WPI Students Gain Hands-on Experience, Contacts Through Washington Program
WPI
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Jessica Leving
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 18, 2009
WASHINGTON—Among students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the school’s Washington, D.C., program is hardly anyone’s first choice for study abroad. “It’s just not overseas,” agreed Evan Duderewicz, a junior from Stratford, N.H.
But once the students arrive in the nation’s capital, students admit, they get to do some pretty cool things.
Take the Ecuador oil remediation team, which is researching a multi-phase scheme to remove oil pollution from a remote area of Ecuador.
“We’re all so passionate about this issue,” said Chad Caisse, a junior from Lowell. And it shows.
Decked out in dress shirts and slacks, the three team members swivel in their chairs on the fourth floor of a sleek office building in the trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood, turning back and forth to call up a statistic on their computer or write a note on the floor-to-ceiling sheet of paper taped to the wall. The Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit that promotes human rights and democracy, has given them what amounts to closet space to work in, but they’re not complaining.
“Indigenous people live off the water in this area,” said Chris Baker, a junior from Quincy. “Now it’s completely polluted from years of careless dumping of oil. People have all kinds of diseases.”
“They can’t say for sure this is what it came from, but there’s a clear increase of cancer cases in the past few years,” Mr. Caisse added. “It’s exactly like in the movie ‘Erin Brockovich.’ ”
The oil remediation study is one of nine two-month hands-on group research projects that WPI’s 35-year-old Washington program sponsored this semester. The 26 students who arrived in Washington in October are working on projects ranging from water pollution in Ecuador to crib safety, where students are working side-by-side with Consumer Product Safety Commission staff members.
“WPI was a pioneer in recognizing that engineers need to work in teams when they get into the workplace,” said Natalie A. Mello, WPI’s director of global operations.
“On a global scale, we want students to understand the impact of technology,” added David DiBiasio, director of the Washington program.
New this year is cooperation between the WPI program and the office of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Worcester). Mr. DiBiasio credits Mr. McGovern with making introductions at government agencies that led to several projects.
The Ecuador oil project was developed after a campus visit last year by Mr. McGovern, who has a history of advocacy work related to the issue.
“Hopefully, the final product will have recommendations that the U.S. government, Ecuadorian and other governments can use in implementing best practices in their countries,” Mr. McGovern said in a statement.
Students and faculty were also particularly excited that the start of their research coincided with the release of the movie “Crude,” a documentary on the exact area they are researching.
“This question of remediation is going to be huge,” said Andrew E. Miller of the nonprofit Amazon Watch, featured in the movie, who has agreed to mentor the Ecuador teams. “One of the cases that Amazon Watch has been involved in is the lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador. If it’s successful, one of the main things will be bioremediation of the area. How exactly to do that is not well known.”
In addition to the oil remediation team, a group of three Spanish-speaking WPI students is using the crisis in Ecuador as a jumping-off point for an interactive project with indigenous communities and advocacy groups that hopes to provide policy suggestions to prevent these problems from arising again in Ecuador as well as in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.
“We’re trying to protect the whole Amazon region,” said Carlos Donado, a junior originally from Barranquilla, Colombia.
“We’re on the prevention side,” added Seanna Reilly, a junior from Easton. “What happened in Ecuador we want to make sure doesn’t happen in other tropical regions. We’re looking at technical aspects, environmental aspects and human rights aspects.”
The Ecuador teams may be the most exciting of this year’s Washington projects, but other students in the program are equally immersed in projects at high-powered Washington offices.
One team, for instance, is working on enhancing crib safety at the Consumer Product Safety Commission—a timely task given a sweeping stroller recall earlier this month. Two other teams are working on marine safety with the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Another team is working at the National Association of State Fire Marshals to come up with methods for preventing fires in historic districts.
“The way these streets are, if one building burns down all the others will, too,” said Jared Brown, a junior from Merrimack, N.H.
In the past, successful completion of these group projects has translated into success in the workplace, said Constance Areson Clark, one of the Washington faculty advisers.
“We hear from employers all the time that these students hit the ground running and know how to get a job done,” said Ms. Clark, a professor of history.
While in Washington, students live downtown at the Marriott Residence Inn with three faculty advisers—and yes, they get maid service.
Though a “very small number” of students picked Washington as their first choice, Ms. Mello said, “Now, they can’t imagine doing this anywhere else.”
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