemistry Advisor: Christopher Lambert - Teaching Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
	Aaron Belikoff Class of 2028 Major: Computer Science Advisor: Raha Moraffah - Assistant Professor, Computer Science
	Grace Cao Class of 2026 Majors: Mathematical Sciences, Data Science Advisor: Zhongqiang Zhang - Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences
	Phong Cao Class of 2027 Major: Computer Science Advisor: Fabricio Murai - Assistant Professor, Data Science
	Abigail Cieniawa Class of 2026 Major: Chemistry Advisor: Ronald Grimm - Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
	Haley Day Class of 2027 Majors: Physics, Mechanical Engineering Advisor: David Medich - Professor, Physics
	Charles Dugaw Class of 2027 Majors: Interactive Media & Game Development, Computer Science Advisor: Karen Stewart - Assistant Teaching Professor, Interactive Media & Game Development
	Artem Frenk Class of 2026 Majors: Data Science, Computer Science Minor: Statistics Advisor: Roee Shraga - Assistant Professor, Computer Science
	Sunny Kang Class of 2026 Majors: Physics, Robotics Engineering Advisor: Rasia Trubko - Assistant Professor, Physics
	Mattan Mohel Class of 2027 Majors: Physics, Mathematical Sciences Advisor: Lyubov Titova - Professor, Physics
	Samin Nihad Class of 2027 Major: Data Science Advisor: Scott Barton - Associate Professor, Humanities & Arts
	Chloe Polit Class of 2027 Majors: Computer Science, Interactive Media & Game Development Advisor: Lane Harrison - Associate Professor, Computer Science
	Daniel Reynolds Class of 2027 Major: Computer Science Minor: Cybersecurity Advisor: Robert Walls - Associate Professor, Computer Science, Program Director, Cybersecurity

Neuroscience Fellowship Recipients

Elene Kajaia

Class of 2026
Majors: Computer Science, Robotics Engineering
Advisor: Jacob Whitehill - Associate Professor, Computer Science

Lucas Ramondo

Class of 2026
Major: Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Advisors: Luis Vidali - Professor, Biology & Biotechnology, Min Wu - Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences

Manning/Leser Fellowship Recipients

Luca Dang

Class of 2026
Majors: Computer Science, Mathematical Sciences
Advisor: Jacob Whitehill - Associate Professor, Computer Science

Madeline Gagnon

Class of 2026
Majors: Mathematical Sciences, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Minor: Computer Science
Advisor: Andrea Arnold - Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences

Spencer Fellowship Recipients

Lillian Hanly

Class of 2026
Major: Biology & Biotechnology
Advisor: Lauren Mathews - Associate Professor, Biology & Biotechnology

Kavya Rajavel

Class of 2027
Major: Biology & Biotechnology
Minor: Psychological Science
Advisor: Karl-Frederic Vieux - Assistant Professor, Biology & Biotechnology

LaPre Fellowship Recipients

	Alexandra Cupit Class of 2028 Majors: Chemistry, Psychology Advisor: Shawn Burdette - Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
	Andrew Raymond Class of 2026 Major: Chemistry Advisor: Ronald Grimm - Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
	Stasha Roganovic Class of 2026 Majors: Biology & Biotechnology Advisor: Luis Vidali - Professor, Biology & Biotechnology
	Victoria Turner Class of 2026 Majors: Biology & Biotechnology and Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Advisor: Scarlett Shell - Associate Professor, Biology & Biotechnology

WPI Professor Michelle Ephraim Wins National Literature Award for Memoir

cbwamback — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

WPI English professor and acclaimed Shakespeare scholar Michelle Ephraim has been named one of two recipients of the Friends of American Writers 2025 Literature Award for her memoir Green World: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare (University of Massachusetts Press, 2024).

This national literary honor recognizes outstanding new works by emerging American authors. Ephraim will be celebrated at an awards luncheon in Chicago on May 2, where she will also deliver a speech on her writing and creative journey.

鈥淭o get national recognition with a literary award is a dream come true for any writer,鈥?said Ephraim. 鈥淚 spent many hours, days, weeks鈥攜ears, even!鈥攃rafting this book. More than anything, this award is about the artistic quality of the work, and that鈥檚 exactly what I want to deliver to my readers.鈥?lt;/span>

In Green World鈥攁 term used by literary critics to describe the magical, restorative spaces in Shakespeare鈥檚 comedies where characters seek escape鈥擡phraim interweaves her personal story with her lifelong engagement with Shakespeare.

Ephraim鈥檚 work has already garnered critical acclaim; Green World won the 2023 Juniper Prize for Creative Nonfiction.

Mart铆n Espada Reading on April 17 will Inaugurate Annual Poetry Celebration at WPI

akgold — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Mart铆n Espada, National Book Award winning poet and University of Massachusetts, Amherst Professor, will visit WPI on April 17 to give a public reading from his award-winning Floaters (2021) and from his newest book, Jailbreak of Sparrows, published April 2025. Espada will be introduced by Worcester Poet Laureate Oliver de la Paz.

