Research, Discovery and Innovation (ReDI) Annual Symposium

heWorcester Polytechnic Institute
May 13 – 15, 2019

Vice Provost for Research, Bogdan Vernescu, launched WPI’s first Research, Discovery and Innovation (ReDI) Symposium.  This event provided a platform for faculty to share new discoveries and ideas with colleagues and university partners.  The symposium provided faculty with the chance to share their work while exploring new opportunities for internal and external collaborations. The research success of WPI’s faculty has significantly increased over the past four years of the strategic plan, which has enabled WPI to approach the ambitious goal on increasing WPI’s award funding by 50 percent.

The first day and a half of the ReDI Symposium features talks by WPI faculty members at the forefront cutting-edge research accompanied by talks from alums, post docs and students who have developed exceptional innovations.  The agenda and details are below.

Monday, May 13, 2019 — Research and Discovery

8:30 am – 8:45 am: ReDI Opening Remarks, President Leshin and Provost Soboyejo

8:45 am – 9:10 am: Kris Boudreau, 2018 Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Research & Creative Scholarship Awardee

9:15 am – 10:20 am: Lightning Talks
Andrea Arnold, Mathematical Sciences, Sequential Monte Carlo Methods for Inverse Problems
Eric Young, Chemical Engineering, Synthetic Biology for Cell Factories
Craig Shue, Computer Science, Network Security: At Work and at Home
Natalie Farny, Biology and Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology Meets Cell Biology: Science at the Interface of Cells and the Environment
Paul Mathisen, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sustainable Water Management: Some Modeling
Approaches for Characterizing Water Quantity and Quality
Anita Mattson, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Nature-Inspired Cancer Therapies
Lyubov Titova, Physics, What Happens When a Photon is Absorbed in a Nanostructure? Probing of Photoinitiated Processes Over Ultra-short Time Scales and Distances
Robert Walls, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Securing Embedded Systems
Jeannine Coburn, Biomedical Engineering, Functional Biomaterials for Biomedical Application

10:20 am – 10:30 am: Break

10:30 am – 11:15 am: Lightning Talks
Albert Simeoni, Fire Protection Engineering, Wildfires
Catherine Whittington, Biomedical Engineering, In Vitro Models of Tissue Morphogenesis and Disease for
Regenerative Medicine, Discovery, and Treatment Applications
Adam Powell, Mechanical Engineering, Metal Production for a Sustainable Future
Kyumin Lee, Computer Science & Data Science, Mitigating Impact of Fake News and Manipulation
Jagan Srinivasan, Biology and Biotechnology, Smell and Neurodegenerative Diseases: A pathological substrate or a novel biomarker?
Aaron Sakulich, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Self-healing Coatings for Structural Concrete
Rodica Neamtu, Computer Science, Exploratory and Predictive Tools for Data Series in Healthcare, Neuroscience and Finance

11:15 am – 12:15 pm: Research Presentations
Pratap Rao, Mechanical Engineering, Materials for Solar Energy and Flexible Electronics
Soussan Djamasbi, The Business School, Innovation with User Experience (IUX)
Xinming Huang, Electrical and Computer Engineering, From Autonomous Vehicle to Future of Autonomy

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm: Luncheon

1:00 pm – 2:45 pm: Research Presentations
Kris Billiar, Biomedical Engineering, Heart Valve Mechanobiology: Implications for HV Disease and Treatment
Jennifer Rudolph, Humanities and Arts, Pirated Identities in the Taiwan Strait
Emmanuel Agu, Computer Science, Smartphone Sensing and Imaging for Pervasive Healthcare
Joe Sarkis, The Business School, Technological Transformations, the Circular Economy, and the Green Supply Chain

2:45 pm – 3:00 pm: Break

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm: Research Presentations
Neil Heffernan, Computer Science, Using Online Education Platforms to Run Randomized Controlled
Experiments to Learn What Causes Student Learning
Danielle Cote, Mechanical Engineering, Model-Guided Powder Design for Metallic Additive Manufacturing
Applications
Greg Fischer, Mechanical Engineering & Robotics Engineering, Robotic Technologies for Image-Guided
Interventions

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm: Poster Presentations and Reception
RNA Metabolism Affects Antibiotic Sensitivity in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, M. Carla Martini; Nathan Hicks;
Yanlin Zhao; Jiang Yang; Sarah M. Fortune; Scarlet S. Shell, The Smart World Classroom: The ASSIStments set of Projects,

