WPI Engineering Ambassadors want to spark your interest in electricity. Two of our electrical and computer engineering students teach you all about electrical circuits and the devices that are powered by them. Try being an electrical engineer yourself as you design your own flashlight.
Most materials are either a solid, liquid or gas but what happens if it is none of these or more than one of these? You likely are dealing with a viscoelastic material. Learn about the properties of viscoelastic materials and how engineers use these special polymers in the medical field. Become a chemical engineer yourself as you create and analyze your own viscoelastic polymer also known as silly putty!
Learn about rocketry from early age China and Greece to the modern astronauts we know today. Explore the physics behind rockets. Follow along as the Engineering Ambassadors take you through time as technology changed to improve rocketry. Then we invite you to make your own straw-rocket as you investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight!
It’s the annual Bridge Tour! This year – no need to walk!
We have stationed bridge engineers at several bridges in the Boston area and, will “transport” you bridge to bridge. The bridge experts will cover the history, the physics and other great stories about the bridges. You will also have an activity to do that will help you learn about different types of bridges.
The Whittington Research Group is making models of human disease outside of the body. You can view an overview of the work, and see students in the lab. Work is described using a LEGO analogy, because we know a lot people are familiar with building models with Legos or blocks.
Wind is one of the most plentiful sources of renewable energy. But not all wind is created equal. Measuring the speed of the wind is very important in the process. Explore with the WPI Engineering Ambassadors the ways that wind power can be harnessed to create energy and then build your very own device to measure the speed of wind.
We’ve all heard that opposites attract, but did you know it’s scientific fact? Build a simple magnet pyramid and explore the push and pull of electrons hard at work!
It might come as a shock, but you don’t need a wall outlet to create electricity. Discover an invisible force that will zap your hands, restyle your hair and even levitate small objects as if by magic!
Nature abhors a vacuum– but we love them! Create a vacuum of your own, and squeeze an egg into a bottle using the amazing power of hot and cold air.
“You can’t have autonomy without connectivity.” That’s the contention of Alexander Wyglinski, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and an internationally recognized expert in wireless communications. One of Wyglinski’s interests is the wireless technology that will be needed to connect vehicles as they share the road. Wireless connections will enable them to exchange information about road conditions, traffic and so on, thus increasing their situational awareness well beyond the range the cameras and sensors that give autonomous vehicles a view of the environment around them. In Wyglinski’ s view, vehicle connectivity, which may involve cutting-edge technologies like cognitive radio, is an enabling technology for autonomous vehicles, as it will be essential to their safe operation.
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