Mart铆n Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist, and translator. His latest book of poems Jailbreak of Sparrows was published with Knopf in 2025. His previous book, Floaters, won the National Book Award for Poetry and a Massachusetts Book Award. His poetry collections from W.W. Norton include Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016), The Trouble Ball (2011), The Republic of Poetry (2006), Alabanza (2003) and Imagine the Angels of Bread (1996). He is the editor of What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (2019). Espada has received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the PEN/Revson Fellowship, a Letras Boricuas Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The title poem of his collection Alabanza, about 9/11, has been widely anthologized and performed. His book of essays and poems, Zapata鈥檚 Disciple (1998), was banned in Tucson as part of the Mexican-American Studies Program outlawed by the state of Arizona. A former tenant lawyer, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Espada's reading during National Poetry Month is hosted and organized by WPI's George C. Gordon Library in collaboration with the WPI School of Arts & Sciences, the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Gregory Stockmal Reading Fund at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, and the Clemente Course in the Humanities.

The event inaugurates a planned annual celebration of poetry at WPI made possible by the Gordon Library鈥檚 Olive Higgins Prouty Endowment for the Humanities. Olive Higgins Prouty (1882-1974), a Worcester native, was a poet, and a novelist who authored Now, Voyager and Stella Dallas. She was also noted for her philanthropic work that included her support for poet Sylvia Plath.

The reading will take place in the Great Hall of Higgins House, and begin at 4:00 pm with a reception and book sale and signing afterward in the Higgins garden lounge.

The event is free to the public.

For more information, please contact the WPI Library at: library@wpi.edu.

Dreaming in Ensemble (4-10-25): A Conversation on Transforming Black Opera with Prof. Lucy Caplan (Authors Unbound)

akgold — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

WPI Music Professor Lucy Caplan will discuss her first book, Dreaming in Ensemble (Harvard University Press, 2025), an account of the origins of Black opera in America and "how Black performers, composers, and critics resisted the prejudices of the world around to them to make opera their own." (publisher's site).

All are welcome to join us for this exciting addition to the 24-25 Authors Unbound series of conversations with authors across all genres on Thursday April 10 from 3-4:30pm in the Gordon Library Conference Room (Room 303).

Professor Caplan will be joined in conversation by WPI Prof. Sarah Lucie (HUA), a scholar of theater and performance, to explore the history and ideas shared in her book. As the publisher writes, "Marian Anderson鈥檚 1955 Metropolitan Opera debut often marks our earliest cultural memory of Black opera in America. But before Anderson, before icons like Leontyne Price or Kathleen Battle, there were trailblazers such as Caterina Jarboro 鈥?the first Black woman to sing the role of Aida in the United States 鈥?or Sissieretta Jones, the first Black woman to sing at Carnegie Hall."

A playlist curated by Prof. Caplan can also be found on the publisher's site. It offers a chapter-by-chapter accompaniment to the book, including a handful of rare, recently reissued modern renditions of once-forgotten music.

Professor Lucy Caplan

Prof. Sarah Lucie

WPI Students Providing Sounds to Go With Sights at Planned EcoTarium Exhibit

sfoskett — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Students 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).

Authors Unbound 2024-25: Celebrating Writing Across Genres

akgold — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:00:00 +0000

The Gordon Library is excited to announce Authors Unbound, a series of events in C and D terms that will feature informal conversations with WPI and other area scholars and writers about their vision, process, innovations and challenges as authors writing across multiple genres.

Details on locations and programs will be announced for each event and also added here throughout the spring:

On January 22, at 3pm, the series will kick off with Ludic Soundscapes: Music, Sonic Environments, and Video Games, a conversation about a 2024 publication co-edited by Dr. Elizabeth Hambleton (Gordon Library), and Professor Kate Galloway (RPI).
On January 28, at 1pm WPI Chemistry & Biochemistry Professors Anita Mattson and Raul Orduna Picon will share their innovative work in The Chemistry of Belonging: A Graphic Novel Approach to Organic Chemistry Education.
On February 13, at 3 pm (GL303), WPI HUA Professors Joel Brattin and Lance Schachterle will introduce us to their work as expert textual editors of works by Charles Dickens and J. Fenimore Cooper, in an interactive program about Great Editions: The Scholarship of Textual Editing.
On February 20 at 2pm (GL303), we are delighted to confirm a new Authors Unbound program, Who Owns Poverty. The program will feature a conversation between School of Business Professor Martin Burt, and WPI Press editor in chief, Professor Rob Krueger, about Burt's newly released second edition of Who Owns Poverty (2025) from the WPI Press.
On February 21 at 11am (GL303), WPI HUA Professor Lucy Caplan will host Maud Cuney-Hare: Musician, Scholar, Writer, Activist, at the opening at Gordon Library of her exhibit on the life and work of Maud Cuney Hare (1874-1936), an African-American scholar, writer, composer and activist with deep roots in the Boston area.
On March 19 at 4pm (SL104), Global School Dean Mimi Sheller will be joined by Northeastern University鈥檚 Professor Adriana de Souza e Silva to discuss how their co-editing is shaping emerging fields of global scholarship, with a program on Mobility Justice and Mobile Networked Creativity. This event is also part of a city-wide spring event series on sustainability, organized by the Worcester-area association of Worcester鈥檚 research and academic libraries (Academic and Research Collaborative).
Just added!
On April 10 at 3pm (GL 303), WPI HUA Professor Lucy Caplan will return to Gordon Library for a conversation about her new book, Dreaming in Ensemble (Harvard University Press, 2025). See full announcement here.
Crowning the 2025 spring series on April 17 at 4 pm (Higgins House) will be WPI Library鈥檚 first annual Olive Higgins Prouty Poetry Celebration, featuring National Book Award winner, poet, and UMass Amherst Professor Mart铆n Espada, reading from his award-winning book Floaters (2021), and his new book Jailbreak of Sparrows (April 2025). Espada's reading has been organized and made possible in collaboration with the WPI School of Arts & Sciences, the Worcester County Poetry Association, and the Clemente Course in the Humanities.

