Advising

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Major Qualifying Projects (MQPs)

WPI MQPs serve as a senior year capstone project, where “students gain real-world design or research experience within their major field.”

Projects Advised
AY 2014-2015: Co-advisor for a senior student’s economics study of the organic and local food sector in Brazil.

Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQPs)

WPI IQPs are nine-credit-hour, interdisciplinary requirements involving applied research that connects science or technology with social issues and human needs. “Small teams of students work under the guidance of faculty members from all disciplines to conduct research, using social science methods, directed at a specific problem or need. Students deliver findings and recommendations through formal reports and oral presentations to project sponsors (often nonprofit, municipal, or government agencies) and faculty advisors.”

Projects Advised
D Term 2015: Co-advisor for 6 teams of students at the WPI London Project Center.
AY 2014-2015: Co-advisor for two teams of students working with FRAXA Research Foundation.

Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF Program)

Undergraduate WPI students may compete to receive SURF stipends for research projects. Students work closely with a faculty advisor over two months during the summer.

Projects Advised
Summer 2014: Advisor for a rising sophomore student’s study on the effects of deindustrialization, entitled “Economic Stratification and Societal Health in Worcester, Massachusetts.”

Student Organizations

WPI’s Student Activities Office outlines faculty advisor roles as such: “Each club or organization is required to have an advisor who is a full-time member of the WPI faculty, staff, or administration. The role of the advisor is to help the group meet its stated goals. The advisor should review the club or organization’s constitution in order to clearly understand its purpose and determine how s/he can best assist the group.”

Model UN Club
2014 – present: As the advisor of the Model UN Club at WPI, I guide students in travel team selection for participation in the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference, held each year in February in Boston. The club is currently populated with highly-motivated and engaged students, so my role is more limited to a sounding board for their already excellent ideas. However, the club hopes to expand its imprint on campus by holding regular discussions on political issues, which will require more guidance, as well as help with fundraising.
Engineers without Borders
January 2015: Served as an interim advisor for WPI’s chapter of Engineers without Borders (EWB-WPI) during an assessment trip to Guachtuq, Guatemala.

Brooklyn College

Independent Studies

These studies are independent research projects supervised by a faculty member, requiring fieldwork and library study, student-professor conferences, and a final research paper.

Projects Advised
Summer 2009: Advisor for a senior student’s independent study on American “imperialism” and the International Monetary Fund, entitled “Structural Adjustments – Necessary Reforms of the IMF.”
Fall 2008: Advisor for a senior student’s independent study of the effects of globalization on resource allocation in areas experiencing ethnic tension, entitled “Globalization’s Effects on Ethnic Conflicts.”