Month: February 2013

On Wednesday, Jan. 30^th, three IGERT students, Sarah Runge, Heather Cirka and Karen Levi and pre-IGERT student, Lindsay Lozeau, attended Student Entrepreneurship Night at the MassChallenge headquarters in Boston. The event held an opening panel of CEOs from start-up companies in the Boston area such as Jessica Cole from Roammeo answering questions about their entrepreneurial success, followed by a networking session of many local entrepreneurs sharing their ideas.

 I think the most valuable part of this trip was realizing how young all of the entrepreneurs were at this event. Most of them were either still in college or had just graduated, and they all had great ideas. Meeting people who had fueled their start-up with the pure passion for solving a problem was inspiring; that is what the IGERT at WPI program is all about.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren visited WPI on February 1, 2013 where she toured the lab space at Gateway Park.  She got a firsthand look at the innovative research being conducted here that IGERT fellows take part in. Sen. Warren was impressed with the facility, calling it a prime example of the future of education. IGERT fellow Heather Cirka and pre-IGERT fellow Katrina Hansen had a chance to talk with Sen. Warren and explain how funds from the federal government are training students to become future leaders in Biofabrication.

Pre-Igert fellow Katrina Hansen had the opportunity to show some of the research she is working on, in Prof. Gaudette’s lab, to a couple members of The J. Geils Band.  Band members Richard Salwitz and Danny Klein are WPI Alum and were visiting campus on January 30, 2013. Danny Klein’s dog recently received stem cell therapy. The technology that Katrina is working on seeks to improve delivery of stem cell therapy for animals and humans.