Please mark your calendars now, and join us in explorations and conversations that celebrate and share the shaping power of authorship across every genre!

Otherwords March's New Episode hosted by Prof. Erica Brozovsky

ppaskalis — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

This month鈥檚 episode of Otherwords, a PBS web series hosted by Erica Brozovsky, sociolinguist and assistant teaching professor of writing and rhetoric in the Department of Humanities & Arts, has been released. The series explores language, the unique history and stories behind words, sounds, and linguistics.

The new episode focuses on how languages die. Like species, languages can go extinct. However, there are different stages of language death, and some can be reversed.

It can be found here: Otherwords

Great Editions Feb. 13: Dickens & Cooper, Brattin & Schachterle, Coffee & Cookies

akgold — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

WPI HUA Professors Joel Brattin and Lance Schachterle will introduce us to their work as expert textual editors of works by Charles Dickens and J. Fenimore Cooper, in an interactive program about Great Editions: The Scholarship of Textual Editing, on Thursday, February 13, at 3pm, in the Gordon Library Conference Room (303).

Professor Brattin edited the Oxford Edition of Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby (2024). The publisher notes, "Dickens's third novel, originally published in monthly parts between March 1838 and September 1839. Brilliantly comic, the novel quickly developed a strong strand of social criticism, exploring themes such as love and family, selfishness, work, and charity."

Professor Schachterle edited J. Fenimore Cooper's The Bravo (2023, SUNY). About this novel the publisher writes, "Cooper called it 'in spirit, the most American book I ever wrote' because of its depiction of the masses duped by demagoguery and the attempts of Congress to rein in President Jackson, who Cooper saw as representing the popular will."

Part of the 2024-2025 Authors Unbound series at WPI.

Who's Go(a)t Talent? Is it you!

ppaskalis — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0000

This year's Go(a)t Talent Show committee is looking for faculty and staff who may be interested in performing in this year's show on February 22nd. Whether it's a solo or group act, we're looking for talent of any sort! If anyone is interested, please fill out this form as soon as possible.

The WPI Podcast: "A Christmas Carol" and All Things Charles Dickens with Professor Joel Brattin

sfoskett — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

WPI's special Charles Dickens collections are an unlikely niche at an institution better known for robotics, computer science, and engineering. The Daniel and Alice Ryan Collection, The Robert D. Fellman Collection, the Fred Guida Audio/Visual Collection of Charles Dickens and other donations have helped WPI establish itself as a vital source of information about the towering 19th century literary figure.

On this episode of The WPI Podcast, we talk with resident Dickens scholar Joel Brattin, professor of humanities and arts, about the Dickens collections at WPI and "A Christmas Carol," the author's singular story of redemption that has been ingrained in popular culture from the moment it hit bookshelves in December 1843. Listen to hear the conversation, or read a transcript below.

Professor David Ibbett Releases Luminosity, New Voice of the Universe Song

ppaskalis — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Humanities professor David Ibbett recently released a new song as part of his continuing Voice of the Universe project.

A resident composer at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Ibbett teamed up with soprano Agnes Coakley Cox who is featured in Luminosity. Voice of the Universe is a project connecting the science of the deep universe with art and music. Ibbett collaborates with vocalists, scientists and filmmakers to produce immersive compositions which are released through the Multiverse Concert Series Youtube channel.

David Ibbett and Agnes Coakley Cox

In addition, the new song coincides with the launch of Ibbett's two related competitions.

Track 1: Luminosity, invites listeners to the world of the Harvard Computers: a pioneering group of women in the C19th who made groundbreaking discoveries in astrophysics in a time where women were prevented from holding academic positions. Singing from Harvard鈥檚 Great Refractor telescope - in its time the largest telescope in the USA - soprano Agnes Coakley Cox sings of special moments in history that have expanded our perspective on the cosmos. Around her, stars and galaxies from the groundbreaking SMACS 0723 image swirl overhead, with their data sonified into musical melodies. This was the first science image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, overlaid with X-Ray data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory - showing an incredible gravitational lens formed by the SMACS cluster. This allows us to see further back in time than ever before, to the era of the cosmic dark ages and first galaxies, and ultimately - the birth of the first stars in the universe.

1. Comment Competition
Tell us "How did the video and science behind it affect your perspective on the cosmos? " The top 5 comments on our Youtube video will receive a Black Hole Symphony ecocotton T-Shirt. Enter the Comment Competition.

2. Submit an Image Competition
We're holding a competition to pick a future image to sonify into music! Submit your astronomical image via the link, together with a description of why it would make a good subject for art, music and storytelling. The winner will be picked on January 1st 2025 and released later that year.

Study Hall, "Things to Know" new show hosted by Professor Erica Brozovsky

ppaskalis — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Erica Brozovsky, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Humanities & Arts, is the host of Things to Know, a Study Hall web series that answers students鈥?top questions about subjects ranging from algebra and psychology to world history and theater. The videos provide a quick, clear guide to the essentials, so you know what to expect when you finally sit down on the first day of your statistics or music class.

Study Hall was created in partnership between Arizona State University, Crash Course, and YouTube with the aim to help students easily navigate and succeed in college every step of the way, from application to graduation.

It can be found here.

