FINDINGS :
1. Identify health-related IQPs undertaken at WPI and classify them by project center and theme
The findings in the bar graph, Top 5 Project Centers with the Most Health-Related IQPs, represent the top 5 project centers that have the most health-related IQPs. These projects centers are Melbourne (the Australia Project Center), Copenhagen (the Denmark Project Center), Worcester (as in the Worcester Community Project Center in Massachusetts), Bangkok (the Thailand Project Center), and London (the England Project Center). Melbourne has done 55 health-related IQPs, Copenhagen 49, Worcester 47, Bangkok 46, and London 37. In the bar graph, The Top 10 Most Common Themes for Health-Related IQPs, the top 10 most common themes for all health-related IQPs are present. The top 5 themes are: Youth Well-Being, Emergency Services, Health and Technology, Stem Cells, and Product Liability. Under Youth Well-Being, there are 62 health-related IQPs, Emergency Services 58, Health and Technology 56, Stem Cell Research 55, and Product Liability 45.
Within The Top 10 Most Common Themes for Health-Related IQPs findings, I did see some patterns as well. For example, under Youth Well-Being, the goal of most of these projects was to improve the health or well-being of school children and students in university. For that, many of these projects looked at improving the communities in which these children and students grow, from projects like Designing Safe Playgrounds for the Klong Toey Community (Klong Toei, Bangkok) to Sustaining the Safety of Social Drinking Culture at WPI. Similarly, for the Emergency Services theme, there was a general pattern across projects of improving the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) in other countries and the design of ambulances. For example, on the website, when searching by Emergency Services in theme, some of these projects are EMS Communications, EMS Communication Systems Data Analysis, Analysis of Emergency Medical Systems (EMSs) Across the World, Improving Ambulance Power Systems, Improvements in Lighting, Ventilation and Insulation in an Ambulance, and Ambulance Interior Storage Optimization. Under Health and Technology, in which there are 56 health-related IQPs, the common pattern was nanotechnology, nanotechnology being the manipulation of atoms or manipulating atoms at nanoscale. For that nanotechnology stems from engineering and Worcester Polytechnic Institute is an engineering university, the number of nanotechnology projects makes sense. Some of these projects are The Effect of an Educational Video on the Acceptance of Nanotechnology, The NanoProject – An assessment of nanotechnology in Denmark, and Social impact of nanotechnology.
2. Understand how project centers come to be involved in health-related IQPs
“That’s a topic I’m interested in in my own research. We’ve worked with some people in Australia around that, planning for heat, health heat, a healthy city, and looking at and understanding what people do with their time when they are outside on hot days and how it affects their lifestyles” – WPI center director / project advisor
“it’s who we connect with and what could be good for a project. It’s about the opportunities that have come up. Within the network, the main project we’ve done is mental health work with the Emergency Services Foundation, so we worked with them to help service workers in fire and ambulance” – WPI center director / project advisor
“I started advising in Panama and saw that there were opportunities. I saw and started meeting really cool people and you’re like, why don’t we do a project with, for example, this cool Catholic foundation, why don’t we work with foundations that are more connected to the community” – WPI center director / project advisor
3. Explore the effect of health-related IQPs on students
“They’re going to have to develop communication skills, writing and presentations . . . after graduation, a lot of them say there’s a lot of this experience that was helpful when I finished university and, in the job market, was applying for a job where I was going to work on a team on a project and I was able to say can I tell you about my IQP” – WPI center director / project advisor
“What got me passionate about this project was that I have been volunteering at a dementia unit. I’m a pre-med student, this project aligns with my interests. I’m really passionate for the Alzheimer’s disease community and I represent the Alzheimer’s Association” – pre-med student at WPI
“I advise projects in Switzerland, last D term, there was a project at a hospital, I had some biomedical engineering students, it’s a starting point for their career and future” – WPI center director / project advisor
4. Examine the ethical challenges of health-related IQPs
“We’re not only learning from people and doing research on that level, but we also share their story, . . . it’s about making people comfortable and that they really agree, and they know what they are getting into” – WPI center director / project advisor
“Working in a healthcare setting if, in this example a drug company, is looking to interview or do data collection with patients, there are additional protections for that of HIPAA laws so there’s added ethical challenges that they may not have in other IQPs” – WPI center director / project advisor
“We also did a project at WPI during the mental health crisis. At some point, students were going through a mental health crisis in 2021/2022 and that’s when we did the project on establishing a garden in Worcester . . . the garden people can go and look at and calm down and meditate.” – WPI center director / project advisor