The Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) is one of the most distinctive elements of the WPI Plan and WPI’s signature project-based curriculum, giving every WPI student the experience of working in interdisciplinary teams to solve a problem or need that lies at the intersection of science and society.

Students complete their IQP in their third year. Small teams work together over fourteen weeks (two seven-week terms), drawing on their collective knowledge and skill sets to address a real-world issue that a local organization has identified. The IQP is not an internship. Instead, it’s a community-based research project that leans heavily on the collaborative relationship that the teams develop with their sponsoring organization.

During the first seven-week term, students complete ID 2050, a prep course in social science research techniques in which they learn about working with diverse constituencies and complete extensive background research on their sponsoring organization and the proposed issue or problem. By the end of the course, they will have completed a detailed methodology for achieving the project’s goals and objectives and a proposed outline and timeline for completing the project.

During the second seven weeks, students work on their project full-time, earning one full credit of coursework. Because of this concentrated attention, they’re able to tackle a fairly sizable project. At the end of the those seven weeks, each team presents professional-level reports that propose economically and technically feasible, socially responsible solutions to the proposed issue or problem.