2024 Class of 1879 Awards is Now Accepting Submissions

ppaskalis — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The 1879 Awards competition is now open. This competition recognizes exceptional work in Humanities & Arts by awarding prizes of cash and certificates for outstanding Inquiry Seminar or Practicum completed in any term during 2024. Interested students may submit the fill-able PDF form and their project electronically to Pamela Paskalis at ppaskais@wpi.edu.

Deadline for the submissions is Thursday, January 30, 2025.

The application is found on the HUA website.

Black Hole Symphony

ppaskalis — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Black Hole Symphony
by Multiverse Concert Series
Saturday, December 14
3:00PM family show AND 6:30PM show
Christa McAuliffe Center Planetarium

The Christa McAuliffe Center is excited to bring to MetroWest the Black Hole Symphony, an immersive music production unfolding the story of black holes as engines of gravity, light, and creation through a groundbreaking fusion of art, science, and music!

Black Hole Symphony embarks audiences on a symphonic journey through spacetime, performed by a live chamber orchestra accompanied by stunning, immersive planetarium views. Over the course of the evening, audiences will plunge into deep space riding relativistic jets of plasma, guided through the dense dust torus, broad-line clouds, and ultimately reach the blazing accretion disk on the event horizon of a supermassive black hole.

Following the 3:00PM Family Show we will be joined by Wilson Gramer, an undergraduate at WPI, for a musical coding workshop in Wipple for ages 10+. No previous experience necessary!

Humanities & Arts Professor Erica Brozovsky Shares the Backstory of Internet Terms and Discusses Her Sociolinguistics Research in WPI podcast

jcain — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

In a new WPI podcast, Erica Brozovsky, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Humanities & Arts, helps listeners explore the history of words and the unique factors that determine how people speak the way they do. Brozovsky is a sociolinguist who teaches writing and rhetoric. Listen to hear the conversation. You may also read a transcript below.

Jon Cain:

Words. They鈥檙e written, spoken, heard, and read. But how often do you think about them? Here鈥檚 your chance to take some time to do just that. Today, you鈥檒l learn about the history of some of them. And we鈥檒l explore why you might pronounce your words differently than someone else. Think accents.

Hi. I鈥檓 Jon Cain from the marketing communications division at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. That鈥檚 WPI. This podcast brings you news and expertise from our classrooms and labs. Today鈥檚 episode we鈥檙e calling 鈥淎cross Words.鈥?lt;/span>

I鈥檓 excited to be here at the WPI Global Lab in the Innovation Studio. And I鈥檓 thrilled to be here with someone who鈥檚 going to launch us on a language journey today.

Erica Brozovsky is an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Arts at WPI. She鈥檚 a sociolinguist, a lover of words, and the host of Otherwords. It鈥檚 a fun and informative PBS web series that explores language, linguistics, and what it means to be human.

Hi Erica.

Erica, A lot of us fly through our lives not thinking about words and how we say them and what that says about us - why did you decide to research and teach about these topics?

Erica Brozovsky:

I鈥檝e always been a big fan of words and language in general鈥擨 was a voracious reader as a child, and still enjoy reading in my limited free time. I applied to college as a linguistics major and ended up sticking with it. It gave me a way to explain and understand the differences in the way people talk, and when the opportunity came to go to grad school, I jumped on it. I have always loved learning鈥攊t鈥檚 my favorite activity鈥攁nd the chance to spend another six years just focused on learning stuff? Priceless. And in my experience, the best way to learn something thoroughly is through teaching it. Students will ask questions that make you, as the instructor, really think critically and that will challenge your views or interpretations, and it鈥檚 such a fun and intellectually engaging way to get deeper. I鈥檓 also really excited about language and linguistics and want to share that with everyone.

Cain:

You鈥檙e the perfect person to help us with this, today, then. I figured since WPI鈥檚 a STEM school, I thought you could tell us about the backstory on some common tech terms. For instance 鈥?let鈥檚 talk about some internet terms today. Chances are somebody鈥檚 asked you what web browser you like to use. Where did that term 鈥榖rowser鈥?come from?

Brozovsky:

I might not answer which web browser I prefer. So people can have their own answers to that. It's a hot topic. A lot of hot takes on that. But the word browser in the computational internet context goes back to the 1960s which seems pretty early, given that the first actual web browser wasn't written until 1990. The internet was around at that time, just not accessible to the general public. But the term itself originated as an acronym, so all caps BROWSER. It stands for BRowsing On-Line With SElective Retrieval

Cain:

An acronym, I should have known. What about surfing the web, how did surfing become the activity of choice to best describe what we do using our favorite browser?

Brozovsky:

That one dates back to the early 90s. It鈥檚 usually attributed to a librarian: Jean Armour Polly. She wrote an article in 1992 for fellow librarians, kind of explaining the internet and how to use it, and she wanted a pithy metaphor for the fun and the chaos of navigating the online world. As it turns out, actually, her mousepad happened to have a surfer with the words 鈥渋nformation surfer鈥?on it. It sparked an idea, and 鈥淪urfing the Internet鈥?was born. Around the same time, a comic book called 鈥淭he Adventures of Captain Internet and CERF Boy鈥?came out, CERF is an acronym for the California Education and Research Federation. So, C,E, R, F. In it, Captain Internet and her sidekick CERF Boy surf around, on an actual surfboard, answering internet cries for help.

