WPI:Santa Fe Project Center
From Adobewiki
The Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division (IGSD) of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute is exploring the possibility of creating a new domestic project center in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. Santa Fe is a major center for native American culture and it is also a Mecca for both active and retired scientists and avant-garde artists.
Due to the proximity of Los Alamos National Lab and the establishment within its boundaries of the world-renowned Santa Fe Institute, founded by George Cowan, WPI class of 41, Santa Fe has attracted top-notch researchers (including several Nobel-prize winners) in the advanced field of complexity theory applied to physics, biology, economics and political science. Recently, the Santa Fe Complex has been created to provide a space where art and science can interact for the benefit of the community.
This spring, six highly motivated WPI students are exploring the feasibility of the creation of the Santa Fe Project Center (SFPC), through a so-called “bootstrap” project in term D09. Preparation is taking place in term C09. The team will interact primarily with the Santa Fe Complex and explore the logistics of operating a center in Santa Fe, including issues such as housing and local transportation. The team will meet with potential sponsors and develop a list of possible IQP and MQP projects that could take place in Santa Fe in the future. These projects will probably be at the intersection of science and art, and will be aimed to benefit the local community and especially for the native Americans who live in Santa Fe. It is quite possible that the Santa Fe Project Center will be a hybrid IQP/MQP center, providing MQP opportunities to underserved majors such as Mathematics (MA), System Dynamics (SS), Physics (PH), as well as Interactive Media and Game Development (IMGD), Computer Science (CS), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), and Mechanical Engineering (ME). If the pioneering bootstrap team determines that the SFPC is feasible, it will begin operating in term D10.
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Students
There are 6 male students slated to travel to Santa Fe in term D 2009. The students will arrive on Saturday March 14th and leave on Sunday May 9th. The entire team can be reached with the overall group alias (santafe-d09@wpi.edu). Follow the links below to read bios.
- Sam Drogin (ECE) - sdrogin@wpi.edu (732-403-4528)
- Chris Harlow (ME) - charlow@wpi.edu (617-852-1268)
- Obadiah Kopchak (ME) - okopchak@wpi.edu (508-344-5074)
- Dan Schick (ME) - dschick@wpi.edu (203-232-1555)
- Andrew Tremblay (CS/IMGD) - andrewtremblay@wpi.edu (781-635-4964)
- Dave Wiig (ME) - davewiig@wpi.edu (860-459-0020)
Report
The report is currently under construction and is to be submitted electronically to the IGSD of WPI via.
A checklist for electronically submitting the report can be found here.
The deadline for candidates for May graduation is April 30 at 5pm.
For non-candidates eCDR deadline is May 27.
Mini-IQPs
The team will also tackle one or more "real" IQP topics to explore the obstacles that may arise in the course of completing a real project. Some possible topics being explored through mini-IQPs are:
- WPI:Interactive Community Platform from walkscore
- Acequias and Sandtable programming
- Native american Pueblo
Resources for Students
The resources and projects for students are located at this page
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