Neil Heffernan; Anthony Botelho; Korinn Ostrow
Application of Computational Thermodynamics in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell,

Shadi Dar vish, Mohammad Asadikiya,Yu Zhong, Bringing Dead Brands Back from the Grave: The Power of Social Media,

Eleanor Loiacono, Purvi Shah, Fadi Almazyad, Computational Characterization of Electromagnetic and Thermal Phenomena in a New Millimeter-Wave Heat Exchanger,

Petra Kumi, Stephanie A. Martin, Vadim V. Yakovlev
Tailoring the Structure, Defects of Bi2S3, and Growth of BiI3 as Non-toxic Bismuth Based Materials for
Photovoltaics,

Maryam Masroor, James McRae, Emily Molstad, Risbel Rivas, Emma Ruano, Pratap M.Rao, Bioinspired Design of Structural and Thermal Materials,

Nima Rahbar, Applied Systems and Synthetic Biology for Novel Cell Catalysts,

Eric Young; Joseph Collins, Kevin Keating, Trent Jones, Shelby Morrison, Celeste Marsan, Alexandra Connor
Optimization of Close Space Sublimation of Vertical SnS2 Nanoflakes,

Binod Giri; Pratap Rao, Atomic and Electronic Structure of the Edges of Bulk and Monolayer Tin Disulfide,

Tao Yan; Pratap Rao, Flexible and Stable Lead Perovskite Solar Cells,

Nicholas Pratt; Pratap Rao, Living Legos: A Modular Approach to Building Engineered Tissues,

Rolle Lab, Collagen-tethered Antimicrobial Peptides for Treatment of Chronic Infected Wounds,

Marsha Rolle, Joni Grosha, Lindsay Lozeau, Dalia Shendi, Terri Camesano, Studies of Human Amyloid Precursors Interaction with Neuronal Cell Membrane to Decipher the Link Between Alzheimer and Type II Diabetic Disease,

Izabela Stroe, Najma Bibi, Margaret Pruitt, Amity Manning, Investigating the Effects of Navigation Design on the Utilization of a Web-based Clinical Decision Tool,

Soussan Djamasbi, Bengisu Tulu, Javad Norouzi Nia, Andrew Aberdale; Christopher Lee; Susanne Muehlschlegel, Innovation Through Knowledge and Experience (IKE): A Platform for Innovation with User Experience (IUX),

Ryan Lamarche, Christopher Chagnon, Soussan Djamasbi, Proto-Research Persona Development: A User Experience Design Approach,

Adarsha Bajracharya, Annalise McDonald, Cynthia Girardi, Gloria Ahumada-Zonin, Soussan Djamasbi, Daniel Amante, Wireless Connectivity for Smart World,

Kyle W McClintick, Alexander M Wyglinski, Policy Content Modeling and Analysis, Shamsnaz Virani Bhada

Tuesday, May 14, 2019 — Innovation / Commercialization and Cross-Cutting Communities

8:30 am – 9:00 am: Coffee and Pastry

9:00 am – 9:15 am: Introductions and Overview of the IP Process

9:15 am – 9:45 am: I-Corps Customer Discovery Program Presentations

Leef Jerky – Growing Beef Using Plant Vasculature, Glenn Gaudette,

Integrated Photonics Sensors, Doug Petkie,

IKE – A Platform for User Experience Studies and Collaborations, Soussan Djamasbi

9:45 am – 10:15 am: Innovation Presentations

A 24/7 3D Printing Farm, Andrew Nagal
Flexible Articulating Surgical Laser Probe for Laryngeal Afflictions, Loris Fichera
Stimuli Delivery System for Awake Model MR Imaging Regimes, John Sullivan
A Novel New CPR Device, John Sullivan

10:15 am – 10:45 am: Start-Up Showcase
FUSE – A Guitar Innovation Company, V.J. Manzo
In Virtu – Meshing Mixed Reality with Machine Learning, Dmitry Korkin
AiM Medical Robotics – Improving Outcome with MRI Compatible Advanced Robotics, Gregory Fischer

10:45 am – 11:00 am: Break

11:00 am – 11:30 am: Seed Grant Announcements: TRIAD

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: ReDI Closing Keynote Presented by Jeremy Hitchcock, CEO of Minim