Cain:

Heroes to the rescue. Surfing gives that fun vibe. But there鈥檚 a flip side that can knock you right off your board. You鈥檝e probably heard of phishing scams, right? Erica, how did these deceptive online attacks come to be known by that word?

Brozovsky:

Yes, let鈥檚 keep it oceanic: Phishing with a PH is allegedly based on the homophone fishing (with an f). So, think, trawling for sensitive information from a sea of internet users. It鈥檚 attributed to hacker Khan C. Smith sometime in the mid 1990s. The alternative spelling is a nod to phreaking, which was a way of hacking telephones, hence the 鈥減h,鈥?to avoid paying long-distance phone charges.

Cain:

Are there any other internet terms that have sort of fun back stories to them that you can share with us?

Brozovsky:

Oh yeah, we're all familiar with spam, too. It's one of those annoying, ubiquitous things part of internet life, right? So spam, the word comes from an iconic Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch where a horde of Vikings enter a cafe and they repeat the menu item, Spam, capital S, Spam, right? Repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, over and over, drowning out any other sound in the cafe. So just spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, much like spam pops up in our inboxes.

Cain:

Sure does. Some interesting backstory there on those words. What about when we put all those words together and verbalize them? We may each say them a little differently. I鈥檝e always heard of people having a dialect, but you say there鈥檚 also something called an idiolect 鈥?what is that?

Brozovsky:

An idiolect is essentially all the properties that make up how an individual specific person talks. It鈥檚 each of our unique ways of speaking and how we each use language and patterns, words, pronunciations, even references, in a way that鈥檚 different from anyone else.

Cain:

How do we develop our own idiolect?

Brozovsky:

That鈥檚 just by being a person, right. So, much like how every person is unique, our fingerprints are different, our dental records are different, so are our ways that we speak. Your idiolect is built and molded by countless factors: the language or languages you speak, the society you were born into, the schools you went to, the TV you watched, the friends you made, the inside jokes you created, the places you visited, countless things. We communicate to express ourselves, so your lived experiences will inform what you say and how you say it, shaping your idiolect.

Cain:

Makes a lot of sense. So, we hear a lot about new words introduced each year into the Merriam Webster dictionary. I鈥檓 assuming the way our collective society talks is changing as well. Why is it that regional dialects change over time 鈥?is it a generational thing?

Brozovsky:

Language is always changing. I love language variation and change. It鈥檚 my pet interest. So, it鈥檚 constantly changing. But yes, regional dialect change over time tends to be generational. In the American South, for example, there鈥檚 the Southern Vowel Shift: think older folks saying prahs [price] and younger folks saying price, and there鈥檚 drey-is and dress. A lot of the change is based on migration patterns, where people from different areas came together. When two or more dialects meet, there鈥檚 a phenomenon known as dialect leveling, where the variation between the two decreases over time, and over generations will standardize into something that鈥檚 kind of in the middle of the two. However, it doesn鈥檛 mean we鈥檙e losing all those fun, unique regionalisms鈥攏ew features might get adopted, and older ones, like the y鈥檃ll, for example, might get shared.

Cain:

Ever changing and traveling across the country and the world. Is there any way to visualize these differences in how we speak?

Brozovsky:

Absolutely. I think this is so cool. So our mouths can be mapped and we can show where all the sounds come from and where they鈥檙e articulated in the mouth.

So, consonant sounds are caused by closing parts of your mouth. A B sound comes from your lips closing together, like a buh. Or for the T sound, tuh, is the tongue and the space just behind the teeth, called the alveolar ridge causing a closure. Vowels are produced with open shapes. Ah, oh, ee. The placement of vowel sounds are a lot less exact, which makes them easier to change. So, we can think of the mouth as a trapezoid, and all the vowels fall somewhere in that trapezoid. Sounds like eee and ih are at the top front of the mouth. Ahh and aww are further down and back in the mouth. If you make the sounds yourself, you might be able to feel the space where they鈥檙e actually happening in your mouth. Or at least you can tell that eee and aww are happening at different places in your mouth.

Of course, everyone鈥檚 idiolects are different, but there鈥檚 generally a range of where vowels fall in a particular regional accent, and those ranges can change. The sounds you might think of as the southern drawl, for example, are a collection of changes to where and how southerners produce vowel sounds inside of their mouths. The a [e瑟] sound in 鈥渇ace鈥?that I make toward the front of my mouth drops down and moves farther back to sound more like fuh-eece in Georgia. In the Midwest, instead of how I pronounce bag, they might say bayg, which is higher in the mouth and more towards the front.

Cain:

You've done some of this mapping for your dissertation and research, right?

Brozovsky:

Absolutely, yeah. I researched Taiwanese Americans in Texas, and I looked at them in terms of linguistic identity, both what they were saying about their identity and also how they were speaking, both literally in the mouth and also conceptually the words that they were saying. So I wanted to compare these Taiwanese Americans in Texas, Taiwanese Texans, I called them. I wanted to compare them to other people in Texas, and to see if they had that, you know, stereotypical Texas accent. I interviewed 50 people. I hand transcribed 50 people's interviews, their hour and a half long sociolinguistic interviews, and I was able to map using linguistic software where each of those vowels fell in their mouths, and each person's vowel placement is totally unique. There are similarities, of course, because they're from similar areas, but it's fun to see how they fall in the mouth and how different they are based on their identity themselves.

Cain:

What did you find in terms of comparing to that traditional Texas accent?

