Worcester Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1865 to create and convey the latest science and engineering knowledge in ways that are most beneficial to society. Today, WPI holds firm to its founding mission to provide an education that balances theory with practice.
The university’s curriculum features a flexible, rigorous program that is project-based and globally engaged, aimed at quality experience and a positive impact for the communities it partners with. WPI faculty members across four schools work with students on interdisciplinary research seeking solutions to important and socially relevant problems, both on campus and at more than 50 project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
Graduate research programs include robotics, materials science, cybersecurity, and learning sciences and technology. WPI invests in research in critical areas, seeking solutions to important and socially relevant problems in such diverse fields as fire protection engineering, life sciences and bioengineering, energy, and data science.
For over half a century, projects have been at the core of WPI's signature undergraduate curriculum (known as the WPI Plan), requiring students to apply their acquired skills, knowledge, and abilities to develop solutions to real-world problems. As the global leader in project-based learning (PBL), WPI is now helping other colleges and universities around the world advance PBL across higher education through the Center for Project-Based Learning.
To know what WPI is all about, you have to experience it firsthand. WPI’s campus, set on a secluded hilltop, doesn’t look or feel like an urban university. Yet just down from “The Hill,” a vibrant college town awaits, with the amenities, opportunities, and lively cultural scene one would expect from New England’s second largest city.
degree programs
global project centers on six continents
acre hilltop campus in New England's second-largest city
of Money Magazine's Most Transformative Colleges
Best-Run Colleges
increase in research funding from FY16-20
WPI acknowledges the painful history of genocide in the U.S. for native and indigenous peoples. As a public statement that honors the indigenous people as native inhabits on this land, WPI honors and respects the many and diverse tribal nations who were forcefully removed from their sacred lands.
WPI would like to recognize the people of the Chaubunagungamaug and Hassanamisco Nipmuc Tribe as the traditional custodians of the land on which we work. We take this moment to honor their elders, past, present, and emerging. WPI strongly advocates for higher education professionals to honor the land, the original tribal occupants, and the history of where they are located.
