The Hawai‘i Project Center is one of many project centers that Worcester Polytechnic Institute operates worldwide. At these centers, WPI students and faculty work closely with sponsoring organizations on projects with local and regional impacts. Projects address complex problems faced by local sponsors and student teams bring new approaches and unconventional thinking to develop potential solutions.
Our project center in Hawai‘i had its inaugural year in winter of 2020, with four teams completing projects on the island of Hawai‘i, collaborating with sponsoring organizations in the Hilo area and elsewhere around the island. In winter of 2022, the center relocated to the island of Oahu. As participants in WPI’s Global Projects program, student teams work for a total of 14 weeks on projects identified by their sponsors, and are on-site in Hawai‘i for the last 7 weeks of work.
At our many project centers distributed globally, we have coordinated with a wide range of sponsoring organizations, including governmental agencies, non-profits, and private sector entities. While the projects our students take on at our global centers cover a broad range of topics, each center strives to develop strengths in areas of particular local concern.
In Hawai‘i, projects may cover a broad range of topics, but many will fall into the general area of sustainability. Projects typically focus in complex problems that address the impacts of technology or science on human and natural systems, or on applications of technology and science to effect change or mitigate negative impacts in those systems. More about WPI’s Global Projects Program can be found here.