Brozovsky:

I did find that most of them did not have that strong Texas twang or drawl that people think of because that accent is not as apparent generally in a lot of the bigger cities where the Taiwanese populations were. That鈥檚 more, you鈥檙e going to get in East Texas and West Texas, but not so much in Dallas, or Austin, or Houston where a lot of people live in general.

Cain:

How do you incorporate some of these sociolinguistic concepts, and your research experience into the writing and rhetoric courses you teach here at WPI?

Brozovsky:

I think it鈥檚 impossible for any instructor not to include their pet interests and research areas in their teaching. When I come up with off-the-cuff examples, they鈥檒l be based on what I know and what I am interested in. Also, a lot of effective research lies in observing, so I like to let my students do a lot of the talking and we as a class get to analyze what comes next.

Specifically in my courses at WPI, I鈥檓 focused on letting the students鈥?voices come through in their writing, which is a very descriptivist choice (as opposed to prescriptivism where there鈥檚 one right way to do something). So, while yes, I need to make sure they know the so-called rules or standards per se when it comes to formal academic writing, I encourage them to speak from their own experience and worldview, because, as we鈥檝e established, it鈥檚 unique. I don鈥檛 want to read the same essay written the same way twenty times. I want twenty unique essays that only each of those specific students could have written.

Also once you learn the rules, I mean, you get to break them. That鈥檚 paraphrasing Picasso. He said something like: Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

Cain:

Words to live by. What do you hope students take away from your classes?

Brozovsky:

Well, we can never have too many writers. But really, I want them to feel empowered and confident in their ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences.

I also want them to come away with an appreciation for the humanities. Yes, WPI is a STEM school, but the humanities are also incredibly important. If you look at the word humanities, you鈥檒l see that the first part is the word human. Studying and engaging with the humanities is an exercise in both experiencing and understanding what it means to be human, and I want them to realize what a beautiful and critical thing that is.

Cain:

Erica Brozovsky is a sociolinguist and assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Arts at WPI. Thanks so much for sharing your work with us.

You can learn more about Erica鈥檚 work on WPI鈥檚 expert database. It鈥檚 at wpi.edu/experts.

Erica hosts the PBS web series Otherwords. It鈥檚 now in season four of explaining all things linguistic. New episodes come out monthly. You can find a link to episodes at wpi.edu/listen.

There, you can also find audio versions of stories about our students, faculty, and staff. everything from events to research.

You can also check out the latest WPI News on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube Podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to 鈥淥pen WPI.鈥?amp;nbsp;

Thanks for listening.

WPI Honored as Leader in Field of Educational Development and GenAI

mlumsden — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

WPI is being recognized as leading the field in educational development around generative AI (GenAI). The POD Network, which is the premiere professional association for professional and organizational development in higher education, is awarding a WPI team the Robert J. Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Educational Development.

Kimberly LeChasseur (Morgan Teaching & Learning Center), Gillian Smith (IMGD), Yunus Telliel (HUA), and Geoff Pfeifer (DIGS) are being given the honor for their paper, 鈥?..But We鈥檙e Not Stochastic Parrots: CTLs Leading GenAI Pedagogy.鈥?The paper explores what it means to form inclusive GenAI educational development supports within institutions of higher education, rather than focusing exclusively on building technical knowledge and skills. The paper鈥檚 title is a reference to AI systems that parrot back human-like responses that may be convincing, yet ultimately are merely performative and lack authentic meaning.

The team has been behind much of the professional development at WPI on GenAI for teaching and learning, including the GenAI for Teaching and Learning microcourse, two Professional Learning Communities on GenAI, and several seminars and AI jam sessions. While analyzing what they were learning, the team generated a new framework for understanding where centers for teaching and learning fit into the university鈥檚 broader pedagogical ecosystem. The framework describes GenAI initiatives and interventions with a range of foci from technical to humanistic, as well as a range of scopes from depth (such as a master鈥檚 degree program in AI) to breadth (such as a university-wide undergraduate learning outcome on AI).

鈥淭he framework can be used as a tool to assess which types of GenAI initiatives are present within an institution鈥檚 pedagogical ecosystem and point to any gaps,鈥?says LeChasseur.

In addition to providing a professional community for educational developers, the POD Network serves as a leading voice on teaching and learning in higher education. The WPI team鈥檚 paper will be presented in Chicago at the 2024 annual meeting on November 13 and will be available on the POD Network website.

Outrage Overload Podcast featuring Prof. Roger Gottlieb

ppaskalis — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Listen to Roger Gottlieb, a William B. Smith professor of Humanities & Arts, discuss his first novel, The Sacrifice Zone, in Outrage Overload, a Connors Institute podcast.

Listen to the Outrage Overload episode Why We Need Courage, Not Hope, to Face Climate Change to hear Professor Gottlieb's thoughts.

New episodes: Professor Erica Brozovsky hosts PBS web series on language

jcain — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Erica Brozovsky, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Humanities & Arts, is the host of Otherwords, a PBS web series that explores language, the unique history and stories behind words, sounds, and linguistics. Along the way, the series focuses on what it means to be human.

As a sociolinguist and lover of words, Brozovsky teaches writing and rhetoric. Her research and teaching interests include language variation and change, bicultural rhetoric, and Asian American studies.

New episodes of Otherwords are released once a month and can be found here.

