$500 Million Fundraising Campaign Launches Publicly
WPI launched Beyond These Towers, the largest fundraising campaign in its history—and the first to combine philanthropy and sponsored research—at a global virtual event in October.
Read StoryFrom the Desk of Paula M. Delaney ’75
Dear Alumni,
As our students get ready to return to campus, I find myself thinking back on the past year, my inaugural year as Alumni Association President. Although WPI joined the world in facing truly extraordinary challenges, I am glad to see the heart and soul of this great institute has not been diminished.
Whether on campus or virtually, our students held fast to the university’s founding tenets of theory and practice. Facing unprecedented challenges, they persevered toward WPI’s third tower: impact. Both locally and worldwide, WPI students have made a positive difference. Here’s a small sampling: Justin Amevor ’20, MS ’22, who launched a food truck business to fight food insecurity in the Worcester community; Mia Buccowich ’22, Brian Fay ’22, and Andy Strauss ’23, who developed a robotic hand prosthetic for a college student in Texas; and Raymond Magambo ’21, who started a transportation ticketing company in his home country of Tanzania.
Our faculty followed suit as they continued to push the boundaries of science and research: Architectural Engineering Professor Nima Rahbar and Richard T. Whitcomb Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Suzanne Scarlata are developing self-healing concrete; Biology and Biotechnology Professor Pam Weathers is researching a medicinal herb to fight Covid-19; Robotics Engineering Professor Greg Fischer is working to develop machines that carefully guide the hands of surgeons; and Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Catherine Whittington is researching pancreatic cancer. They all stand as examples of the WPI community who are working to make the world a better, safer, more humane place—even in the most trying of times.
We alumni have played our collective role as well. Since last October’s launch of Beyond These Towers: The Campaign for WPI, generous philanthropic donors have helped the university achieve more than $200 million in campaign commitments toward a $350 million philanthropic goal. Overall, we are more than 70 percent of the way toward the campaign’s $500 million combined philanthropic and research goal.
Learn how you can support our great alma mater here: wpi.edu/+alumni and wpi.edu/+give. To find out more about Beyond These Towers: The Campaign for WPI, visit wpi.edu/+beyond.