Worcester Polytechnic Institute
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

The WPI Office of Sustainability coordinates closely with the City of Worcester to promote sustainability initiatives. For example, WPI participated in a series of workshops with the City of Worcester to define the city's Resiliency Plan in 2018-2019. We coordinate with the City of Worcester through our undergraduate projects programs, including the Worcester Community Project Center and Water Resources Outreach Center. We also invite speakers from City to speak at "discussing green" seminars and other Finally, we also invite state, regional, and local officials to participate as judges in our student sustainability poster competitions, which focus on increasing awareness of sustainability practices.

WPI has a number of advocacy initiatives at the state level. For example, WPI’s president, Laurie Leshin joined the Massachusetts Reopening Advisory Board to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. This 17-person board of municipal, health and business leaders from across Massachusetts has been advising the States’ administration on reopening the economy in phases based on health and safety metrics. The board is responsible for developing a report to promote workplace safety standards, industry frameworks and customer protocols and guidelines. There are also a number of initiatives at the state/regional level involving energy efficiency and climate change awareness and mitigation. For example, Michael Ahern, WPI’s Director of the Academic and Corporate Engagement supported the Mass. Secretary for Energy and Environmental Affairs by serving as part of an academic steering committee to the MA State’s roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He is continuing to serve in a role as a technical reviewer. The overall roadmap includes the environment, economy and social justice. Finally, WPI has advocated for expanding the use of electric vehicles through the MA Evolves Program, a program coordinated with MA Executive Office of Environmental and Energy Affairs that involves implementing a range of initiatives aimed at helping Massachusetts residents gain access to clean transportation.

WPI’s Office of Sustainability and Office of Government and Community Relations have also been promoting carbon sequestration initiatives with our congressman and senators. For example, WPI has supported travel for a WPI researcher who is an internationally recognized expert in carbon sequestration to meet with our Congressman and Senators in DC, seeking their support to advance these carbon sequestration mitigation efforts. In another undertaking, WPI supported faculty in their efforts to promote programs which significantly reduce energy usage in manufacturing processes which require drying. Drying consumes approximately 10 percent of the energy used in the manufacturing sector. This impacts a broad industry base including food processing and packaging, pulp paper (think everything from paper towels to stationary to newsprint to cardboard), and pharmaceuticals.

WPI has a variety of advocacy initiatives that have global impact. WPI has been working to create a professional society for Science, Technology, Innovation & Development, that will include communities as critical collaborators in development. In support of this broader initiativ, this initiative is supported by a set of faculty guided projects, which address sustainability issues and incorporate aspects of advocacy. These initiatives were developed into more coordinated advocacy efforts to advance the initiative on development. The effort was initiated after WPI organized the First International Conference in Development Engineering in Ghana in February 2020. This conference was led by WPI’s Provost Wole Soboyejo and Professor Rob Krueger, brought together people from three continents to examine the role of science, technology, and innovation in the 21st century. Finally, another area involves the use of concepts involving the circular economy, which has been promoted by Professor Joseph Sarkis to address sustainability. The goal is to advance an ‘action network’ in this area. These advocacy initiatives will be promoted through the development of WPI's new Global School, which was formally established in Spring of 2019. At that time, WPI developed a forum entitled “An Equitable, Inclusive, and Environmental Sound Circular Economy”. The program was set up via Zoom in May of 2020, and was tremendously successful, with over 630 people preregistered from over fifty different countries, and over 350 people participating in the program. WPI served as the only academic sponsor and collaborated with a number of international sponsors in the development of the program. WPI’s Provost initiated and supported the collaborative effort, and spoke at is as well. They took the findings and summary from this discussion and put it together as advocacy for transitioning to a sustainable Post-COVID-19 world sponsored by Future Earth.

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https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/project-based-education/global-project-program/project-centers https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/interactive-qualifying-project