The Precarity of AI? One Philosophy Professor Discusses AI's Uncertainties

rtatarek — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e living in a time that鈥檚 rife with all kinds of precarity,鈥?said Geoffrey Pfeifer, associate professor of global studies and philosophy at WPI. 鈥淧recarity of our knowledge systems, precarity of our political systems, precarity of our environment, precarity of jobs and work life.鈥?amp;nbsp;

Precarity of artificial intelligence.

A philosopher by training, Pfeifer does not identify as an expert in artificial intelligence research. Yet, as is the case for most professionals today, the implications of AI are inescapable in his work, which focuses on social and political philosophy, global justice, and critical pedagogies. When he helped with the design and instruction of a critical AI micro-course for faculty earlier this summer, he started to understand problems in the environmental impact and ethics of AI, particularly chatbots.

Associate Professor Geoffrey Pfeifer

鈥淭hey鈥檙e consuming so much energy,鈥?he said. 鈥淵ou can imagine what this means for us when we think about the environment and climate change and fossil fuel usage. And people in the AI space are starting to say that we may see limits on AI鈥檚 ability to do what it does because we鈥檙e limited by its energy consumption.鈥?lt;/p>

Pfeifer is not the only philosopher with concerns about AI鈥檚 slippery slope. The annual Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World (SPCW) conference, held July 17鈥?0 at WPI, included multiple presentations that addressed the conference theme of 鈥減recarity鈥?through AI. Pfeifer, coeditor of the SPCW鈥檚 Journal of Philosophy in the Contemporary World, was host of the conference. His two departments at WPI, Integrative & Global Studies and Humanities & Arts, cosponsored the event.

One conference presentation, by Richard Frohock, a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of South Florida, examined AI chatbots and the precarity of our knowledge systems鈥攊n particular, what might happen when AI takes over the role of expert. In the same way that 鈥渇ood deserts鈥?result from the absence of nearby grocery stores in certain communities, Frohock theorized that AI could lead to 鈥渆xpert deserts鈥?where human experts in certain fields have been replaced by chatbots.

Pfeifer said his own questions about chatbots have bled into questions around extractivism, a term that he used to describe the practice of mining minerals for chip production primarily in the Global South. He said that the social and political implications of extractivism go beyond climate to things like land ownership, environmental degradation, and the impact on local residents.

This raised further ethical concerns around what Pfeifer called the hidden labor of training chatbots and generative AI models. For example, OpenAI and similar companies employed workers in economically disadvantaged countries to manually filter out 鈥渁ll the horrific content you can find on the internet.鈥?In recorded interviews, some of these workers report that they were traumatized by what they were exposed to, lost their families as a result of this trauma, and were inadequately compensated.

鈥淭hese are global justice questions,鈥?he said. 鈥淎nd this is all hidden stuff that we don鈥檛 see.鈥?lt;/p>

The precarity generated by AI doesn鈥檛 stop there. Other ethical questions that are top of mind for Pfeifer include the lack of transparency in data collection and the perpetuation of biases in AI training data. But don鈥檛 mistake his caution for complete pessimism.

鈥淪ometimes I catch myself sounding so negative. I think it鈥檚 less negativity and more trying to be critical and make sure that we鈥檙e paying attention to these things.鈥?amp;nbsp;

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it means that we have to reject AI or not train people to work with AI,鈥?he added. 鈥淏ut these are issues that we鈥檙e going to need to confront as a society. And we should train our students to be aware of them so they can think about ways to minimize these harms as infrastructure gets built out.鈥?lt;/p>

While many things in the contemporary world may be precarious, WPI鈥檚 capacity to train the leaders of the future is not one of them. The university believes that the key to shaping the future of AI is specialized education with a dual foundation in technical expertise and responsible practices. In late 2023, WPI announced the launch of its Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, boasting a curriculum that was jointly crafted by industry leaders and faculty experts to address the same ethical considerations that Pfeifer and others have raised. This fall, the university will welcome its first cohort of graduate students in the program.

WPI faculty, too, are benefiting from AI training. The micro-course on critical AI literacy that Pfeifer contributed to was spearheaded by resident experts Gillian Smith, director of the Interactive Media & Game Design department, and Yunus Telliel, assistant professor of anthropology and rhetoric.

New Scientist Podcast: Featuring Humanities Professor David Ibbett

ppaskalis — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Humanities and Arts Assistant Professor David Ibbett recently appeared as a guest on the New Scientist Podcast with the fantastic science journalist Bethan Ackerly. The two spoke about Black Hole Symphony two years ago and were able to reconnect and discuss Ibbett's new Mars Symphony and the evolution of the project to incorporate real sounds from Mars.

Listen to David Ibbett on the New Scientist podcast.

Six faculty publish study of inclusivity in course syllabi

cdemetry — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

From top and left to right: Francesca Bernardi (MA), Crystal Brown (SSPS), Lindsay Davis (HUA), Michelle Ephraim (HUA), Rebecca Moody (HUA), Raisa Trubko (PH)

Six faculty members across four departments in the School of Arts & Sciences have published a study of inclusivity cues in WPI course syllabi. Their article, 鈥?lt;a>Cultivating inclusivity in introductory undergraduate STEM course syllabi,鈥?appeared recently with open access in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Their study design included analysis of 163 anonymized syllabi from 1000- and 2000-level courses across six academic years (2016-17 to 2021-22) and across all four schools at WPI. They also used a questionnaire to gather student perspectives on their use of syllabi and the importance they attach to particular syllabus content. Both data sets focused on three practices that promote gender inclusivity and equity: a) listing the instructors鈥?pronouns; b) use of inclusivity statements; and c) use of course materials authored by women and gender minority scholars.

Consistent with other studies, the authors found that WPI students are affected by course syllabi; 77% of student survey respondents reported that syllabi are important for their overall learning and course experience. They also found distinct differences between students鈥?hopes and expectations and actual syllabus content for all three inclusivity practices. For example, 75% of student respondents viewed listing instructors鈥?pronouns as important, while only 10% of the syllabi did so. Students also noted the importance of personalized versus boilerplate inclusivity statements. Their article concludes with recommendations and resources for implementing all three practices in ways that would enhance classroom experiences for all students.

The early stage of the authors鈥?inclusive syllabus project was supported by a Teaching Innovation Grant awarded in 2021. Since that time, this group has also translated their research into practice by facilitating departmental workshops for faculty, tailored to each department鈥檚 particular discipline. Their work has also been reinforced and extended with an Inclusive Syllabus micro-course for faculty and the work of Morgan Pedagogy Champions in 15 departments in 2023-24, initiatives facilitated by Senior Instructional Designer Caitlin Neer. Any individual or department interested in learning more can reach out to Caitlin Neer (cakeller@wpi), the authors, or morgan-center@wpi.

Humanities Professor David Ibbett Appears on The Culture Show Podcast

ppaskalis — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

David Ibbett, visiting assistant teaching professor in WPI's Humanities & Arts Department, recently appeared on The Culture Show podcast to talk about the Mars Symphony. The Mars Symphony is a collaboration with Boston's Museum of Science and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Listen to Ibbett's guest appearance on The Culture Show podcast's June 18, 2024 episode: Juneteenth and the Mars Symphony.

PBL Podcast Series on The Academic Minute, a WAMC National Production

hbecka — Thu, 30 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Five WPI faculty members will be featured on The Academic Minute, a two-and-a-half minute higher ed podcast that features researchers from colleges and universities around the world. Hosted by Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, President of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the program airs on 70 stations around the United States and Canada and can be heard live on WAMC each weekday at 7:30 a.m. and 3:56 p.m. Each segment recording is also posted to academicminute.org at 12:01 a.m. the day of airing for on demand listening.

In this five-part series, WPI faculty share key findings from the latest WPI alumni survey that demonstrate that the WPI project-based curriculum is an outstanding preparation for lives and careers.

Listen in to learn more about the survey results and the impact of project-based learning.

锘?lt;/p>

Climate Hope Concert

mcotnoir — Thu, 02 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The EcoTarium Museum of Science and Nature is excited to host the Multiverse Concert "Climate Hope Concert" as the final event in our month-long Eear Day celebration! See poster to scan for tickets and more information.

May 5, 2024 at 6:00pm and 8:00pm, 222 Harrington Way, Worcester MA 01604

WPI Announcements RSS Feed

John Sanbonmatsu Publishes The Omnivore鈥檚 Deception

2025 Arts & Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows Announced

Summer Training in the Arts and Sciences (STAR) Award Recipients

Sophia Aikins-Hill

Aaron Belikoff

Grace Cao

Phong Cao

Abigail Cieniawa

Haley Day

Charles Dugaw

Artem Frenk

Sunny Kang

Mattan Mohel

Samin Nihad

Chloe Polit

Daniel Reynolds

Neuroscience Fellowship Recipients

Elene Kajaia

Lucas Ramondo

Manning/Leser Fellowship Recipients

Luca Dang

Madeline Gagnon

Spencer Fellowship Recipients

Lillian Hanly

Kavya Rajavel

LaPre Fellowship Recipients

Alexandra Cupit

Andrew Raymond

Stasha Roganovic

Victoria Turner

WPI Professor Michelle Ephraim Wins National Literature Award for Memoir

Mart铆n Espada Reading on April 17 will Inaugurate Annual Poetry Celebration at WPI

Dreaming in Ensemble (4-10-25): A Conversation on Transforming Black Opera with Prof. Lucy Caplan (Authors Unbound)

WPI Students Providing Sounds to Go With Sights at Planned EcoTarium Exhibit

Authors Unbound 2024-25: Celebrating Writing Across Genres

Otherwords March's New Episode hosted by Prof. Erica Brozovsky

Great Editions Feb. 13: Dickens & Cooper, Brattin & Schachterle, Coffee & Cookies

Who's Go(a)t Talent? Is it you!

The WPI Podcast: "A Christmas Carol" and All Things Charles Dickens with Professor Joel Brattin

Professor David Ibbett Releases Luminosity, New Voice of the Universe Song

Study Hall, "Things to Know" new show hosted by Professor Erica Brozovsky

2024 Class of 1879 Awards is Now Accepting Submissions

Black Hole Symphony

Humanities & Arts Professor Erica Brozovsky Shares the Backstory of Internet Terms and Discusses Her Sociolinguistics Research in WPI podcast

WPI Honored as Leader in Field of Educational Development and GenAI

Outrage Overload Podcast featuring Prof. Roger Gottlieb

New episodes: Professor Erica Brozovsky hosts PBS web series on language

The Precarity of AI? One Philosophy Professor Discusses AI's Uncertainties

New Scientist Podcast: Featuring Humanities Professor David Ibbett

Six faculty publish study of inclusivity in course syllabi

Humanities Professor David Ibbett Appears on The Culture Show Podcast

PBL Podcast Series on The Academic Minute, a WAMC National Production

Climate Hope Concert